Alphabet Soup

We won't get into my infatuation with WWII here, but let's just say that i was the kid in high school that people often wondered about--especially because when questioned by our history teacher as to who we'd like to travel back in time and interview, my response was to interview Hitler and ask him, quite frankly, just what the hell was he thinking (or ingesting)?!?! Yeah, i didn't get any A-plusses that day. Anyhoo....i disgress. But i've always loved the era of history that publik skool'n hasn't quite ever been intent on teaching. We never made it through history much past the American revolution--but sure e'nuff i did learn my fair share about third world countries, STD's, and obviously not enough synonyms for the word "but". Nonetheless, that didn't make me any less interested in the uncovered territory of Modern History.


One thing i've always loved is the propaganda (from Allies or Axis, quite frankly)...the design, the idiosyncratic funkiness (in my view) from each country's gov'ts.

One thing i am especially fond of is the famous British WWII era poster, and have desired one of my own, but not totally committed as it's largess, display area, usw. Then, about the time i was ready to break down and purchase a couple coffee vessels with the likeness on them, i found a blogpost by this talented lady that caused me to bring my palm to my forehead in a sort of "Boy, i could have had a V-8" fashion.

With scissors, paper scraps, and a little help from the 'puter....Cookie Monster and i went to work. Our first project, a sign for Moose's office. Next we'll try our hand at "quilting" one, then we shall take over the world spreading peace and calm! Well, maybe another day with that last one there. Seems "motivation", once unleashed, can be a very fiery and infectious thing. :o)

C.M. tried her hand at unscrambling first.....

Should we get an when we get our family farm?

Ooh, or she could work for Disney's movie marketing.

Sounding like a title to a Roger Miller song....


Then i took a turn....
This is what i did last year.
Now i have a huge bin full and i seriously need "1oo,ooo Yarn Ons"

to work on destashing, less be known by a new nickname



Now, this is getting a little closer, however... it's quite possibly the antithesis of the message we're trying to convey here.

Aaaah, that's much better!

Hoping Moose will proudly display it in his office for the next 3-5 years while they work on the fix to the area's flooding threat. :o) And the next best thing about this little project is that it kept my lil phalanges our of the "phridge" till lunch--woo hoo!

Worth It

My Little Cookie Monster and i stayed up waaaaay to late past our bedtime last night.

That's because we both wanted to see Barrie's production of Peter Pan at the childrens theatre.

And it was great! The cast was amazing, and the actor that played Capt. Hook made the character lovable, which i realise is so totally not the point! There was even an actor dressed in a crocodile suit with a tick tocking tummy! L.O.V.E.D. IT!

And so did C.m., who proudly sat on the edge of her seat the whole time, except during intermission when all she did was desparately ask every 2 seconds, "Momma, is intermission oooovvvver yet?!?"

Thinking about it last night and this morning...it is something i want to do more of with her more often. We live in this hellaciously busy, crazy, sometimes not so great area, but we need to go out and experience the good things this area has to offer once in a while, right? Otherwise, we should move to a teeny tiny little place in the middle of Wyoming or somewhere......like the town my parents took me to when we visited Wyoming years ago and the citizens were so excited because it was the first time in 3 years they had kids graduating high school--all 4 of them. :o)

On the cusp of the New Year, like millions of other people, i was thinking about what could be done differently around here to make life more enjoyable.

One, being that we need to take C.m. to Seattle once in a while. Big cities are magical places...and if you aren't lucky enough to be the type of person who can slog it out in one, you can atleast visit once in awhile to experience it. It's always full of surprises. Like last night, for instance, when we were in the Center House looking for a quick bite before the show, we saw some people we remembered from the Christmas Cruise in Cd'A a couple weeks ago. They're Aussie on a US holiday, and they were sitting next to us on the boat. Someone else had their ear the entire time, telling them about all the things they missed along their trip (Americans...we really stick our foot in it sometimes, eh?) We stopped them last night and talked with them--this is one of many trips they've taken in the States. They love it and would move to Nashville in a minute. Daughters were married in Las Vegas. They've seen and done things in our country that i can only hope to get accomplished someday before my numbers up--drive Rte 66, tour the eastern seaboard, visit Nashville. They had been to Yellowstone, Jackson Hole, Boise, and Portland since we had seen them in Cd'A. Covered 4,000 miles so far and drove through their first snowstorm!

C.m. was soooo excited last night, she was wondering if Seattle was always that pretty. I didn't have the heart to tell her that if we had just been a few blocks down at the bus tunnels, things aren't so "pretty" down there unless you are a prostitute, drug dealer, or gang banger. We were on 5th Ave....the Ave on which Macy's and Nordstorm fight for customers. Where the monorail runs, Starbucks has it's flagship stand (and about 8 other caffeine refueling stations on 2 city blocks.) Martini bars, taco bars, cigar bars, and theatres rub up against one another. Just beyond are the old early 1900's buildings converted to beautiful little condos for "vintage living", as their billed, and at their doorsteps is the Seattle Center with the Space Needle all a-glow. C.m remarked that when she was a teenager or something, she would live there! :o) Didn't have the heart to tell her she wouldn't be able to have chickens in her condo. :o)

The other thing i am wrestling with this year is "owning" where i live. I hate where we live--it's that kind of place that if people hear where you live they say, "Eew, i'd never live there. Eeew!" It hasn't always been this bad apparently, but let's just say it isn't getting any better. Case in point, the pracitically nude coffee shop (that now has a neighbouring business just as bad called "Pole Fitness"--where you too can get in shape by learning to dance like a stripper!) :o\ Last night, on our way home from dropping off library books, i notice that the signboard for the coffee place reads, "Feelin' Nippy? So are we." UGH! I bet the fine people of Inuvik, NT don't have to put up with this crud! Then again, someone would have to be off your rocker to open up a scantily clad drive thru coffee place in the NW Territories! WA might as well be like that though, it's not like we've got pleasent year round weather like AZ! But with the whole econ crisis, there is absolutely nowhere to move--lots of people in our area are in the same boat. We own modest houses, we'd like to move up a little, but there is nothing on the market that is affordable for our kind and to boot, there is currently very few people who can afford a modest family home--or at least qualify for loans for them like they used to. Grrr. And i know the minute we decide to stay and put up a fence and make this place "work" as a little urban homestead in the 'burbs is when we'll find something affordable and won't be able to move because this place will have too many unfinished projects. Like i said, Grrrr! But there comes a point when it's more detrimential to sit and say, "i can't wait till this, i can't wait till that" and putting your whole life on hold, eh? I don't want to become so bitter that i can't even find reasons to get out of bed in the morning because i'm so depressed about where we live, what we didn't do, yada, yada, yada.

Also speaking of worth it.....the other thing i've been thinking about a lot lately is my health. I'm pretty happy with myself, that's is until i look in a mirror and don't recognise the person or those fat ankles looking back at me. I know exactly when and how i put on these 150 pounds i need to take off (as soon as i found out Starbucks Choco Chunk Cookies were 11 points, er aka the number of calories in a healthy, filling meal, there was no point in prolonging the inevitable breakup that was brewing--no pun intended.) But what i'm not so certain of is the why. Why did i let myself get this fat?? I know my weight will be a life long challenge, but right now, i've just got to focus on chisellin' a little chunk off the chunky, you know? I've been thinking a lot lately about why i let my waistline get this outta hand? But since that is a truly depressing thought to me and the more i think about it the more down on myself i get, i try not to think about it. Thinking about why you're not happy truely doesn't help you get any happier, eh? (Reasons for unhappiness???! See above re: humble family home near unabashedly crude "business" district.)

Recently at my WW meeting, an acquaintance gave me a bookmark entitled "If I Lost 1 lb Each Week of 2010...." and then it lists all the holidays and how much weight could be lost by each. Just thinking about it amazes me. I'm trying to remind myself of each time i go for the fridge or cupboard. But mostly, i am trying to convince myself that i could do it!!

I'm thinking if i could personalise it just a little bit more, it might make it easier for me to remember, so here goes....

Feb 3rd...my 9th anniversary. Moose's "Ball and Chain" would be five pounds lighter!!

Feb 14th...Valentine's Day. I would be lovin' the fact that i was 7 pounds lighter!

Mar 17th...St. Patty's Day. I would be 11 lbs lighter...which coincidently is about the size of a leperchaun!

Mar 26....Mom and Me Tea at Meeker Mansion. I would be 12 lbs lighter for our second annual mom and daughter tea. 12 pounds lighter than the last one!

Apr 4....Easter. 14 lbs lighter -- maybe i could do the bunny hop then!

Apr 22nd....Moose's Birthday. We could celebrate his birthday and my weighing 16 lbs less with crab cakes instead of birthday cake! Anyone know how candles work in crab cakes? :o)

May 9...Mother's Day. 19 lbs less of me--well on my way to becoming one hot momma (or momma to another lil sweet pea--even better!!!)

June 1st...Happy B/D to me--especially because i would be 22 pounds lighter. On my way to lookin' more and more like Marilyn Monroe each day (whom, incidently, shares the same birthday as me.)

June 21....Summer Solstice. I'd be 25 lbs lighter, which would really help with all those late night gardening chores!

July 4th...Independance Day. 27 lbs down. There's a reason to celebrate with some fireworks!

July 25th....an ordinary Sunday would become the day i lose 10%! 30 lbs....that's a whole mess of potatoes!

Aug 15th...such a boring month is Aug. However, with 33 lbs down, i could make it exciting by shopping for some new clothes!! I'd be needing them by then!

Sept 4th..."Wear A Cute Apron" Day....with 35 lbs down, maybe i could even tie it in the front?!?

Oct 11...Columbus Day.... 41 lbs down would be like discovering a whole new me!!

Oct 31st ...Hallowe'en... with 44 lbs lost, i'd have the best looking costume i've had in a long while--a healthier, slimmer me!

Nov 7th... Cookie Monster's b/d... i'd be 46 lbs lighter and while we would be celebrating our little one's day, i would secretly be celebrating the fact that i could rest assured that i would be here for many more celebrations to come!

Nov 25th ... Thanksgiving & 47lbs lighter. A whole lot to be thankful for, wouldn't you say? Please, don't pass the gravy!

Dec 25th ... Christmas... i'd be 51 lbs lighter. That's the best Christmas present i could get, and ain't nobody can give it to me but myself!!

and by New Year's Eve, i could be 52 lbs lighter...not only would i be celebrating the New Year, but also rejoicing in the fact that i had reached my goal of 250 lbs, that would allow us to be able to try to have another baby in 2011, as i'd be the same weight i was when we found out we were pregnant with C.m. Talk about a celebration!!!!

"Are You Sure These Are?" Cinnamon Rolls

I've been wanting to make a version of a cinnamon roll for the family for a while, but everytime i looked at the recipes for them, i always stopped at the "mix dough then wait for a 2 hour rise". Well! I never!

Never rise at 3 am to make cinnamon rolls by 7 that is.

So, i had a brainstorm one day---

and i made twice the amount of our pizza dough one afternoon.

Voila! One morning, i was able to rise at 6:30, enjoy coffee with Moose, crochet a little, and make and bake cinnamon rolls by 10, only having assembled them around 8:30am.

So here it is, the quick and dirty, two dead birds with one stone Whit's "Are You Sure These Are?" Cinnamon Rolls.

Take leftover pizza dough from night before out of fridge (don't let dough sit around much past 1 or 2, or you'll have to develop a taste for Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls.) Let rest for 20 minutes or so to warm up. Roll into a rectangle as best you can, toss my new favourite salad ingredient--candied pecans--on the dough, then add a handful or two of brown sugar--aka enough to absorb the 1/2 stick of melted butter you will pour over the top of this mixture and a couple shakes of the ol' cinnamon jar. Roll like a jelly roll, and slice up into little bun sized delights. Leave in your baking dish near stove to rise, and about an hour later, bake for 30 minutes. Woo hoo!

Of course, if you can't wait the whole hour, it won't hurt to put them in the bake sooner! :o)

Auf Weidersehn, Dear Friend...

Dear Capt. Wooden Rolling Pin w/ Handles the II,

O! The fun we've had over the years! You've seen us though the early years of this family's culinary experiences. Learning to bake pizzas and breads together. Countless gingerbread cookies we have to thank for your efforts--we couldn't have done it without you, Sir!

Over the years, you've been a reliable comrade, however, lately i've notice a change in your health. Your handles don't seem to want to stay in the sockets anymore, which wouldn't normally cause me to worry, until rusty bits started working their way into my pie doughs. A few months ago, i noticed your luster wasn't as bright....on your handles as it was in my hands.

That is why, dear Sir, i am suggesting your retirement.

No, don't worry about us. Due to the holidays and all, we've been blessed with two new cadets, Sgt. Francois Pin and Lt. Taperedhandles, that truth be told have potential and spunk. True as anything these days, you'll note that it takes two of them to do your job, a testament to your fine upbringing and dedication, Sir.

As with any change in protocol, there will be an adjustment period, but due to your ailments, i am afraid that what the doc has ordered for you is strict R&R rather than staying on long enough to train the two rookies--those being the ladies of the household who've never worked with such pins as your replacements. But if i may speak frankly, Sir, the head chef of the household is tired of replacing kitchenwares at such an alarming rate, Sir, and she'd just like some pins that don't leave bits of their uniform in her attempts at fine pastries and pies.

So today, we've decided to give you a big send off along with your ticket to freedom: one last time making "Are You Sure These Are?" Cinnamon Rolls.

Thanks for your many years of service and your patience with our untrained staff.

Bon Voyage,

Whit and Family

Home Again

I always hate coming home. Alas.....

Idaho was wonderful--no matter there wasn't much snow to play in or sun to bask in, it's Mom and Pop that make it so awesome. Moose and i had a couple dates. We all ate at some of our favourite ol' places. Only regrets: not enough time catching up with our favourite barista at the local caffeine fueling center and definitely sad about no treasure hunting at a local antique place with my folks. Especially my Pop...we always find something or other to marvel at or that causes a great case of giggle riots. Thankfully, their gift to Cookie Monster--a doll that says, "Achoo" (which is C.m.'s nickname for her grandma) sparked a few of those with it's honking nose blowing that sounded rather dubious. Like it was coming from the wrong end of the baby. :o)

The thing i hate most about coming home is the "going-out". We had another deputy die in the line of duty while we were gone, shot by a man who alledgely told friends that you should always carry a gun "locked and loaded". Nice. And to know that your squeezing melons in the produce aisle with these people at some point. I mean, really....

To go to the store before sunlight in Idaho means no worries. People look at you to smile at you, not to sum you up and wonder if you're worth tangling with in the parking lot. I hate going to the store here, arriving there just before the doors open and having to wait until i see a store employee or business person walking around before i feel comfortable enough to get out of the car and enter the store.

Anyhoo...it's absolutely pouring cats and dogs outside, and i am now off to give the Ladies of Laying their belated Christmas present--a clean chicken coop. I'll leave you with a few pictures.

Hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing New Year!

C.m. and Sadie on the car trip to ID

Ringing in the New Year with A&P

Thank goodness it's not Thanksgiving!

Cookie Monster's Christmas gift to her momma: she bought it with some of her birthday money from her Great Uncle Paul.

a second set of Christmas decs i put together...still needs paint!

Reasons to Quilt

Oh boy, what have i gotten myself into?!

I am starting learning to quilt. We're gonna make it easy....and break it down.

First, we're figuring a plan (which i think is the most difficult part so far!) but then also we're working on square cutting basics.

So.....

My growing list of reasons to quilt starts like this:

1. I'd like to have homemade/handmade quilts on the beds at home, cause we all know that anything like that is soooo much better than big box bought.

2. All that cute chicken fabric that Cookie Monster picked out.

3. My mom was talking to me about doing my own quilt finishing today and taught me a phrase that i never knew was one of my favourites--as soon as i learned it, i knew what crafting had been missing up till this point. I can't wait to say, "Release the feed dogs!"

More to come, i'm sure....
Merry Christmas!

A Mary and Merry Celebration

Merry Christmas and hoping that your New Year's celebrations were uneventful and relaxing.

Today is also the Feast of The Blessed Virgin, Mary.

Hoping you all are still enjoying the season! We are trying to enjoy the snow that had converted to rain/snow mix by mid morning, which by afternoon has decidedly become lots of rain and has the place all mucked up. Lovely.

How is one supposed to enjoy winter when all the neat snow is covered under puddles?