Under a blue moon

11.4.2010

 
 

Today is a very special day ~ my dear friend Kelly (my benefactress) is having a birthday! 

Happy Birthday Kelly!  I hope all your birthday wishes come true!

I won't out her by telling her age but it is a good one.  As you know, Kelly has been quite generous to me.  I have stacks of beautiful linens, lovely plates and teacups, gorgeous pictures and so much more that she has given me over the years.  She is a champion estate and garage sale shopper and has a very discerning eye for discovering treasures. 

She also knows exactly the things I like (lots of white, silver and frothy handkerchiefs). 

But most of all she is a dear and caring friend.  We've known each other since we were 12 years old.  Here's to another (mumble) years of friendship!

 

 

Good gracious I am boring....

(my dad's backyard on Easter)
 

I was tagged by the lovely Mimi from French Kitchen in America.  Mimi was one of the first people to encourange me when I started my blog.  If you want some French inspiration go visit her blog.  Her travelogue and food memoirs will make you book a flight and pack your bags.

Now I'm pretty much an open book so this was a hard one for me but here goes:

Here are the seven things you probably have not guessed:

I have a competitive streak.  I don't like playing games because I don't like how I get when I play them. 

I used to have dyslexia.  If you look closely at the mailbox at my Dad's you can see where I wrote my name backwards when I was five.

I used to speak German fluently and would even speak in German in my sleep.  In fact I took four languages in High School: German, French, Spanish and English (yes I am counting English).

I rode my bike around the coast of Ireland when I was 14 years old. 

When I was three I decided I was going to get married at the Stanford Chapel.  When I was seven I decided I was going to marry a man named Rick.  I did both those things (Note:  It wasn't a particular man named Rick that I was going to marry - just the man I would marry would have the name Rick.  There was a dreamy lifeguard at the local swimming pool named Rick and I thought he had the most perfect name). 

I can't eat garlic.  I'll spare you the details.

When I was little I thought I was a princess.  A real, bonafide, crown-wearing princess.  I was sure that my real parents, the King and the Queen, had just dropped me off with this other family and would be along any day to pick me up.  There was no reason for me to be disastified with my real family (the non-royal one) except maybe being one of five daughters made me long for the relative peace and quiet of being an only child, and why not be royalty while I was at it?

There you have it.  I'm a German-speaking, bike riding Irish Princess that reads backwards and can't eat garlic, married to a man named Rick.  And I'll beat you at Trivial Pursuit if you ever ask me to play with you.

I'm here! I'm here!

I didn't mean to wander off like that.  As usual it's not like I had anything interesting going on to occupy or distract me.  

I've been feeling a little bit out of sorts lately.  I have had a headache for going on three weeks now and my annual ocular migraine decided to show up six times in the same time period.  I figured it was time to put aside my aversion to doctors and go see my family practitioner.  

We have ruled out a brain tumor.  I was driving home when my doctor called and cheerfully said "CT scan was negative!  You have absolutely nothing up in that head of yours."  Gee, thanks. 

My blood pressure, on the other hand, has been borderline high for about a year now and since my efforts to lose a few pounds has been resoundingly unsuccessful she said that she would start me on a low dose high blood pressure medicine and if I ever get around to getting in shape she'll take me off of it. 

I can't take the standard issue blood pressure medication because I swell up at the slightest provocation.  So she put me on a water pill which has kind of an old fashion ring to it.

I've always prided myself on not having to take any prescription medicines.  A couple of months ago an allergist put me on a nightly antihistamine (again with the puffing up business) and now the water pill.  I bought one of those little pill minder boxes and now I feel wretchedly old.  Like I have one foot in the grave.  I might as well get a walker and start stuffing my handkerchief in the sleeve of my housecoat.

On to more cheerful topics, shall we?

I finally got my ruffler attachment!  Now I just have to fine tune my ruffling skills.  Who knew there was a learning curve?  I think I have to play around with different weights of fabrics, along with the ruffler settings.  But watch this spot - ruffles coming soon!

And the daffodils are in riotous bloom.  That was the best back-breaking afternoon spent planting a bobillion daffodil bubs about five years ago.  They come back in ever increasing profusion every year.

I am also in the midst of rearranging my dining room/office to make it more craft friendly.  It dawned on me that it was a bit ridiculous to keep the space as a dining room since we entertain in here about once every ten years.  Yes, it looks nice but I am tired of having no room to spread out to work on projects.   Part of the problem is that all my crafting stuff is jammed into a small closet and in order to get to anything I have to remove half the contents.  Then put it all back.

So we rearranged the furniture, freeing up an entire expanse of wall and we are going to put in a large book case so I can have everything out and accessible. 

More on that soon.  I'm hoping we can get started on it this weekend (oops - better go tell Rick that before he reads it here on my blog....) and I'll take pictures of the progress.  I'm expecting that the folks at "Where Women Create" are going to want to talk to me....

 
 

Andrea's Rip-roaring Diet Adventures

 

Rick is recovering nicely.  Thank you for all the well wishes.   He's a very good, appreciative patient. 

The picture above has nothing to do with this post.  We are going to talk about killer abs.  And I don't have a picture of them that I can share (okay - I don't HAVE them to begin with).

I got back on the low-carb, low-cal bandwagon last week and instantly lost the five pounds that I've put on since Christmas.  Now I'm back at my pre-holiday melt down weight. 

I decided I need to start exercising more too.  To help things along.  I'm at a certain age where all my pounds are very fond of me and don't want to leave.  So I thought I would make them do crunches and jumping jacks and see how they like that.

If you follow The Biggest Loser (I admit to a perverse fascination with how fast they lose weight and how they look when they are done) then you know who Jillian Michaels is.  She is one of the two trainers on the show.  She has a take no prisoners approach to training.

After hearing some rave reviews for her 30-day Shred workout dvd I ordered it from Amazon. It is an intense 20 minute workout.  The feedback on it is it is hard but the misery only lasts 20 minutes and you can usually stick it out.  There are three levels of workouts and I'm starting with Level 1 and it is kicking my butt.   She's not as mean on the dvd as she is on the show.

I put together a 30-day Exercise Challenge with some on-line friends of mine.  Our goal is to do some kind of exercise every day, for 30 days.  Can be anything - working out in a gym, spinning class, workout dvd, walk.  I'm hoping that if I stick to it for 30 days exercise will become a habit instead of a chore.

My plan is to do the 30-day Shred dvd two days, then walk the third day and then start over again.  That way my body gets a rest from the more intense working out.  

I'm hoping that at the end of the 30 days I am ten pounds lighter.  Stay tuned. 

Pinching pennies

 

I can't think of one person that isn't carefully watching their money right now.  Everyone I know has been affected by the current state of our economy.  Whether it be a lost job, a reduction in hours or benefits, the higher price of things.

While I think I am a fairly conservative with my money I can be a bit of a spendthrift in certain areas.  Like magazines.  Is there a 12-step program for us magazineoholics?  And craft supplies.  I amass stuff and then do nothing with it. 

Late in December I decided to sit down and draft a budget.  I went through the year's spending and figured out how much certain set expenses were (cell phone, cable, car insurance, etc.).   Then I figured out how much I was spending on groceries, shopping, rubber stamps.  Ouch.  I figured the set expenses are pretty hard to pare down without getting rid of them all together (we haven't come that far yet) but in other areas I could vastly improve.   

I started my budget on January 1st.  I just spent the last of my gasoline money yesterday so I'm good for the month.  I am over my grocery budget by $68 already and we still have four days left in the month (we will presumably want to eat on those days).   I'm trying to pare down my cellphone charges and I'm headed in the right direction but I still went over by $40 this month.  

I have implemented a 'no tossing a magazine into the grocery cart' rule.  If I want a magazine it has to come out of my $20 a week allowance.  Which is also for the occasional lunch out, craft supplies, non-essential beauty supplies, that sort of thing.  It's a good thing I don't have a Starbucks habit.

I give myself a C+ for the month.  I think I'm on the right track anyway.  I do have some areas where I can improve - like better meal planning which should help the grocery budget.

I have to admit I'm kind of enjoying myself.  I think that comes from a feeling of taking control.  While I certainly can't control the economy I do feel good that I'm taking steps to improve my own situation. 

(By the way - the quilt in the picture was made by Nicki and I think the pattern is called Pop-Beads.  I love the 30's repo prints and I think it is a perfect backdrop for a post about saving and economizing.  I'm feeling a bit 30's-ish lately.  Next we'll get into the 40's and talk about Victory gardens....)

Polishing silver: Before and after

   

I haven't been posting much this past week because I've been polishing silver.  And it is time consuming.  Miserably time consuming.

I started off using Wright's silver polish - the purple stuff in the tub.  It has served me well for the past 25 years.  But it just wasn't cutting for the heavy duty tarnish on the new (to me) set.

If you look at the tarnished bowl on the right you can see how the tarnish is a slightly different color half way up the bowl.  That's because previously it had been polished using the aluminum foil/baking soda and salt method (a method I do not recommend).  The set was placed in a sink or tub and the water only partially covered the pieces.   That part that soaked tarnished differently than the top part.  It is MUCH harder to get that tarnish off.

Even after polishing one of the pieces with a ton of elbow grease you could still see that line of demarcation.

So I went back to the store and bought a product called Tarn-X.  Nasty smelling stuff.  Smells like rotting eggs.  It is a clear liquid that you can either soak the pieces in (if you buy the industrial sized container) or you can dab at your tarnished silver with a cotton ball soaked in the stuff.  It's still time consuming but it does a great job of getting rid of the tarnish. 

You dab for a few minutes and then rinse the piece in cold water.  I guess you don't want the liquid to stay in contact with the silver for too long.  What I did was take a Tupperware container and sit the piece I was working on in it so any drips were contained.

It gave the piece a slightly yellow cast so after I finished removing the tarnish I went over the piece with the Wright's silver polish.

So here's a question for you silver aficionados - why would a silver set have two bowls?  One has handles and the other doesn't.  One has a lid the other doesn't.  Is one for lemon slices and one for sugar? 

Oh - and notice the frost on the deck railing?  Baby it's cold outside!

Christmas slumber party

 

When you think of a slumber party you probably don't think of gold chargers and grilled salmon on puff pastry.  But when Nicki throws a slumber party that's exactly what you get.  Plus Christmas Cosmos, savory cranberry and sausage appetizers in filo dough, a warm Brie salad with apples and pistachios, champagne and warm peppermint brownies with vanilla ice cream.

It was the First Annual Christmas Slumber Party and I hope it is the start to a lovely new tradition.  My sisters Trish and Kate were there, my cousin Claudia and my niece Sara.  Missing was our sister Mary but I think she is buried in snow somewhere in Wisconsin right now.

We all wore our most festive holiday lounge wear or Christmas jammies and just ate and drank and ate some more. 

 

We listened to Christmas music and did an ornament exchange.  Nicki gave all of us aprons that she had spent the past week making, picking out fabrics that best suited the recipient.

Did I mention we ate?  A lot?  It was impossible not to.  Everything tasted so good.

We also enjoyed Nicki's lovely home and all her Christmas decorations.  It's making me feel kind of bad that I didn't put out much effort this year.  Well, there is always next year.

I took a ton of pictures but I don't want to post anyone in their jammies so you'll just have to imagine.  

 

Christmas Cheer

   

flickr favorites

I am trying to rally and get out of this funk.  I think I'm just too busy with work to fully concentrate on and enjoy the season.  I thought I would take inspiration from others and their wonderful decorations. 

I was pulling together my flickr holiday favorites when I received a comment from Maureen reminding me to enjoy the moments with my family and that all the rest is just background.   I think I needed that gentle reminder. 

I've noticed an interesting phenomenom - when I do keyword searches in Flickr the results ALWAYS have pictures from bloggers that I like and avidly follow.  Usually right up top.  I think that is really funny.  I'm making pretty general searches (like "Vintage Christmas") and there are something like eight bazillion photos on Flickr to search from.

Chickens!

   

Amazon

I have a chicken.  Or, actually, I have a chick.  A little Rhode Island Red named Rosie.  Rosie doesn't live with me.  She is being boarded at the Cottage with three other chicks.  You can see a little YouTube video of them and see her sweet little self. 

I have wanted chickens for years now.  Rick and I used to take a walk through our Los Altos neighborhood and there was one house that always had a few fat chickens peacefully roaming around the front yard.  Nothing fenced them in and nothing appeared to bother them.  They just happily spent their day picking at bugs in their pretty front yard. 

Then a friend of mine was telling me about her childhood pet, a Rhode Island Red with the unfortunate moniker of Lunch.  Lunch was an only chick and she dearly loved her people.  She would come running as soon as any of them came into the yard and wanted to be held and petted.

She never did live up to her name, I am happy to report.

Doing a little research I've read that Rhode Island Reds are a friendly type of chicken.  So when Sara said I could keep a chick at her house I knew that was the type I wanted.

I haven't seen Rosie yet but I am going to go this afternoon and nuzzle her.

Rick and I have been thinking about turning the Goat Palace into a Palais de Poulet.  It would require getting rid of Josephine, William, Antoinette and poor little Delilah.  When we got them we figured we would have little worker goats that would keep our property clear of brush.  The only problem is they are total homebodies and will not leave their little corner of the property. 

We shouldn't have made the Goat Palace so comfy.  They flat out refuse to go anywhere else and they have totally denuded that one corner so we have to supplement their diet with grain and alfalfa.  Which kind of defeats the purpose of having them.

We may have found someone that will take them.  A couple that has ten acres, other goats, a couple of llamas and a horse.  I would only feel right about getting rid of them if they were going to a better situation.  One does have an obligation to ones animals, after all. 

So if they do go then we'll put some nesting boxes in the Palace and put a door on it and get a half a dozen chickens.   We'll eat as many eggs as we want and I have a friend that goes through 12 dozen eggs a week and I told her she could have the rest. 

Or I could set up a little roadside stand and sell them.

 

Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration, 1940

Halloween Soiree 2008

   

We had our annual Halloween Soiree last night.  I must say it was an exceptional party.  *I* had a fabulous time, anyway - and by the looks of things so did everyone else.

The very, very, VERY best part of the night was a surprise guest.  My sister Trish has a passel of kids that travel with a pack of their friends and when an unknown, masked partyer showed up with them we didn't think much of it. 

Except WHO was it?  The person appeared short and I assumed it was my niece Emily.  But I was assured it was not.  Then I figured it was just one of their friends, again - assured it was not.  It was suggested I hug this person.  So I hugged Edvard Munch's scream and it was a little more substantial than my niece Emily (who must weigh about 95 lbs. soaking wet). 

I went in for a second hug (dearly hoping it wasn't some mortified friend of my nephew Scott's) and felt a tell-tale braid.

It was my sister Mary from Wisconsin!  Secretly flown in and a surprise to everyone except my sister Trish. 

 

The night was just fun fun fun.  Lots of food, drink and laughing.  Great sound track courtesy my sister Kate. 

I'm the one in all the cheesy MySpace poses above (no. 2, 4, and 19) if anyone wants to know what I look like.  We even had one of the Vice Presidential candidates show up, with a rolled pumpkin cake (won't tell you if that swayed my vote or not).

This is just the most fun party.  Everyone is so clever with their costumes.  And I am stuffed full of tootsie rolls and jalapeno poppers.  The one day of the year I allow myself to eat them