When the Cat is Away...

Next week is going to be a bit bittersweet.  William will be in the US all week, which makes me a bit sad, but on the other hand, I'll have tons of time to do things and finish projects.  So while I will be missing him terribly, I have plenty of acrylic paint, embroidery thread, almond flour, trashy pop music and Murphy's albums to keep my company.

Just in case you were wondering what exactly is on my to-do list you could a) check out my Professionally Domestic board on Pinterest or b) keep reading. :)  Part of the reason I'm posting this is so you  can keep me accountable, and so that it doesn't get lost in my notebook that is full of brilliant things that never see the light of day.

To Do:  Deadline 11 February 2012

1 - organize all our clothes (my wardrobe/coat hanger/chair combo isn't the greatest system ever)

2 - catch up on my menu planning (AllRecipes.com blogpost coming soon... I love that site so very much)

3 - adapt Time Warp Wife cleaning schedule (and start using it)

4 - Finish House Rules canvas

5 - Finish Father Branken embroidery project

6 - Find a yoga class I like

7 - Update the blog (new colors and layout coming soon!)

8 - Paint the living room (we're in our house for at least another year and the last people built an extra wall so I figure a layer of pain won't be so bad).  [Note: this one is optional and may be replaced with re-potting all the root-bound plants in my backyard.)

9 - Clean the guest rooms.

10 - Start and finish my Valentine's Day project.

I like to keep my numbers nice and even, so I won't add the other three things I'd like to accomplish.  Also, that would mean I'd have to accomplish approximately two of these a day... which sounds like a lot of work.  But if I do accomplish all of these things and have a day or two left I'm going to try to talk my Mom into writing a guest article.  Even if I'm the only one who reads it... I think it would be fun.

Wish me luck!

 

Wins & Losses

[caption id="attachment_296" align="alignright" width="249" caption="Their meringues. Sadly, these are not mine!"][/caption]

I'm going to count the three projects that I have in limbo as wins because they are all in some stage of progression.  None of them are collecting dust and that is always a good thing.  However, I am going to count my lack of posting and my almond meringues in the loss category.  I'd also like to note that my meringues go in the embarrassing, completely tragic loss category  (think along the lines of the Cowboys record this season).

I wanted beautiful, puffy, sweet meringues to keep around the house as a sweet snack.  So I found a recipe that I liked (read: a recipe that I had all the ingredients for) and started whipping.  Currently, I don't have a mixer so I had to whip these puppies by hand which went surprisingly well.  After being extremely gentle while folding in the finely crushed (by hand!) almonds, I piped them onto the wax paper and baked them at 225 for two hours and....

Nothing.  I got globs of sticky, almond smelling, glue that wouldn't come off of the wax paper and was the texture of day old paste.  It was awful.  I didn't even bother taking a picture because it made me sad.  They were subsequently balled up (while still stuck to the paper!) and thrown away.

So what did I do wrong?  Why exactly did they turn to clue intstead of puffy, light, slightly crispy meringues?

Let's end this on a more positive note.  My "House Rules" project is coming along well (and the blue paint turned out perfectly), my embroidery project is slow going... but it is going, and my living wall project has gone from a living wall to a living bamboo shoot.  Sometimes you just have to make due with what you can find... and sometimes chicken wire is as scare as water in the desert, or a hipster at a job interview.

Project #1

This project wasn't on the list I gave you last time.  This project is something that's been sitting next to my side of the bed for approximately 100 years.  I found a quote via a long trail of enthusiastic clicking that started on the Thinking Housewife and lead me to Out of Sleep.  When I read through the post one particular quote stood out and I decided I had to have it.  It's a quote from an article by Father Anthony Brankin:

“Beauty and ugliness flow naturally into the world from the content or emptiness of the soul.”

So here is step one and two.  Step three will comprise of actually finishing it and then framing it so someday my kids will like it so much they'll turn it into an heirloom.  A girl can hope, right?





 

 

 

 

I'm a complete novice when it comes to embroidery, by the way.  I've done a few things like the front of my wedding album, a purse or two and some pillowcases but I don't ever claim to actually now what I'm doing.

So if you've got any helpful hints or can see where I'm going wrong in the photos, let me know!

p.s. Take a look at William's blog.  There's a really cool photo of the fog that was taken from my office.

All Work and No Play

[caption id="attachment_275" align="alignleft" width="168" caption="I probably should have refilled that jar before snapping this, huh?"][/caption]

Most people's definition of play is something along the lines of getting out of the house and doing something for completely recreational purposes.  While I was sitting at 'work' today I was chomping at the bit to get home to be able to play.  After all, I had a kitchen to clean and heap of laundry to take care of and three projects to get started on (paintings pillows and hydroponic living walls!).  And while reorganizing your kitchen because you basically had everything out of the cabinet when you had company last night doesn't sound like a desirable start to the weekend... I was counting down the minutes until I could get out from behind that desk and have some real fun.

In lieu of pictures of my amazing kitchen (organizational tips provided by, none other than, my Mom) and a giant pile of laundry, I've decided to include this super healthy, incredibly inexpensive, remarkably delicious (and colorful) salad that I take to my 9-5 most days.

Have a fantastic Friday and please come back for updates on my projects!  I need someone to share them with since one is a surprise for William!