A Peek Inside My Fish Bowl

Erm

noreply@blogger.com (Chedder Fish) — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 23:58:00 +0000

So I'm gonna work on revamping and reusing my blog again (for the bazilliondieth time I know) so stay tuned. I won't be doing a ton of layout work but just little cleaning up and working on posting more of the crafts I've been up to again.

Gifts galore!

noreply@blogger.com (Chedder Fish) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 17:58:00 +0000

Ah I have so many sweet friends! At my last crop with the squirrels they all surprised me by getting me started on a baby album!

Aren't they all adorable layouts?!

I also got a surprise in the mail the other day from one of my Squirrels, Jody! She has a patient who was making these and she thought of me-

The only one not being so nice is baby haha. We went for our Anatomy check up on Tuesday and while I've heard drinking fruit juice gets the baby moving but I thought that might not be nice for the technician trying to take measurements. Well at first the baby kind of looked like it was waving it's arms but then it tucked them close to it's head and wouldn't move them away to be measured. Eventually she got a good angle and took the measurements. Then the knees were locked so the tech couldn't tell us boy or girl so we still don't know the gender. The somewhat good news is that the Dr had an emergency she needed to address so she couldn't go over the measurements with us. The tech said they look good but that we could come back in 2-3 weeks for a new set of measurements and to actually talk to the dr. I'm sure if there had been a problem they wouldn't have let us go.

Here's the latest image.

CHEESE!

noreply@blogger.com (Chedder Fish) — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 00:20:00 +0000

So the other day Shae posted this on tumblr which lead to this post from Chickens in the Run.

Basically it's all about cheeses and rinds and waxes. It made me think of the last time I'd had really yummy special cheese. At the big blue and yellow box we have a special training day called Culture Day where we get to learn all about the Swedish people and well culture. It was so fun and I got a fun pin with the US and Swedish flag on it. I look forward to taking more of them or even getting to teach one sometime.

One part of it was about the food Swedes eat. Lots of herring! I tried herring paste from a tube which wasn't horrible but it did make me think of cat food. Since it was November when we were in this class we also got some Julmust which is a soda that's only available during the Christmas holidays. It actually outsells Coke and Pepsi during it's limited time on the shelves! I don't know how to describe it other than a holiday soft drink haha.

So the point is I got to try Swedish Fontina Cheese! It has a nice red wax edge. I don't know much about cheese at all (to spite the name) even though I love it. The blog post from Chickens really makes me want to learn more about cheese. I picked up some more Fontina since we sell it in the Bistro but I also found out we sell lots of other cheeses.

I just cut some of the cheese (teehee, I'm 12 and that's silly) and sat down to learn some. Ah internet, the wonderful information you provide my fingertips. Here's a link to the Wiki Article if you'd like to get a general idea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fontina

I would describe the flavor as strong but I'm used to more mild cheeses in general. I think this is technically a more milder version because apparently the original Italian type does age with its own rind and therefore becomes bolder in taste. OOH in my research someone had this cheese on pizza and I would LOVE to try that.

I'm excited to buy and try more cheeses and actually I just realized I'm getting a Melting Pot gift card as part of my Coworker of the month prize so I can't wait to try what they've got as fondue! Don't worry though, I am being careful that the cheeses I'm eating are firm pasteurized and pregnancy safe in general.

So what's your favorite cheese?

Surprise

noreply@blogger.com (Chedder Fish) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 19:29:00 +0000

Well I know that the last time I posted was in October but a lot of really great business has been happening. Incase anyone's here who isn't on my Facebook or is actually still reading I'll recap!

In early November I entered a contest on Facebook for Command Strips. Remember when I made my Christmas Tree last year? So the week before Thanksgiving I got a phone call while I was at work. It was before we opened so I went to the break room and couldn't quite understand their message so I called them back. Turns out my entry was chosen!! I won a flip cam with some accessories along with about $100 worth of Command products. With the camera I had to shoot a "commercial" within a week. Once they received it they sent me $500!! I was shocked!

After that I walked back out to the floor where one of the HR reps came up to me. There was a big drive to turn in our old handbooks when they came out with new ones in October. Well I'd really just gotten the old one so I knew where it was and turned it in no problem. Apparently that had entered me in a drawing! I'd won dinner and a movie (well $25 to AMC and $25 to Applebees)! Within 5 minutes and I'd already had a pretty awesome day.

Here's the video I made with the camera.

Thanksgiving came and I had an amazing time at my families with hubby this year.

Shortly before Christmas I got an early present but I'll get back to that.

Christmas came and we celebrated with our parents and family coming to our house for Ham and goodies.

New Years we got to celebrate with our friends Brandy and Justin!

Fast forward to last week where a gross snow/ice storm came rolling in. It had just been blah for a little while in the morning so I went into work. Just a few hours in and an announcement came on- Coworker of the Month. It was MY NAME!! After just 7 months there I'd been selected as Coworker of the month!! It is such an honor. A little bit after that another announcement came on and we were all sent home because of the weather. Blah.

The next day I had off work anyway to check up on my Christmas present. Everything went great so we were finally able to tell the world. If you haven't guessed or heard by now- there's A LITTLE FISHIE on the way!

So right to the details: Due August 9th and we will be finding out the gender and having a fun party to announce it. We told most of our family through fun scratch offs and no one suspected! It was so cute all the surprises. I will accept name suggestions but we're probably keeping 3 for each gender (predictions can be wrong) and waiting til we meet the little person to pick it.

Thanks for reading still and I promise to try to keep you updated but also not turn this into only a mommy blog. I promise to still craft.

What's happened in a month?

noreply@blogger.com (Chedder Fish) — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 04:37:00 +0000

I know I go on random dry spells and I always promise to do better but this time wasn't even a dry spell. I have SOOO much to tell you!

At the beginning of September I quit my job. Yeap. It was the job I offered my senior year of college and it was working at the same office as my hubby. It was also somewhat in my field and the pay was amazing to me. A little over 4 years later and I wasn't too far from where I'd started but considering it was a pretty small company it's not like I expected to go anywhere or even really learn amazing things. There were lots of positive things gained and of course it was all a lesson in something. Hubby will still be working for them so it's not like I won't see them anymore.

I'm closer to home now and while I miss my books on tape, I am amazed at how much more I'm getting done spending about 3.5 hours less in the car everyday. My new job is, I think, my new job for life, my career. Its a lot more hands on and there are a lot more opportunities.

I'm watching SNL while writing this because my bestie won tickets and finally made it up. She had plans earlier in the year but then there were terrible storms that canceled her trip. I keep trying to catch glimpse of her in the audience.

One final thing, as you know I joined a gym, I've been doing pretty well I think. I did go on my bi-annual Scraptrip and that usually is when I fall off track. One of our Squirrel's has moved and wasn't able to make this trip but we skyped (yes, i do like that it's become a verb like google) and whoa! I knew she was working on herself but she's lost 60 lbs on medfast in about 6 months!! She's been a great cheerleader to me and since she's done so well I've really been kicked into gear coming back from the trip that I'm determined to meet if not exceed her loss by our next retreat in Feb. (hear that Mel? I am taking on the challenge!) I was amazed to find I'd done a great job at self control this retreat and lost 4 lbs which also finally put me past a bump I'd been stuck on for the past 3 weeks. In total these past 2 weeks I'm down 6 lbs but still 10 from where I was at my last low point.

I've been continuing on my c25k runs and today I pumped it up to week 5. Week 5 is actually 3 different runs. Day 1 is 5 min walk, 5 run 3 walk repeat 3 times. I knew I'd be ok doing it since at my last week 4 run I actually did just keep running and did 7 minutes. I wanted to keep going but I'm trying to train correctly so I don't burn out since that's obviously easy for me to do. I'm actually ready to do Day 2 next which is 2 8 min runs with 5 min walks between. Day 3 is a 20 min straight run.

It's 8 weeks til Thanksgiving. Technically that's about as long as c25k altogether so a beginner could start today and be doing a 5k by then. So what excuse do I have that I've only got 3 more weeks left to do? NONE? Sooooo I'm signing up for a Turkey Trot 5k!! Not sure which one yet but I'm ready (or at least I know I will be.)

Oh there is another thing. I got new glasses today! Actually 2! It was buy one, get one free so I picked out 2 pairs and since my prescription didn't change too much, I'm keeping my old pair too to work out in. If I get a nice pic I'll try to show you.

Also:

WIP Wednesday and Museum Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Chedder Fish) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:24:00 +0000

So I don't know if I've every mentioned it but my BA is in Pre-Museum Studies. I usually just say Art History when people ask because technically that's all it was because it's basically to prepare you for whichever path you choose to follow when working in a museum and typically you'd be refining your expertise with further education in your chosen specialty.

Anyway, Joanne was kind enough to post about Smithsonian's Museum Day. I'm fortunate enough to live near DC and most of the Smithsonian's are free but in this case it's one day you can get admission to other museums for free as well. Here's the link if you'd like to explore whats available in your area.

Oh and I just checked- for people in MD with children: Port Discovery is on the list! It's an amazing place for a pretty large age range of children (not to mention an awesome place to work and technically the only actual museum job I've had.)

At this point you're like whoa whoa whoa, What happened to the WIP of the trees you promised last week? Yeah, My WIP for last week was actually a little different and I still didn't post it- so here's a double WIP for you.

First off my excuse for last week is that my WIP shifted to me actually. There is a gym near us that was recently bought out by another company and re-opened under the name Spunk Fitness. If you've ever wanted to join a gym and just use the treadmill/elliptical/bikes, or been to a gym before where you go to use them and all the machines are taken, or want to go to a gym and not be surrounded by the skinny girls working off that 1 pound they gained from that Popsicle they looked at and muscle men. This gym is awesome and there are all types of people there. There are TONS of machines so I'm never waiting. There are 10 different T.V.s with all different channels and they play my favorite radio station. They also have the areas arranged really well to do circuits. Spunk offers classes on each area with a max of 4 people in each class so you don't have to be intimidated or overwhelmed. It's only about 2 miles from my house, on my way home from both jobs and best of all for me - they are open 24 hours (well they will be soon when construction is finished.)

I've also been trying to make healthier food choices. While Swedish Meatballs are delicious and I could eat them everyday that's probably not a great idea. Lucky for me there are alternatives at my sweet blue and yellow haven.

On to the other WIP- The trees. These trees were just so intimidating to me but I finally got over it and got them done Monday night. I've also moved on to the next set of houses (not shown) since I was on a roll and didn't want them to become daunting as the tiny trees had been.

Surprise!

noreply@blogger.com (Chedder Fish) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:33:00 +0000

oh wait... maybe not... I'm a whole week behind but I present LAST weeks WIP photo I took.

Although, since nothings changed I could just be considered early for this weeks WWIP. That border was pretty tough but the little trees are somewhat daunting. I will finish them though! I'm determined to have trees for you on this Wednesday!

Adventures in Cooking: Bluberry Sorbet

noreply@blogger.com (Chedder Fish) — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 13:59:00 +0000

More photos

In my previous post I told you all about my love of my mixer and that I recently purchased the Ice Cream attachment.

I really decided I had to get it after enjoying some Raspberry Sherbert and remembering it's pretty easy to make and I could make all my favorite flavors even easier if I finally got the attachment.

Hubby mentioned how much he'd like to try blueberry and I happened to have a large bag of frozen blueberries already. I took them out and let them thaw in the fridge for a day. Since I don't really have a food processor either I used my blender to liquify as much as I could.

I also don't quite have a fine mesh strainer so I used my "fine" colander which seemed to work out pretty well. From 6 cups of blueberries I ended up with roughly a cup and a half of pulp-

And about 5 cups of liquid actually

Finally the next day I made the simple syrup the recipe calls for and had everything chill. A little while later I combined everything and poured it into the fresh-out-of-the-freezer bowl and got to mixing.

It also happened to land all down the side of the bowl and on the floor spattering on almost every cabinet in the kitchen. It's ok, I needed to clean the whole place anyway...

It just kept mixing and mixing.

I think I either had too much liquid, didn't cook the simple syrup down enough or just didn't let it mix enough because when I checked on my mix it wasn't quite frozen. I'll try to snap a photo of what I've got so far.

I washed the bowl and stuck it back in the freezer so I had it available to try again soon. Last night I was able to try banana ice cream from a recipe I found online which so far has turned out better but it's still closer to soft serve after a night of freezing than ice cream as of this morning.

Do you have any recipes to share for the ice cream attachment? Or even no attachment just an ice cream recipe in general!

Mixin' it up

noreply@blogger.com (Chedder Fish) — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 17:53:00 +0000

WARNING: This post is photo heavy! It started out as an Adventures in Cooking but took off about just my mixer. Another post to follow about Blueberry Sorbet...

Growing up my mom had this marvelous white stand mixer she used for everything.

Maybe you own one of these and if not I HIGHLY recommend getting one. You'll notice the one above has arms to lift the bowl rather than the head tilt that comes down to the bowl. That was critical for me. I wanted one just like my moms. Specifically too because I know myself, the head tilt one has a little cup part in the bottom the bowl locks into and I know I'd be a neat freak and hate if food got in there and I had trouble cleaning it. This one, I know is easy to clean.

Christmas 2007 when we moved into our new house my mom found an amazing deal and got me a red one which I've at least spoken about once already. This year she got me the pasta and grinder attachments so I kind of started this whole cooking kick because of them.

I also found these pieces of flair recently and thought about either making some from my own vinyl or buying something neat but I definitely had to share these:

I also found these while I was looking for photos of the decals above.

(Of course some of my fav stitchers, beefranck and kunderwood, would have already commented on this one.)

A cozy-

Of course I love that all the Kitchenaid items co-ordinate with my red- check this out-There's a whole Flickr contact for Kitchenaid and here's all their red!

Now this is hard core- not to mention AMAZING! Look at that "shine" on the bowl!!

Anyway... the whole reason I started this post was to tell you about my new part- the Ice Cream Maker!!! A friend has one and loves it. I've gone back and fourth about getting one. I finally found a site that had it for $55 including the shipping and so I ordered it last Wednesday, got it Friday and made sorbet Sunday and Banana Chocolate Chip Ice cream last night. I still have some things to learn but all in all it's not coming out too bad! There's no salt to buy or anything too crazy other than lots of forethought so you have time to freeze everything. Can't wait to make all the flavors I've been dreaming of!

Do you have any recipes using any of the Kitchenaid attachments you could share? OR tips?

Possible Side Effects by Augusten Burroughs

noreply@blogger.com (Chedder Fish) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 22:00:00 +0000

Possible Side Effects

Wrapping up what became "book week" with something totally unlike all the other ones I've written about and way more what most people might expect from me. I'll start by saying I love David (and Amy) Sedaris. I just love people who can retell comical stories from their own experiences that may relate to my own or enhance my own situation. I'm sure they've been compared before and it's obviously no secret Augusten is like David on laughing gas.

David is certainly hilarious but Augusten add the cherry on top with cursing. Ok, so I know that's not everyone's cup of tea and many people feel that you can certainly tell a humorous story without curse (or as we've been calling them "Bless") words but Augusten's use of them is just an adjective to me, an enhancement.

This collection of (mostly) true stories is hilarious but honestly, gets darker the further into the book you go. There are still silly parts but they take on some of the more depressing parts of his families disorders and disfunction.

It's read by the author himself so I believe he's reading it at least with the tones he intended but occasionally some parts sound somewhat forced or like he's waiting for someone else to add the punchline.

I do plan on reading more of his books and of course also running with the "movie" theme this week, I now really want to re-watch Running With Scissors (after reading it of course) and learn more about Mr. Burrough's interesting and unique (ok, that's an understatement and probably very polite) family.

WIP woops

noreply@blogger.com (Chedder Fish) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:44:00 +0000

I know I said I'd update my previous WIP post but it totally slipped my mind Wednesday night, even though I took the photos. Last night I was at a friends moving away dinner and didn't get home til 1 am but man was it a blast.

So here's the finished Lizzie Kate April Block -

And here's the needle roll I mentioned too. This is my next project but here's what's already been done by my wonderful friend.

Tonight we're going to

Yeap- the drive in. It's 3 first run movies for 8 bucks total! Tonight will be Despicable Me, Inception and the Twilight Eclipse. Unfortunately, though they have a HUGE no photo rule and they are really really strict about the few rules they have and take every chance to remind you that they have no problem escorting you out if you break any of them.

Here's a fun one of their marquee I found on flickr though-

(they do a dusk til dawn run of movies every Memorial Day!)

Almost Moon by Alice Sebold

noreply@blogger.com (Chedder Fish) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 22:00:00 +0000

Search Amazon.com for almost moon The Almost Moon

Ugh. OK, so what happened here is that there was all this flurry over the novel The Lovely Bones (another book to a movie, which I haven't seen) and I loved the cover so I checked that out and read that and it was alright but this review is about the book I randomly grabbed when there was nothing else in my usual section available. I hoped maybe Sebold's storytelling might have evolved a little.

Well of course I read the jacket excitedly when I found it in the bargain bin and thought, I'm surprised I haven't read this one, I thought I did.

Finally I read a ton of other books and then I got to this one. I popped it in and wait... what... this is familiar... oh jeeze... I already read this one. And I wouldn't mind if I'd bought it by accident after having read it for free from the library if it had actually been a good story.

So that just says the jacket cover really says nothing about the story. Actually, I even handed the book to someone else who listens to books who promptly handed it back saying they didn't want to read a story about murder.

Thinking back to all the other books I've written about recently there is just something this story is missing. It absolutely does have potential. It really comes close to The Abstinence Teacher or even Skylight Confessions in that it's a real story that just opens up in part of someones life and ends without an ending really. My main trouble is that the event that is focused on and causes the awakening is VERY dramatic. Heck, I'm not giving anything away by telling you, the narrator kills her mother, on purpose and for arguably a good reason but the way the jacket makes it sound the whole novel is all about the murder. Now that's where I have a big problem. It's not really about the murder, it's really about the narrator waking up to her life and I kind of argue that it's not even murder because it's not in the sense that it's a crime to solve and you have to piece together clues or even figure out why she did it or what could be wrong with her that she would.

Basically, I was just disappointed by the single characters downward spiral through her decision.

Skylight Confessions by Alice Hoffman

noreply@blogger.com (Chedder Fish) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:00:00 +0000

Skylight Confessions: A Novel

This was another bargain bin book and specifically the "oh I can get one more book and it's just one buck" variety. The second "dark" book in a row this book moved slow but kept me hypnotized the whole time. The characters are all so simple and so is the story but it touches on more complicated parts of life and unfolds a great story.

The reader, Mare Winningham, is definitely mesmerizing and uniquely identifies each character and gives them real personalities without dramatically changing her voice. I really couldn't get enough of the book and was thrilled to have so much commute time to be able to read it.

I just shared this book with another audio listener who said she loves Alice Hoffman. I checked out the Amazon listing and discovered I've read another one of her books- The Third Angel: A Novel I needed a little refresher but I definitely loved it.

There are also 52 reviews for Skylight Confessions which are almost all amazing and perfectly describe this story as magical yet grounded. Of course here is where I learned too that the author also wrote Practical Magic of which I've seen the movie and now want to read the book! (What a crazy similarity to my last review of The Abstinence Teacher!)

I'm excited at all the "new" authors I've been discovering and even branching out from my usual Stephen King or Jonathan Kellerman.

WIP Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Chedder Fish) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:26:00 +0000

I was really actually hoping to finish this last night and introduce a new piece this week but I forgot about the border piece. At least that will get done on my commute home and then I'll be able to dig into the needle roll. I'll add that to this post once I dig it up and of course the final April piece.

The Absitnence Teacher by Tom Perrotta

noreply@blogger.com (Chedder Fish) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:00:00 +0000

The Abstinence Teacher

This one is not a typical read for me. I got it from a bin of discounted audio books and it was some sale on buying multiple books so this got added. The name, of course, intrigued me right away. I didn't quite guess that there wouldn't be much humor and it's surprisingly dark. Obviously I didn't know anything about the author.

All that being said I want to introduce you to the author's style/genre. This is about roughly 2 weeks in the lives of 2 people. One being a health teacher who is strongly chastised publicly after a (true) comment during one of her classes is reported to the parents of a student and the other being a Born Again "recovered" addict. We're able to see both sides of the weeks unfolding.

About halfway though reading this book I looked up the author. I was surprised and not at the same time, to find he also wrote Little Children which I've seen large clips of, enough to piece together. Of course I still want to go back and watch and even read that story but it explains a lot. Both are very simple but at the same time deep and emotional, very possible/real stories that are adult - finding out who you are - awakening tales.

I very much enjoyed this book and can't wait to read more.

Gideon The Cutpurse by Linda Buckley- Archer

noreply@blogger.com (Chedder Fish) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:00:00 +0000

Gideon the Cutpurse: Being the First Part of the Gideon Trilogy

Whoa I'm behind on all my reviews but here we go.

This cover caught my eye and the description sounded like something my mother-in-law would enjoy. Since we were taking a road trip to a scrapbook event in June I thought it would be perfect. We ended up talking the whole time and never started this together. Eventually I did "read" it and honestly I don't remember my copy having the subtitle "Being the first part of the Gideon Trilogy" and once I found that out I was already half way through it so I finished this one.

I probably won't be getting the next two. I would like to know how the story ends but in general there were some slower parts in this and they added up to really drag this book out and the fact that it's 3 books just makes me wonder how slow the other 2 are. It's an interesting concept but not an altogether unique idea of children winding up with a time machine and trying to "get back home." I think it could make a great movie series for kids and tweens and fit right in with Harry Potter and Percy Jackson. I can completely understand how the author started this as just a bed time story for her own children who couldn't get enough but ended up publishing it.

I can't say I really connected with any of the characters or even remember much about it after a month. The bits I remember are the absurd ones where the author asks us to believe that people from the past accept fairly well the idea of time travel. What bothers me most is that there's too much reality in it if that makes any sense. For example the only real "magical/ different" part is the time machine and the fading between now and then. Now I'm not asking for her to make the book magic like Harry Potter but other than the fact they really want to get home it doesn't seem at all in this story that the children being transported back in time has much effect on the current state. I guess what I'm saying is that I like my stories to be clearly magical and dramatic about it or don't go there at all. I can also understand that the author really didn't want the machine to transport them to some magical world like many other stories (Narnia) but directly into history.

There must be more mayhem and excitement in the 2nd two books but this beginning of the story really didn't hook me into wanting more. I don't know if I care to know the middle or the end.

Is it fall yet?

noreply@blogger.com (Chedder Fish) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:55:00 +0000

Obviously I've floated away into oblivion. I have a ton of posts saved in my brain waiting to spill out but I'm popping in to show you my latest finished project. It was super easy when I made time to do it and you've probably seen the previous photo. I didn't start this, my generous donor had and I just gave him the feathers really.

This is my first time working with linen and it definitely was not as hard as I expected. I'd also never worked with hand dyed or over dyed (I don't really know which/what all that is yet) and obviously I worked up instead of across on that teal feather but I don't mind how it came out. It's also the only one that seems to really show the verigation that hand dyed thread seems to have.

My next project is already on the hoop. Like the one above I did not start it but I will finish it.

I hope to do all the stamps and all the blocks and well, every Lizzie Kate design but there are few more from the box that I want to finish. The next one is from M designs and is a needle roll. I don't know anything about needle rolls but this is really cute and I love the little stand even. (Not that mine comes with that but the image is cute.)

Happy July 1st!

noreply@blogger.com (Chedder Fish) — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 21:57:00 +0000

Confession: My heads not in summer this year. I just made this cause it's where I wanna be-

1. Herbst, 2. On the Red Carpet, 3. Fall in Love, 4. You fall into a deeeep sleeeep, 5. Fall, 6. Pumpkins!, 7. Happy Canada Day!, 8. BOOkeh, 9. “You have to know the past to understand the present.”, 10. Palace hallway, 11. Cathays Cemetery, Cardiff at night, 12. let the pilgrims and indians live together in peace and harmony, 13. Happy Thanksgiving, 14. SnowFlake, 15. Snow storm on my road, 16. christmas tree head, 17. Another Vintage Ornament Wreath, 18. christmas is on its way, 19. snow globe christmas cookies, 20. custom bokeh - i love christmas, 21. christmas tree explosion (day 9 of 365) EXPLORED!!!, 22. granny square christmas stockings, 23. HAPPY CHRISTMAS BOKEH! XXX, 24. YEAH!!!, 25. Singapore New Year 2010 Fireworks

Got any cheese?

noreply@blogger.com (Chedder Fish) — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 15:33:00 +0000

hahaha Remember Family Matters? My dad always says the line "Got any Cheese?" but I doubt he actually remembers where he over heard it and got it stuck in his head from.

Well. I do gots cheese- A plenty in face and mostly cheddar silly enough.

My sweet neighbor gave us 2 cases of 16 mozzarella balls (one light one reg), 4 packages of sausage patties, 2 boxes of Parmalat milk for camping, 3 blocks of sharp cheddar, 4 of mild cheese, 6 bags of shredded white cheddar, and 5 boxes of Velveeta like cheese.

This is the nicest guy in the world. He's always bringing us stuff from this vendor that over orders. The distribute the non perishables to food banks but the perishables that won't last in this 95 degrees before 10am heat has got to go somewhere.

We cut up some one of the mozzarella balls and snacked last night. I can't wait to pick up some tomatoes and have a nice salad or something tonight. Any suggestions on dishes with cheese?

Since it's Wednesday and my WIP isn't actually IP since I've been in a blur of movement I thought I'd share my last WIP that was finished this Monday during True Blood-

My first counted cross stitch! I'm very happy with it and I do look forward to doing many many more! I made this one first because I loved the tuck pillow and the puppy reminded me so much of Bear- the last dog my parents got while I still lived at home. (They still have Bear and his buddy Dutch.) Bear's ears stick up though.

He's got the prettiest gold eyes. I'll have to do a whole post on the puppies.

The Scandal of the Season by Sophie Gee

noreply@blogger.com (Chedder Fish) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:12:00 +0000

The Scandal of the Season: A Novel

This one's a little unusual for me. I don't usually read "period" pieces or historical fiction I guess. In a quick word this is the story behind Alexander Popes Rape of the Lock. I must say I really didn't know much at all about AP but Sophie Gee does a pretty great job I think of keeping the story interesting while giving us real information about the characters as well as very realistic suggestions as to how history may have gone down haha.

My interest was captured through out the whole book - I really wanted to see how/what was unraveling. The reader was clear enough and you could generally understand who was who. It was a quick enough book too that I would recommend it to anyone really. There is some rather dirty bits to warn you about though with some pretty vulgar descriptions but that's kind of to be expected from a book about so many affairs of the time.

True Detectives by Jonathan Kellerman

noreply@blogger.com (Chedder Fish) — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 18:43:00 +0000

True Detectives: A Novel

Ok I'm almost 3 books behind. I discovered that the Ollie's (a liquidator store in MD and surrounding states) has some really great cheap books on tape and bought 3 and then on my last scrap trip I found an outlet and got 4 more. I've also been driving a whole lot so I've been streaming right through them.

True Detectives is a JK book but not an Alex Delaware book. It's actually about two characters (brothers) who were introduced in the previous book Bones (Alex Delaware, No. 23) . The first brother Aaron Fox is the product of a bi-racial marriage of a young white woman and a black police officer. When the black police officer is shot his partner consoles the woman and eventually the two marry and have Moses Reed. The two boys find that being the sons of two different police officers and even different races really causes them to be driven apart.

Both boys become officers in their own time however Aaron finds he prefers the flexibility of the private work and leaves the force to become a PI. Now, all of this info can be found in Bones and is covered in more detail through out this book- I'm not giving anything away here. Bones is the first place we meet these two and learn about their relationship but True Detectives is really all about them and their dynamic and somewhat of finding their common ground.

It's a great story but admittedly I didn't enjoy it as much. At some points it feels a little long but I will take some blame in that I may have been slightly distracted when listening to it so I couldn't concentrate as much and therefore was generally less enthralled.

One thing I do appreciate is that I didn't find an instance where Aaron discovered something and magically Moses knew it or vice versa but it was always discussed when they met all the new information. I've found in other books sometimes a character discovers something and somehow the other characters know it - as if the author forgot which characters were present or who was involved in which conversation.

Of course I've raved about JK's AD character before and how well John Rubinstein's take on it all is AND you've seen me rant about the children's voices some readers do that is just nails on chalk boards. WELL John did it again- no only does he really conjure up these two characters with clearly different voices but he's able to recreate these characters as children and you still know exactly who it is. They actually sound like a real child would speak with the same speech the adult character would use! It tickled me silly to hear the first time.

WIP Wednesday and a ton of other stuff

noreply@blogger.com (Chedder Fish) — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 14:46:00 +0000

ooh and on time too except it's turned into a ramble that I keep adding to all day and just keeps getting edited and longer.

Thanks for your comments on the floss. I'll admit that I am usually sewing in the car (hubby's driving since we commute for those who haven't read that bit before) and while I'm very opposed to littering I have to say I usually toss tiny bits out the window for the birds.

Edit: I know I've mentioned it before but don't know if I've given real background/detail. When I got my last project and posted it I received a tweet from a fellow blogger, (I haven't asked permission yet to use her name and so I also won't go too far in to the details), who asked if I cross stitched and mentioned she had some cross stitching projects she was going to take to goodwill and if I might want them. I was thrilled and of course expected just a few patterns to get me started. She e-mailed me and let me know the box was coming and it was 26lbs (yes, twenty-six pounds!) and it would be there soon. I got them the Wednesday, 2 days before my grandmother passed and I have to say it was really kind of comforting because of the gesture of kindness. (I also got a really nice note the same day from Miss Molly @ Wild Olive about her class which you must go sign up for which just doubled the good mood.) So I've been digging through the box and learning about different companies and floss and tools and stuff which is taking me way deeper into the stitchy world than I imagined. I am so grateful for all my friends- internet and face to face. They are so inspirational and sweet.

So here's where I'm at so far. I'm learning so much about stitching and I'll admit two pretty simple mistakes but I'm not going to lie - no one else but me will probably ever care/see them. I mixed up one of the whites I was working on and used 2 strands of a different white in the border. Yeah, you definitely can't tell. I also got distracted by Glee and went 2 down on an X but I really don't think anyone will notice until they look really really really close. It was way too far back in the project when I noticed to undo it all.

Also I really am not sure if there is a right way quiet yet but I've found I like to do all one half stitch for the whole area(you might see the bones that are half done) and then just go back and fill it in the 2nd half of the stitch which seems to go faster than line by line and I can carry across less on the back if that makes any sense. I also have no idea about needle size or what sizes I have as they are all in a little case which has a magnet on the back to keep my threader close. I bought one of these recently and I found another in the box.I guess I'll learn the do's and don't of that soon enough.

Here's something important to note about all this too. I was so excited to get into this but I was missing some of the colors. I made a note of what I needed Sunday night. I forgot that note at home on Monday and Russ didn't get my message in time to bring it with him since we were driving separate. I tried to search the internet but didn't have any luck finding the DMC list for this pattern. When I was on the Lizzie Kate site I found the contact me info and I thought I might e-mail them on a chance. Less than 5 min later I had a response!!! From Linda (the owner/creator) herself with exactly what I needed and even an explanation to my question about Flip Its! (It's all in the packaging really.) AMAZING customer service which is a HUGE thing for me. I had to pass that on because I feel like emailing a company isn't something I'd usually do to ask something like that and I certainly wouldn't expect a really personal response much less so quick. Usually responses are auto generated and something like thank you for your interest and we'll get back to you.

I looked through the giant box of projects and I've found lots of LK patterns that I'm looking forward too but I definitely want to do this one which is 6 Flip Its but LK has a free pattern so you can sew them together as one!

I did get to Michael's (I have come to avoid that and prefer ACM but I had a gift card) and picked up not only the thread I needed (minus one color, one reason I dislike Ms) but I did find a really neat carry case (can't find a photo) that not only holds threads on cards and has movable dividers but has a great little pocket for the stitching and papers and stuff. Next trip though I'm getting the scissor shield so I can keep them in this organizer without poking through- does anyone know if they'll work with scissors with a curved tip?

One of the great tools I got in my box of goodies was an adorable pair of Silk Screened Scissors. They've got a slightly curved tip and so I'm hoping the above case will work for them.

They are perfect since what I was using was actually a travel emergency sewing kit with little slide out scissors. Not that these weren't working well, just that it's pleasant to have something a little more "professional" so to speak. Do you have a special brand/pair of scissors? I've read so many people have like 20 pair all over the place.

On another tangent hoops- I'm trying out this Q snap frame that came with my gift. Usually I use the cheap wood frames and I'm always seeing all different types. On Monday at Michael's I actually found the rubber wood frames (like beefranck uses) and the kind below too.I was good and didn't buy any but at least I know where everyone else is getting them from. I like the cheap wood hoops thought too because I love them as frames and they are cheap enough to just buy more. I also love the idea of painting them which I hadn't thought of. Now I know the rubber ones look neat as frames too but I feel like it's a finishing bit to transfer it into that maybe. What kind of hoop do you use/ prefer?

Since I'm on this whole "here's what I'm working with" frame of mind I may as well tell you I really love DMC which has lately made an effort to grow through social media and has a pretty awesome Blog and facebook. I am of course learning about all the other companies and offerings. On this note I've also got to mention Beefranck again since she's been amazingly helpful. I'll say too that Stitching n Junk is definitely worth a listen. Of course I can't leave out the Jamie and the rest of the Mr. X Stitch Family. Bee had helped a lot by answering some really basic questions for me.

One final bit since I've gone this far: Thread conditioner. Jenny Hart mentioned it in a post and I thought about what a good idea any kind of conditioner. Of course one of the many neat things in the box was a little box of Thread Heaven which I started using on my last project and saw results immediately! There was way less drag and less tangles. I noticed it got gunky pretty quick so I've been flipping the sides and trying to kind of scrape off the top layer. I did research it a little to find out where I can get more when I need it and I found this neat little suggestion/ article. Either way I do suggest it- it's not waxy and doesn't make the floss stiff. I understand it really helps with metallic threads but I do need to throw it out there that I've use the Sublime Stitching Metallic and loved it. Do you use a conditioner or have any other tips?

And now since I've spilled my guts about all that what have you got to say about all that?

What do you do with those bits of floss?

noreply@blogger.com (Chedder Fish) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 18:58:00 +0000

I'm a bit of a hoarder and that's what's kind of gotten me behind in scrapbooking- it's so overwhelming all the little things I've got and don't know where to begin working on.

Since I just finished that blanket and there are lots of full threads left I did just wind them onto bobbins for my random colors box. But I still have all the single, double or triple strands left that are long but I'm not sure they are worth saving. I was thinking I'd just put them out for the birds to make nests but I thought I'd pose the question to all my fellow thread users. I googled it too and here was a great thread (haha) on Crafster- http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=304452.0

My favorite result though- is this blog- http://dragonmyneedle.blogspot.com/2009/01/progress-and-new-sal.html

The basic idea between the SAL (I'm going to guess that's stitch a long?) is that you take all that extra little thread and bits of broken buttons and put them in a clear jar. Watch your jar grow through the year as you finish those projects and snap a photo/report in on the new moon of each month.

Here's the sign up page if you're interested http://dragonmyneedle.blogspot.com/2009/12/almost-happy-dance.html

I hope to remember to post on the 15th if not the new moon but at least have a great photo of my WIP/ TUSAL (Totally Useless SAL)

When I'm all done this year I'll use these threads for another wonderful idea-

http://cameoroze.blogspot.com/2007/08/day-419-christmas-ornament-ort-port.html

I think I may keep individual baggies for colors though so each ball is individually colored. It may take a few years to fill them up I guess!

So after I snapped photos and posted about finishing my last project I got started on the next. When I got my wonderful present from the amazing Sandi the first thing I picked right out was this adorable Lizzy Kate Woof Flip it

Land Ho! Noah's Ark stamped stitch DONE

noreply@blogger.com (Chedder Fish) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 00:47:00 +0000

Here's the last photo from the WIP-

And I finished with all the outlines!

Tattoo: a memory, an art, an evolution

noreply@blogger.com (Chedder Fish) — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 19:49:00 +0000

Ok, so anyone who reads this has actually probably already seen these elsewhere but this is one of the few times I've snapped kind of the evolution of a tattoo of mine.

My super nice boss let me have the day off so I was set for meeting with Dave and I was incredibly excited. This is definitely the quickest I've ever made the decision on what I wanted and made it happen so I was only slightly nervous. We chatted a little and went over what I was looking for and he pulled up some photos of daisies, did a little magic and printed out his rough outlines to make a stencil. He applied it and used a little smudgy tool to kind of figure out the flow.

Then he basically would peek at the photos on his screen and ink and back and fourth. It really speaks for itself:

This is pretty fresh so it will be a little bit softer when it's healed and this is also with my phone so it's not the clearest image. This has been by far my least painful, least "messy" and while it's only been 3 days also one of the cleanest.

Here's another shot just to give to the black and white impression.

I have been told that these look bigger in the photos than they are and soon I'll try to get a better image for perspective.