cookies!!

I am, unfortunately, famous for burning things. Foodish things. When I was in college, I worked for a family, for fifteen dollars a week (can you imagine? about 20 hours a week!!!) The mom had died, and they needed help with cooking and cleaning, and "babysitting" a nine year old. I knew NOTHING about cooking anything. I rarely cooked at home, didn't know much. So strangely enough, they hired this unexperienced nineteen year old (it was cheap LOL) I learned to cook with that poor family. (Not that I am that great now, but I get by) I did a great job helping with homework and such. We would watch Hogan's Heroes every afternoon and then he would do homework with help, and I tried to keep the house tidy. His brother and sister were quite a bit older, so I basically just took care of Tommy and then cooked dinner for the family.  I ate there sometimes, but usually didn't.  I learned how to cook with that poor family. I broiled pork chops one night and they turned out well but I neglected to clean out the broiler, until I turned it on the next time..... oh my.

Another memorable time also involved a broiler, many years later. I don't remember what I was cooking but it was in the broiler so long that the smoke alarm went off. The cows came running and stared in the windows. I was crying in frustration and then laughing at the cows and trying to figure out how to turn off the alarm. Fortunately it was not connected to the fire department or anything.

Today, I made cookies. I DID NOT BURN THEM. It's usually the last batch that gives me grief, because I think, well that's done, when I shove the last batch in the oven. But I FOCUSED today!!

My mother in law made wonderful cookies and taught me a few things. Undercook the cookies for one thing, just let them get barely brown. They keep cooking on the sheet. And don't leave the kitchen while the cookies are in the oven. Sit down, have a cup of tea. For me, FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS on the job at hand. DO NOT let yourself get side tracked. 

So I made cookies, thought fondly of my mother in law, and had some tea. Well it was coffee. Same idea. I stayed in the kitchen, used the timer. Was reminded of the time I set my mother in law to stir something while it was heating, and she complained it wasn't heating... turns out we both forgot to turn on the burner. 

So most people aren't proud of themselves when they don't burn the cookies, but I AM PROUD of my ADD self. 

And hubby is glad, and the people that I gave cookies too are glad, but they don't really know that I usually burn them, so they aren't proud of me, just thankful for cookies.

PS The chocolate chip recipe is on the bag of the chips. I collect all these recipes, then use the ones on the package. (eyeroll here!!) We get the  Ghirardelli 60% chocolate bittersweet chips. I also used less sugar, and half the chips and more chopped pecans. That way we can feel less guilty eating the high carb morsels. HA who are we kidding. 

PPS. My youngest child is 33 years old today. That means my oldest is 43. Crazy.

Linoleum printing

Found a linoleum print done by my mother in law. I really want to try to print it, but it's warped. So it's going to spend time under The Dictionary. I heated it a bit with my heat gun, not enough to make it soft, but a tiny bit pliable. So after a few days.... we will see. 

I did find MY little container that has linoleum for cutting in it, found a stamp sitting there, stamped on it and carved it. I haven't done this in a really long time and it was not planned. But fun to just jump and do it.

Evelyn's linoleum carving... there's a crack in one corner, but it isn't on a carved spot. I don't know if I will ever be able to get a print from it, but I'm considering just framing IT because it is so wonderful.

LOL my feeble attempt today. I know that the other way (more carved) works much better. I did some in the long past. I don't even know how good the linoleum I still have is, it seems pretty soft. 

I wonder if my rose is around somewhere... I did it both ways, carving in, and one with the rose raised. 

I have done so many things. A little here, a little there. Hand made paper. I ran across the deckle, still waiting for me to have a paper making day. I will!! 

So... keep creating. Keep walking. Keep breathing.

Here are some other things that showed up today. The boys on the left and the right are my creations, the cowboy was on one of Paul's birthday cakes. And where do I put all this stuff LOL And where did Goldilocks dress go?? And there's Laurel Burch's cat. I just love that kitty, it's a stamp but it sits on the shelf, and moves around when I need to get to something. And makes me smile every time. So that's what this stuff is, stuff that makes me smile.

But here's the tastiest thing I did today.

Grandma's Treasures (and more rambling!)

Learn How Book from 1941
from The Spool Cotton Company

Going through hubby's mom's stuff. We sold her house a few years ago, and he couldn't bear to go through the stuff until recently. I had seen this years ago, but it was packed in a box and I forgot all about it. I have a small later edition, but this one's from 1941. Not sure what I will do with it, but it's interesting to see what was fashionable to knit, crochet, tat, and embroider back in the 1940's. I tried to learn to tat a long time ago but wasn't particularly successful, but maybe I will try again someday. This doesn't take up too much room.

"This doesn't take up too much room." Now where have I heard that before? Nothing takes up too much room, does it? But each little thing all put together sure is overwhelming.

I got all my beading supplies together. There's a few more things I know I haven't seen for awhile so there's a few more things to come together. My daughter gave me an old CD bookcase sort of thing, and I had a few storage containers that fit there quite nicely. Now there's a few  floss containers,  with the floss I got from Loretta, combined with what I already had. Jewelry findings, beading cord, and beads round out the collection. There's two quart jars full of old and new buttons. The top shelf will hold my CD collection and a few books. On the top are my two clear sewing kits, one regular and one for doll clothes (it has teensy snaps and buttons as well as Velcro I have cut into teensy strips) I am quite pleased with the results. Now when I want to do some embroidery or bead work it is right there and handy and I don't have to spend half an hour looking for everything before I start. I ran across some hand made sculpey beads that I forgot I even made! The beads are a ragtag collection from old jewelry finds at thrift stores, as well as some seed beads, and even a few pony beads. My kids and craft students loved stringing them. I've also bought a few unique ones.

my "new" shelves

I am a collector. Mostly what I collect is small, fortunately! Some I have tried to collect, others just found me, like the old buttons. They are Mom's, and Grandma's, and Loretta's, and mine. As well as a few bags of buttons I have gotten... you guessed it, at thrift stores, or taken off of old clothes.

My attention span is not too long. I love trying new things. The best times were when I could pass on what I learned to my students. Maybe what I should do is figure out how I could teach again, maybe even volunteering somewhere. Other than that, I am just going to celebrate what I am, with a little emphasis on Finishing What You Start. So far I am not finding any other Un Finished Projects, but (sigh) I haven't gotten to the quilting ones yet... I know there's a Joel quilt unfinished and a James one Purchased But Not Started. And a purse all cut out, well, two of them. and a few baby blankets that are Mostly Done. A couple not yet cut out, and a couple with fabric purchased but not cut out. I started a wall hanging for a friend when I was living with Grandma, but when I moved it disappeared. {{ note from 6/27 FOUND IT!!!}}I bought a pattern for one for my brother, but I haven't even started it.

SIGH.

No wonder I can't figure out what My Focus for this blog is. What is my Focus for Life, LOL?
Things really ARE coming together; it just seems so slow.
 

blanket allergy....

OCTOBER 12, 2011

MIL greeted me today with “I don’t think you are listening to me. I am allergic to that blanket”. Me, getting really tired about arguing about blankets, went and got it and threw it in the car. It is forever an argument… blankets on the bed. Not warm enough, too warm. Too heavy, not heavy enough. She took the NEW blanket I put on the bed and threw it on the floor. She says she TOLD me that she is allergic to it… she will not believe it is a different blanket.

So what to do… turn heat up… she turns it off. Try different blankets… she says I am causing her “allergy” by continuing to have her use “that blanket”

Reality is, hubby brought home a cold. She doesn’t think she has a cold… she thinks it is the blanket’s fault, therefore MY fault…

Hopefully when her cold is over the blanket issue will be resolved.

but I am not counting on it. There will be something else by then…

Reminded me of an incident that my friend Mare and her mom shared. Her mom told her she wouldn’t sleep in the bed until she got a Big Girl Bed…

I hate it, having to lie, and say I did something when I didn’t. And for telling her that Earl changed his mind when he never thought what she thought he did. And thank Dan for the album that he didn’t do, because she is sure he did…

And not taking things personally.. like, “what are you doing about your weight problem?” This is not the sweet mother in law I knew. This is an angry, outspoken, forgetful woman. I must remember what she was and know that what she is now is not herself.

It comes with Dementia Territory.

just a thought.

I am caring for my mother in law and don't have a lot of craft time at the moment. Suddenly, I had a thought. Why not include her in what I want to do? That way we get two things, something for her to do, and time with her. She was an artist but has mainly lost her sight. So today we spent painting and practicing being satisfied with the PROCESS and not the end PRODUCT. It was good for both of us. Not bad for a novice and a blind person. ;)



And THIS is one of the pictures that my mother in law did before she started losing her sight...

berries and berries and berries and cherries

I have always loved the feeling of a row of freshly canned something. It feels a bit like a squirrel hiding away nuts for winter. This year, as I am tending my mother in law's house and garden, there are oh so very many berries. I picked a gallon just this morning.

In the past, I just canned it without much thought. This year, however, Not Everything Is Going Very Well.

Canning berries and cherries. I got the first batch of berries done, then a batch of cherries. Then, halfway through the second batch of berries, the stove burner died. I Muscled the canning kettle full of water and berry jars to the other burner, thanks to the weight lifting I have been doing!! The small burner would NOT get it hot enough so I had to settle for 200 degrees. So, have to do something else with the berries-- package them and freeze them. It's a shame, they are beautiful...at least I got a couple batches done before the burner died.

But before that, must get the berry cobbler done. No cornstarch. She said, "I quit buying that because of you, you can't eat it!" True, but I can't eat the berries either so why care if it's in there? oh well, I'll use flour instead. No lemon juice. Well maybe there's a lemon still out there on the tree I can use. Whew! No baking powder. oh my, off to the store. Better see what else I am missing. That's what happens when you bake in someone else's kitchen and you depend on what you have in YOUR kitchen.

Next time I am checking things out FIRST instead of running to the store in the middle of the project.

About the cobbler. After all the fuss with having to go get a lemon, I forgot to add it. And now it's baking, and even though I used the correct pan size, it is going over the sides and dripping on to the floor of the oven. Sometimes it is as if there's really a Murphy after all. She wonders why I don't do much baking? Well then. Here's the reason.

And even though I repeatedly have said I do NOT do pies, my dear mother in law is still going through her recipe file with her magnifying glass, looking for "that good pie recipe, did you know it was Fran's?"

Well she found the recipe. Macular degeneration didn't stop her. Phooey. I must be strong and resist her!

I think I'll call Fran, and tell HER to make a pie. :)

where does the time go??

Being creative is sometimes hard to fit in to everything else. Right now, I'm only home 2 nights a week-- the rest, staying with my mother in law. I spend my days there, and so far haven't taken paints. I should. She might like it too. I got an outdoor table, so I ought to just do it. She's losing her sight, but she used to paint, and if she could get past not Being Perfect, then maybe she could...I gessoed some pages and did some more ghosting while i was there... just finished, and am dissatisfied with the results... just am so tired I can't think much less create something. Of course the beauty of painting is i can just gesso it again and start over.... maybe tomorrow, or technically today since it is after midnight.

A funny thing happened today though. I planted the sweet pea plants in the garden and found out that they are not "sweet peas" but they are "sweet peas". Not Sweet peas the flower. Sweet PEAS. LOL.... I had a good giggle, and I guess they ought to look pretty anyway but I was disappointed. I also planted snapdragons, dahlias,   and transplanted 4 peach seedlings, at my mother in law's request, because she wants to see what kind of peaches we will get.... but she's 95 and I don't know if they will be bearing soon enough. Oh well, I will do it anyway, and we will see. She might surprise me. I planted 3 kinds of tomatoes, and am preparing the beds for swiss chard, lettuce, and several kinds of beans, although not the favorite one-- blue lake pole beans. Couldn't find them anywhere. :(  I am LOVING the gardening. I get up around 6:30 and garden in the coolness. Very cool. Pictures someday.

Speaking of creating, and speaking of my mother in law, she has something new she made for lunch one day. The peanut butter and pickle sandwich was one thing, but when she added raisins to the tomato soup and loved it, I'm shaking my head.

She hardly ever acts like she has dementia.  LOL

even different creating

I seem to follow many roads. Today I was helping my mother in law with her family history. It was really odd, because as I looked up one of HER relatives, I found her (ancestry.com) in a tree called "Butler Family Tree" which is odd because that is my first husband's name. Even odder is that I ran across people in that Butler tree with a Spiegel in it that also had some familiar names from the Mills family tree, MY family. I know we are all related not that far back but it's strange to run across it in three families, that as far as I knew were not related at all... hmm.. No I am not going to pursue it, just to find someone that may be my 7th cousin and also my husbands 8th cousin and also my ex husband's 5th cousin.

I don't want to know that badly. :) I just want the Spiegels today.