Food, Fun and Frolic!

Well I for one had a fabulous Christmas. Starting off with a holiday visit to my cousins house. It was nice to see my aunt and uncle and the kids too. The crown roast of pork was so tender and juicy, and the tarragon sauce to go with it so creamy, YUM. She said the pork was really easy to make, but I know it's expensive so I won't be making that anytime soon. Then 2 days of cleaning and cooking and wrapping presents. (Thank you DH for all your help) The inlaw's came over Christmas Eve. and can I just pat myself on the back and say they went nuts for my food! Who wouldn't with Prime Rib as the main course. It's so impressive, and trust me when I say soooo easy. Read the recipe you'll see what I'm talking about. Christmas Day I did spend the whole day at my sister's house. We may of gotten there a little too early. They were finishing breakfast and running around straitening up and doing the dishes. Sorry sis! But I needed to get cooking on the slow cooked pulled pork for the sandwiches I was making. It was worth the worry cause those were some yummy sandwiches. Of course the soup they made was good too. My sister makes the best red pepper soup, and my niece made spicy sausage with cheese tortellini soup that was fantastic, I'm making myself hungry cause I brought some for lunch today, yum! I also made 3 dips that were good but nothing to blog about. But this was, Panettone Bread Pudding with Cinnamon Syrup you had to get some quick cause it was gone FAST. What's not to love eggs, cream, bread! Did I mention I'll be starting a diet in the new year!? And by diet I mean eating right and exercising more.
Well I can't let this be just about food, it's isn't even friday for crying out loud. So here are some pictures I promised to post of the bracelet I made for DH's name for Christmas. Now I can tell you he had my nephew's wife's name. Like I said I was dying to make this bracelet from Rachel Nelson-Smiths new book, and here is how it turned out




I would of loved to have seen her face when she opened it. I did talk to her on Christmas, she said she loves it and can't wait to wear it.
She's due to have her baby boy any day now and as she's said the sooner the better. She can't fit into any of her clothes, but can't wait to wear it when she can. I used a little black vintage button that I had for the clasp then made 3 loops so it's adjustable, knowing that she be losing weight once she has the baby. Good luck sweet O and may my Mom be right when she said "once you have that baby in your arms you forget about the pain you went through! (and my I all so say, better you than me!)

It's friday for me!

I'm sorry I haven't been keeping up with this blog so good. We have been busier at work, which is a good thing, but it's the holiday season and I have menu's to plan damn it!
Speaking of menu's DH and I are going to my cousins house tonight for a holiday get together with his mom and step dad.
His wife is making, dumb tiddy dum, Crown of Roast Pork. I have never had this, but it sure looks impressive. See:



I'm bringing dessert. What do you bring (key word here since we're driving there) to go with such a fabulous meal? How about
Lemon Angel Food Cake (they love lemon desserts) with...wait for it Roasted Berries!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of course that includes a dollop of Mascarpone whipped cream! Speaking of roasted berries, you should REALLY try this recipe. You know how when you buy berries and the taste is less than stellar, roasted them! It really intensifies the flavor. So good, I made these this past summer when they were all on sale, and just froze them to have all winter long. Talk about a little bit on summer in your mouth :-}
After today I'm off of work until Monday, yeah! Really looking forward to going to my sisters house for ALL of Christmas day.
We basically just sit around and chat, play games, open present, and CHOWDOWN! All 20 of us. I won't go into everything I'm making. I'll blog about my favorites after the fact. Reading that last sentence, I never in a million years thought I'd be typing THAT. Me blogging, ha.
Speaking of blogs, I checked my stats this morning and someone from San Francisco has checked out my blog TWICE! How exciting is that. From one of my favorite cities ever! Hello San Fran thanks for stopping by :-x.
Saturday is all about beading. I'm staying in my PJ's and beading, napping, eating, over and over again. Which hopefully means I'll have a few new things in the shop next week. Until then have a safe and magical holiday everyone!

Who knew...well you probably did

It's Christmas time the time of year that special holiday recipes come out.
Today's recipe is for this.



Honestly I have never had Peppermint Bark before. I know, I know, it's been offered I just always declined. I mean it just sounded like too much peppermint going on. They the other girl at work brought in Dove's Dark Chocolate Peppermint Bark. OMG they are so good! With just a hint of peppermint. So now I want more and guess what it's "Limited Edition" and I can't find it ANYWHERE! Luckily I found this recipe on Epicurious. With 156 reviews it must be good! Happy Holidays!!!!!!!!!!!!

WooHoo!!!

Bead and Button class schedule is out! I wear that catalog OUT! Usually there's at least one class that I keep my fingers crossed that I'll get in. This year, not so much. Now I know I'm an advanced beader so it's pretty hard to wow me, there are some wonderful classes, the thing is I already know how to make it or it's really expensive. I remember the first year I went to B & B (5 yrs ago) the average class costed around $75, today it around $280!. As much as I like metal clay and lampwork beads, I've decided to stay with beadweaving because that's my absolute favorite. To be fair there are some amazing artist teaching this year that are also affordable. Of course my fav is Marcia. But Thomas Mann is teaching, wow! And Robert Dancik is there too. Of course the shopping is awesome. I do most of my bead buying then. You know a girl just has to see and touch before she buys :-}
Now if money was no object... or better yet, if you could pay with BEADS!!! I'd be all over these!








Go here to see all there is to offer!

Gawker!

I've always loved foodgawker and now I just found out there's a craftgawker!
How cool is that! I will be checking it out daily and hopefully some of my jewelry will be accepted. Here's just a few of my favorites.


from Kittyvet


from eleanors


from glitterpants (in case you didn't notice my banner, I have a "thing" for druzy's)

Foodie Friday!

This is the most moist, tender, easy, delicious pork loin I have ever made!


And I HAVE made alot of pork loin!

Taking a trip without leaving the comfy chair

I was checking out all my favorite blogs (see right side bar) this morning, when I came across this site! It's a person who just opened a gallery and just started a blog about it. So I just visit an art gallery!
Here's pictures of some of my favorites





The first one is named "The Arrogance of Youth" I can see it can't you!
Come on forget about the snow and go take a walk through the art gallery!

What's in a name...

It took me a long while to call myself an artist, and to be honest I still use the work tentatively. Yes I make beautiful things with my hands. But in my mind until I create ONLY my own designs/patterns, I don't really consider myself an artist. My favorite pieces on etsy are the ones I did create and they are the most fun to make. They are also the most time consuming. You may start with a drawing of your idea but once you actually start sewing the beads together that's when you find out what really works as far as size and color. So there could be alot of tearing out and/or starting over. In the end when you get it just right, eeeeeeeeeeee, it's the best feeling. Some projects take along time to make, as you can imagine seeing the hundreds of tiny beads in one piece. I may start out loving it but by the time I finish it, I'm tired of looking at it. The thrill is gone so to speak. Usually all I need to do is show my sister "K" have her put it on (once she stops oohing and aahing) and I see the beauty of the piece again. I wish I could just bead all day, really that's the fun part. If I could afford to. I wouldn't mind working all day. The not so fun part is selling it. The art fairs are great if you get good weather. It's nice to get out and get feedback from customers. It's a lot of work though, setting up and breaking down. I only do a few a year I can't image doing a whole year full like some artist. That would really become a job. Selling on the internet is trying. Don't get me wrong etsy is very helpful with their forums and chat rooms, but it's also information over load! I wish there was a book. With steps A, B, C to start up your etsy shop and for getting your name/work out there in search engines so people can find you. I'm a lucky one because I sit in front of a computer all day, when we're slow I'm on the net reading about what some others have tryied. I have spent HOURS reading up on what to do to get a sale. Nothing has worked yet. I'm not discouraged, I just wish I knew what to do to get people to my shop. So if you happen upon this blog from a search would you mind leaving a comment saying so. And if you have the time a note about what I could do different to help with sales would be most appreciated.
I'll leave you with this video, now this is a true artist. Forget about paying football players millions, this guy should get that!
This is really incredibly, raw talent! WOW!

Food for Thought

I know, I know it's Foodie Friday and your looking for a fabulous recipe. Maybe next week! Today is Food for Thought.
I listen to NPR to and from work everyday. On Fridays they have something called StoryCorp. It's people telling their story to a friend or a family member. They always play it sometime before I get to work and inevitably the later it gets and the closer I get, the more likely it's going to be one that gets me to cry. It never fails! I then have to walk in all red eyed! Thankfully no one has noticed this yet. Either that or they consider how early in the morning it is and keep on walking. But besides that, they truly are amazing stories. They make you think about other peoples lives. People are amazing creators and hearing these stories make me realize how lucky I am. Also they let me know there's always someone out there that's worse off than you. Not that I'm complaining about my life, I have beautiful one. But if there's a day when your feeling down in the dumps listen to some of the stories. They'll make you realize its not so bad and it could be a hell of alot worse. Don't get me wrong they are not all sad, they're happy, silly, tragic, and inspiring. Not all of them make me cry, but all of them make me think.
And since it's Friday and I'm on NPR I'll leave you with this picture that I found on NPR'S website



Looks good, taste even better...because there's BACON in it! Come on you know you want one!

It's not what you know, it's who you know, and vice-versa!

I'm working really hard to get some sales at my etsy shop. To get sales you have to get your name out there. To do that you need to have the right tags, descriptions and search options. Etsy forums have much to offer in the way of help, and I have been known to get lost for hours reading about how to do something. It's almost too much information. This site has been most helpful. I highly recommend it to anyone setting up a shop. She not only give's you information, a lot of times she'll walk you through exactly how to do it! FREE! I think I'll buy some stain glass from her site just to show her I appreciate her knowledgeable, helpful sharing!
After losing myself in the forums for over 2 hours this morning I needed some thoughtless relief, so I went to StumbleUpon. Have you gone there yet? It's so fun! You sign up (no Fee) and then select the topics your interested in. Click on discover and away you go. After that just click the "stumble!" button to go to the next site. When you click on the "I like this button" it saves it into your favorites folder for you to further investigate later. As if my life isn't going by fast enough, I can/have lost days on this site. It would be perfect for your phone ( if you can afford to have the net connection)
if your waiting in your Dr.s waiting room, STUMBLE, when waiting for your always late sister at the coffeeshop, STUMBLE. If anything this site will give you a glimpse at all the web has to offer. Like this for example,



who knew!? And where can I get a pair?

Rachel ROCKS!

I'm sitting here at work trying to keep my eyes open. Why am I so sleepy? I got enough sleep last night.
OH...I drained all my energy making something from Rachel Nelsons Smiths new book Seed Bead Fusion.



DRAINED, because I could NOT contain my excitement!
I'm making something out of the book (I won't say what) for the name my DH picked for Christmas. IT IS SO COOL!!!!!!!!!!!
I think I'll have to make one for the person I got also. AND since they don't read my blog I'll treat you all to a picture once there done.
Holy bead book Rachel this pattern rocks! Actually the whole book rocks so if your a beader you should run out and get it, at the very least put it on your wish list. Non-beaders click on her name to go to her site she makes some amazing beadwork!
Wow, just typing about it woke my up a little. I wish I could bead when I'm here.

Cyber Monday!

What a wonderful Thanksgiving break I had. The thanksgiving meal was absolutely delicious! The best was the homemade ravioli that my niece made. HOMEMADE butternut squash and sage ravioli! Wow it was so good.
Friday I got to be lazy and stay in my PJ's all day! What I treat. I did do a bit of beading. I made a pin, but I hate it so I'll be cutting that one apart. The nice thing is that I dreamt of a better pin design that night. I love it when I dream about beads. Beads, beads, wonderful beads! Saturday I spent the day with my Mom and sister and niece. We went to lunch and then to Art vs Craft to see my other sis and niece that were selling there. They had a great show. I'm so happy for them. Yesterday was pick up the pieces day, laundry, dust, vacuum, I never sat down, but I didn't get as much done as I wanted to. Seriously if I was rich I would have no problem hiring a maid service. I'm overwhelmed with joy just thinking about it. Really can you imagine NEVER having to clean your house again! Pure ecstasy! Forget the drug, give me the maids!
So on Thanksgiving we picked names for Christmas. $25 dollar limit and preferable handmade. I'm all over that one. And not to give too much away but I'll be making something for the person my DH was too.
And just to help all you non crafty people, if you go to etsy and type in free shipping in the search it comes up with a dollar amount that you can put in on the left hand side. I'm sure you'll find something for everyone. There's just a few things I found:


So sit back, relax, and go shopping! Most website are offering FREE shipping today Cyber Monday!!!

Beading and Books, Baby!

Just when I thought I had nothing to blog about StumbleUpon
comes through for me. First I went here
then here found this along the way, who wouldn't want an idea for a new book to read, or hear. Since I started beading so many years ago I really missed reading books so now I listen to books on tape/CD. I find that's true with most beader's. I'm not sure how but I'd like to start some kind of book go round, you know, send the book/CD to beaders who sign up that want to listen to that book too. Plus I wouldn't mind paying so much for a book knowing it gets passed along to someone else. I'm going to think about this more and see if I can get it to really work. I know Marcia and Jeannette listen to books. Oh and so does Gail. Knowing their such awesome artists, I know I'd like most of what they like to read too.








See I told you they are awesome!

Martha, Martha, Martha

I've been waiting all week to post this recipe.



OMG! These are sooooo goood!!! Sweet and lemony! They may be on the verge of being too lemony for some but not me! Or Eileen, so if I get her name for Christmas she'll be one happy girl.
Or maybe I'll just make them to bring for Christmas with a little blueberry jam sandwiched in between. Eeeeee, Lemon and blueberry, a winning combination! Actually you don't really taste the poppy seeds so you can omit them if your out of them.
Really you can't go wrong with a recipe from Martha, everyone I've ever tried was scrumptious!

Crafty!

I use to hate winter it was cold, rainy, cold, snowy, cold and more cold, yuck! Now, now! I enjoy it, because all winter long I get to be "crafty". I say crafty because besides beading I'm knitting and crocheting. Now mind you I still have to cook, clean and do laundry, but I no longer need to work outside weeding, weeding and more weeding. OK, there is some fun gardening thrown it there, but mostly it's weeding.
So last week I started knitting this scarf.



I chose it because I never did the cable stitch before and this had just a little in the pattern. I was having fun learning this new stitch but after finishing the first part it was very small. By small I mean it was 1.5 inches across! I read my instructions top to bottom to see if there was something I missed. There was one minor word I that I did not pay enough attention to... It's called a "neckwarmer". Silly me I assumed by the picture it was a scarf. So now I'm going to try to use the same pattern and make it larger. Me, with little experience with knitting! But the "neckwarmer" pattern is pretty cool (it's called Twig) so I'm going to try and make it work. Wish me luck!
In the beading world, I did make this awesome (if I do say so myself) bracelet.




It's not my pattern I got it somewhere on the internet (that I couldn't find again if you paid me).
I couldn't wait to make this, and since it's not my pattern I wouldn't sell it in my esty shop so I thought I'd make it for a raffle my uncle Paul is in charge of, the proceeds go to help patient's with prostate cancer.
I am more than happy to donate to this cause especially since my uncle is a cancer survivor himself.
Hopefully people will bid high to own that beauty.

Just asking..

Reading this makes me ask, is this the same government that wants to run our healthcare?
The United States Preventive Services Task Force. How can you "prevent" something if your not screening for it?
I also read that they say women should not self exam. And don't even get me going on the insurance company's!
This is the MOST unreasonable thing I have EVER read about our government. I can't imagine anyone disagreeing with me, so nuf said.
Ok so this isn't funny to me, but it may be to you. I REALLY want my Dad to make one of these for me.



Seriously, how cool would that be! You can see more here. Scroll down to Nov. 15th.
And at $79 a pop for the top one, well I know my Dad can make one much cheaper :-}
Maybe he'll surprise me for my birthday (fingers crossed)!

If you could...

In reality I have a love/hate relationship with the internet. I know, I know a few days back I said I loved the internet, and I still do. It's just that there's SO MUCH information out there you can drive yourself crazy! I'm not going to get on my soap box again today but after reading this article I am sure my decision to stop taking statin's is the right one. But in view of ALL the info out there I've decided to talk to a nutritionist. That should narrow it down a bit. Of course the insurance company's won't pay for that or vitamins. But I'm going for results not cost. Do I hear an amen!?
Now for something fun...
I got this video emailed to me today.



So if you could play any instrument beautifully what one would it be?
I'll go first, a violin! You could play in an orchestra, or more to my taste you could play back up in a band like Bruce Springsteen!
I'd want to play like this:



or this, but I'd wear a cuter dress:


Oh, and the other thing did you ever notice most violinists are thin, BONUS!

Did someone say Heart attack?!

This really makes my blood boil!
The BIG drug company's could care less about lying to people about the effectiveness of the drug their taking! The results of that being a little known thing called DEATH!

"Ultrasound images of neck arteries showed that Niaspan shrank buildups by about 2 percent, while Zetia had no effect on this even though it lowered bad cholesterol as expected."

Do you find that troubling? I sure do.
Do ANY of the cholesterol lowering drugs in fact work? Is it too much to ask to get a drug that actually works?

"Last year, a large study found that the combo pill Vytorin was no more effective than Zocor alone, a statin now available as a cheap generic. In August, Merck and Schering-Plough agreed to pay $41.5 million to settle lawsuits claiming they delayed unfavorable study results on the drugs because they would hurt sales."

So it's NOT about fixing anything, it's about making money and ALOT of money at that, while people using the drug (that I'm sure they pay doctors to prescribe) are told it's helping them is in reality giving them false hope. This is exactly why I stopped taking statin's. If you lower my cholesterol numbers but I still have plaque build up in my arteries, I'm probably still going to have a heart attack. Now some people such as myself can eat right, exercise, lower their stress as much as they can, they will still have high cholesterol because their bodies produce more that it should and all of the above-mentioned changes are never going to lower it enough. So we NEED the drugs the HUGE drug companys make... or do we? I for one will be looking into this Niaspan which is actually a time release version of niacin. Niacin, a vitamin people, ie. NO DRUG COMPANY INVOLVED! There are some side effects similar to the statins, but I can put up with that much easier knowing the pill (I'm taking to save my life) IS ACTUALLY WORKING!
OK, I'm off by soap box. Now for the happy thoughts!
Yesterday I swear I saw this in my backyard!!!!



I can't be positive because by the time I saw there was a" BLUE" bird and actually grabbed the binoculars, got them in focus the bird (birds) were gone! (sigh) I went to the bird book to look up what I thought I saw and It looked just like this one! I swear!
I've always wanted blue birds in my yard, and there they were stopping by briefly on there way down south. You better believe next year I'll be buying Mealy worms! (ugh)

Foodie Friday!!!

As you all know I love to cook, well actually I like to eat! I like to eat yummy food, and to do that I have to cook it :-)
So on fridays (from now on known as Foodie Fridays) I will share with you something sure to be delicious!
Today it a wonderful Spiced Apple Bundt Cake.


I only cooked it for 50 mins. but ovens vary so just keep an eye on it.
Also I would recommend after taking the cake out of the oven, turn the oven off. After 15 mins. poke the holes in the cake WITHOUT TAKING THE CAKE OUT OF THE PAN. Pour the sauce over the cake and put the cake bake in the warm oven until all that yummy sauce is soaked in! Serve with whipping cream or even better ice cream. But it really doesn't need it, it's very moist.
Don't be crying about the amount of butter or sugar people! It's CAKE, if you don't want to eat it eat a piece of bread, oh no that's fattening too, eat a crack.. that fatting too! Have a drink of water!

My Own Private Idaho!

Even though I'm more of an old school kind of girl I do love the internet! There is a plethora of knowledge out there! I'll go to one site click on a link on the side of that site, again and again. I get so lost I could not get back to where I was if you gave me BEADS to do it! You could lose a whole day! Trust me I know, we're so slow at work right now I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't surf the web all day. Seriously I have over 1 thousand bookmarks!
The other thing the internet gives me is gratefulness. You can see and read about someone's life half way around the world from you. Learn about people who live on $100 a month or less! People who have lost and are lost. Make's me feel very fortunate for what I have and what I don't have. Make me realize I really need so little to be truly happy.
I could lose myself all day at this site alone! And see what's happening around the world as I sit here in my own private Idaho!