20 Years Ago

20 years ago, in the aftermath of this nor'easter, and while the Bills were beating the Broncos on the way to their 3rd AFC Championship, this is what we were doing.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing you and yours a very happy Thanksgiving! We're going out for lunch in Annapolis with a friend and having guests over for dessert and drinks in the evening. It should be fun.

Hero Arts sentiment, all other images and supplies are Stampin' Up!. 

Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, So Saffron, Creamy Caramel. The DSP is from 2006.

My inspiration for the design came from Nadine's card. My inspiration for the colors came from ColourQ #59.

Apples! Apples! Apples!

Last weekend, we drove out to Homestead Farms to pick apples and pumpkins. We had a lot of fun, and it turned into quite the adventure. We came home via White's Ferry (yes, a real ferry) and stumbled across a carnival when we stopped for dinner.

We also came home with a half a bushel of apples and an assortment of decorative pumpkins. This week, I've been trying to use the apples in cooking.  Here are two recipes for things that I put together that are a bit different than the usual pies and such. I made the first one to go with our pancake supper tonight.

Pancake Apples (for spreading over pancakes or maybe ice cream)

1/2 stick of butter
1 medium apple, cored and sliced thinly; peel if you want
1/4 C. real maple syrup (substitute brown sugar if you don't have the real stuff)
water
cinnamon

Melt the butter in a small frying pan over medium heat. Place the sliced apple in a single layer in the butter. After 1-2 minutes, flip the apple. After another minute, continue to saute for about 5 minutes. Add the maple syrup and enough water to cover the apples about 2/3 of the way. Mix well. Cook for another 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Spread the apples back out into a single layer in the pan and give them a dusting of cinnamon (don't be skimpy on the cinnamon; you want it a bit strong here). Mix well, continue stirring, and cook until the sauce begins to bubble and carmelize. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. If it gets cold, reheat in the microwave for 30-60 seconds before serving.

Chicken Sausage with Apple Salsa

mild olive oil or canola oil
1/4 - 1/2 C. onion, diced
2 red bell peppers, diced (don't use green ones here; you want them to be sweet)
4-6 chicken sausages with good seasoning
1 apple, cored and thinly sliced

apple cider (or chicken broth)
1 Tbsp. corn starch

In a large frying pan or skillet with a lid, heat 2 glugs of olive oil over medium heat, making sure there's enough oil to lightly cover the bottom of the pan. Saute the onion in the olive oil. When the onion starts to be translucent, add the red pepper and continue cooking. After 5 minutes, add the sausage and try to brown on all sides. When browned, add the sliced apple. Mix thoroughly and then add enough apple cider to halfway cover the sausages. Cover and simmer until the apples and peppers are soft and the sausages are cooked, flipping the sausages and stirring the mix once or twice while it's cooking. Remove the lid and let the cider reduce a bit. Remove the sausages and keep warm. Mix the corn starch with a bit of cold water and then add to the pan. Continue stirring the mix and cook for a few more minutes. A gravy-like chunky apple salsa should form. Serve the salsa over the sausages (and rice or potatoes, if desired).

I served this with a side of broccoli, and then realized that I could have made this a one-pot dish by adding some shredded cabbage or broccoli slaw to cook with the onions.

Save the Bits!

Today, 1010, has been designated by the Council of State Archivists as Electronic Records Day to raise awareness about the challenges in preserving our digital resources. This gives me the opportunity to share with you some information from my professional life that can be useful if you are trying to preserve your own digital memories.

Image from the Library of Congress' National Digital Preservation Program.

How to Preserve Your Own Digital Materials: http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/personalarchiving/
Handouts from the North Carolina State Archives: http://ncrecords.wordpress.com/2012/10/10/happy-electronic-records-day/
Born Digital for Those Born Analog: http://hangingtogether.org/?p=2158
Personal Digital Archives: http://personaldigitalarchives.blogspot.com/
The Practical Archivist: http://practicalarchivist.com/ 
Caring for your Family Archives: http://www.archives.gov/preservation/family-archives/

Check in with the Day of Digital Archives (10/12, this year): http://dayofdigitalarchives.blogspot.com/

If you are an archivist, librarian, or dedicated family historian and want to explore digital archives further, you can check out the Archivists and Records Managers Blog links provided by L'Archivista (scroll down).

And just for fun: a video of the earliest surviving copyrighted motion picture, the Edison Kinetoscopic Record of Fred Ott's Sneeze

Happy First Day of Fall

It's hard to believe this is what we were doing 4 years ago today. 

Can you believe how tiny they were?

Two Starts and a Search

With the craziness of August over, I've found some time to be stitching again. I've made two starts, about which I'm very excited. The first is the start of an anniversary present for DH. Our 20th comes in early December.

The second is a pumpkin. You know how I love to stitch fall-themed items, especially pumpkins!

Finally, I saw this on Edgar's blog. Isn't his stitching and the finishing lovely? Do any of you know whose design this is? Searching on "Be Ye Thankful" hasn't turned up the chart. And yes, I did ask Edgar already.

Happy Fall and happy stitching!

Fall Cards

Look! I've been making some cards.The first was inspired by some colors I saw on Coni's blog, Spinster Stitching. These are meant to be birthday cards for my nieces, the oldest of whom turns 13 this November!

Papers and punches are Stampin' Up. Ribbon and eyes found at A.C.Moore.

The second was inspired by a layout on Clean and Simple. I love these fall, manly colors. Once I pulled the papers, this really was a simple card to make.

 Papers, stamps, and punches are Stampin' Up, except the star paper in the lower left.

I'm having trouble making a Halloween card I like this year. I want to use the owl punch again, but the colors and design are just not working for me somehow. Since my craft time is so very limited right now, I may throw in the towel and move on to Thanksgiving.

San Diego

We spent our second big summer vacation in southern California. DH and I lived in San Diego in the mid-1990s, and we really love San Diego. The girls loved it too, especially since we celebrated their 4th birthdays there.

L., cousin C., and A. bubble rolling in Long Beach. 

C.'s dad helped construct this; you can just see him behind A.'s bubble.

At the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. They also went to the Zoo, 

on a different day while I attended a professional conference.

Birthday Princess A.

Birthday Princess L. (looking like the Paper Bag princess!)

Cake! (They goofed on L.'s name.)

Candle time 

J., L., A., and C. at SeaWorld. 

They went there 4 times during the week! The girls loved SW.

L. dancing with J., a friend from DC, whose dad also was in San Diego

 to attend the same professional conference.

A. dancing by herself.

C., L., and A. watching the whales. (I have dozens of whale photos.)

Catching up on some SBQs

Here I am proposing all these questions (and I do enjoy your answers), but I forget to answer myself. So here goes:

January - What's the oldest pattern in my stash? I have a Girl Scout surface embroidery pattern that was my mother's when she was still a Girl Scout. It's probably from the '60s. I can't decide if I want to keep it, sell it, or see if GSA would like it as a donation.

February - Are you ready to break up with any pattern/project in your stash? In the past year, I've been trying to week out patterns I'm not going to stitch. The ones that I'm having the hardest time breaking up with are ones where I've started the project. The one I most need to release is a dupli-stitch sweater bought from JCS in the early 1990s. It's so country and 1980s and so not me any more, but it's 3/4 of the way done and one of my first BAPs, and so it's still in the closet. My mother would probably wear it if I got it to the point of being done enough.

March - Round Robins and Exchanges - nope, haven't done these. I did put in an inquiry about Fair and Square earlier this year, but haven't heard anything.

April - was there an SBQ? I think I missed it.


May - Favorite floral piece? I'm not into stitching large floral pieces. I love to see them, but they're not the types of pieces that I enjoy stitching. Hmm, maybe that's why Spring is underrepresented in my stitching. My favorites include a spring breadcloth I did for a friend of mine, probably in 1995. It was a small corner motif with daffodils. I also did a wedding sampler for my cousin that has a background of variegated trees.


June - Do you stitch patriotic pieces? I love the color combination red, white, and blue, and I've stitched a few patriotic pieces. I'm surprised I haven't stitched more.


July - "I don't have the patience for that!" - I hate when people dismiss cross-stitch, especially with the patience bit. And I never know what to say. For the most part, I think they have it backwards - cross stitch helps me be more patient. I find it soothing and calming. It is an oasis from the go-go-go part of the rest of my life. It also gives me a guilt-free excuse for sitting down and perhaps watching some TV. Some people run; some woodwork; others garden. I stitch.

Whew! Now I'm caught up, until Monday!

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

We spent last week avoiding the heat of DC by visiting the Bahamas. It was my first time to the Caribbean, and it was wonderful.

We had our own private beach.

The girls and their grandfather built a sandcastle.

The view from the back of the house.

A marvelous sunset.

It was a very, very relaxing vacation. I even managed to work on some stitching from my Wipocalypse list. This birth sampler I started from scratch while there.

This replaces the sheep PIF piece I had planned. I had the red star and blue waves on this one done before we left. There are white stars on either arm of the red star that don't show up well. Here's a link to the PDF of the pattern.

We followed our tradition of watching A Capitol Fourth on PBS. And we managed not to have to go to Urgent Care at all this trip, although we had a close call when A. decided to bite the end off of a glow stick. (Fortunately, they are non-toxic, but still taste awful.)

Last Day of School

It doesn't seem like it was so long ago that it was the first day of school for my girls.

Then it was Christmas.

And the Spring Concert.

 

Finally, the last day of school. 

 

Where did the time go?

 

Summertime

Our summer is off to a good start. We spent a weekend at Solomon's Island. The girls are enjoying Adventure Camp. I'm enjoying the reduced laundry load (less bulky summer clothes + no white uniform shirts). We're working on a plan for our front yard, so that it's no longer just weeds and mulch.

The girls' love of swimming continues. They've discovered the diving board at our local pool. It's pure joy for them. DDL is so funny - she walks to the end, hops 3-8 times, and then jumps off. She started doing this after watching the Olympic trials for springboard diving. Never mind that she isn't yet 4 and has to wear a life vest while using the diving board. She and DDA watched someone dive backwards last weekend and wanted to try that too. Um, no.

I've made some bruscetta with farm fresh tomatoes (yummmm!). We also had some farm stand watermelon. Today I baked a rhubarb tart. I started stitching a small patriotic piece to send to a friend. I love summer. Now, if only I didn't have to work so much.

11 Things

Jo at Serendipitous Stitching posted this list of 11 questions, which I thought would be fun to answer.

1. how long is it since you’ve last played, sat on the floor, with a kid? Not long.

2. your favourite school trip? We took a number of memorable trips when I was in school: the Rochester Planetarium, Corning Museum of Glass, and Buffalo Zoo. The most memorable had to be our senior trip to the Gettysburg Battlefield, Colonial Williamsburg, and Busch Gardens.

3. when you go to sleep, do you wake up in the same position, or do you find blankets and pillows all over the place? I roll over a lot during the night.

4. shades, hat or both? Both, especially when it's super-sunny. I get sun headaches otherwise.

5. was there a time you thought “I wish I was born there!”, if so when/where was it? Not really.

6. do you know how to make candy corn? could you tell me? No idea. I do know how to make marshmallows from scratch though.

7. how many years have you been stitching? did you learn by yourself or did someone help you along the way to the stitching madness it’s nowadays? I started stitching sometime in the mid-to-late '80s. I didn't get serious about it until the early '90s, when I was overseas and unemployed. I'm pretty much self taught, although I grew up in a crafty family.

8. the perfect sandwich: what is in it? These days, it's a muffaleta. Growing up, I was a huge fan of fried bologna sandwiches.

9. honestly, do you think ironing our clothes is really necessary? how do you deal with the dullest house work ever? I only iron my craft projects. Ironing clothes is a huge waste of time. This was the chore I least liked doing growing up, especially since my mother used to claim that she loved to iron and then would make me do it. I remember having a big fight with my parents over ironing at least once. The only way ironing clothes is bearable is if I'm doing it while watching television.

10. you reckon there’re even duller things than ironing? what is it?!

11. is there a TV commercial you like? (makes you laugh, takes you back to old times, reminds you of someone you know, ..) As a kid, I really loved Schoolhouse Rock. It's fun watching them again with my kids. And speaking of kids, right after mine were born in 2008, DH and I were watching a lot of Nationals' games. When the 2009 season started, we again tuned in. One evening as we were watching a game, two little heads whipped around to look at the TV. It took me a minute to figure out what was going on. They had recognized the opening music from the Amstel Light commercial. (It's the one with the elderly gentleman shouting something in Dutch that sounds like "Hum ma na, hum ma na, hum ma na, hey!") It would calm them down instantly every time it came on. It's been a couple of years since I've seen it. I wonder if they'd still react to it.

2 on Reading

I have two reading-related items for you.

First, Conde Nast published this list of the 69 Greatest Fiction Travel Books. Since I enjoy travel memoirs, I thought I might find some good reads on this list. Strangely, I've only read 2 of the recommended books. I did spot a few more that I think I'd enjoy. I noticed that Michael Ondaatje nominated quite a few of the books. I would add one or two of his books to this list, too.

Second, last week's Booking through Thursday asks about pet names and whether the names were inspired by reading. Both of my pets' names were. My cats are Dewey and Gandolf*. If there's another round of pet naming, and if my children don't trump my naming rights, I might use the names of prominent mathematicians: Ada, Turing, Galois.

* Yes, I know it's supposed to be spelled Gandalf, but I pronounce it "Gandolf" and so use that spelling.

Graduation Card

Our favorite babysitter just graduated from nursing school. This is the card I'm sending her to celebrate the event. I received the card in a swap and didn't like the original details. It had vellum over the verse and a turquoise ribbon. There was no lighter card stock inside. I took apart the card and put it back together with Groovy Guava instead, adding the inside panel to write on. Apricot is the color used in academic regalia for nursing, and this was the closest to apricot ribbon that I had on hand.

Speaking of academic regalia, one of those crazy, almost useless skills I have is knowing how to flip and affix the hoods worn with academic gowns so that they sit flat and don't choke the wearer. I learned how to do it working graduation as an undergraduate.

Little Gifts

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week at my daughters' school. In addition to contributing to the big gifts for their teachers, I made these little gifts. The girls' class is known as the Turtles, hence the theme. Sorry for the horrible background in the picture. Scanning 3-D objects on my scanner is tricky.

Glossy White paper; Wasabi, Bayou, and Basic Brown inks; brayer; Natural Prints SU! stamp set; sticky note pads; Velcro dots; double-sided tape and sticky sheets; microbeads; and Pentel RSVP pens.

Color Trend

Here's a color trend that I love: Gray, Mustard, Terracotta, and Olive.

Margaret posted pictures of her Margaret's Stitch.



And Arielle posted this week's ColourQ choices.


Pictures distorted to encourage you to click through to see the originals.

Five on Last Friday

Last Friday was a beautiful day here in DC. A perfect spring day. Too gorgeous to spend all day inside.

I had an errand I needed to run. I was planning to do it at the end of the day, but remembered that I had a telecon. At lunchtime, then, I retrieved a bag from my car and took metro from my office up to Eastern Market, ran my errand, bought a sandwich, and walked back to my office. Gorgeous. On the way, I passed through Barthodli Park and by the fountain (pictured). It was the first time I'd been there.

So here are my 5 on Friday for last week: 1) Walking 2 miles, 2) on a beautiful day, 3) while accomplishing both an errand and some exercise, 4) through a park I hadn't previously visited, and 5) seeing a beautiful fountain and learning more about it. It was just delightful!

Palm Sunday

L on left; A on right

Thinking of You

March was a busy craft month for me. Not only did I make good progress on the bunny ornament I pictured yesterday, I attended Stamp Camp and made cards for a card swap. The swap happens this weekend. Here's the card I made. The theme was Flower Power.

Stamp sets: SU Shades of Nature and Warmest Regards;
Paper: Sage (yes, that's supposed to be Sage), Banana, Brilliant Blue, and White;
Inks: Sage and Bashful Blue; Red Gingham ribbon

Design copied from SU spring mini catalog, 2006

Except for the "Manly Card" swaps, I tend to make sympathy or get well soon cards. The swaps usually have a lot of happy, bright cards, so I like to add something a little different to the mix. Sadly, I also find I have need of more of these types of cards than I would like, and they're not ones I want to be making at the last minute, which is usually when I need them.

Easter Bunnies

Remember this little bunny from 2008 and the Bride's Tree Stitch-a-long?

Shortly after I stitched it, my DH brought home this adorable baby rattle from Germany.

In early 2009, I was inspired by the colors and decided to stitch the little bunny again. It took me 3 tries to get the colors to work (I still think the blue's a little dark), but I finished stitching this just in time for Easter this year.

Sorry for the faded colors; my scanner wasn't cooperating today.
The orange and the blue of the stitched bunny match the rattle closely, in real life.
The threads used were DMC : Orange (3854), Green (164), Blue (3325), Dark Brown (434), Brown (437)
Fabric is a scrap of 18 count cream Aida.

She needs an ironing and some whiskers. I'm going to turn both bunnies into ornaments for my daughters. Maybe by Easter next year.

Happy Easter!

Welcome, Treasurer Hunters! Your letter is L. The pattern for the above chart is available from Free Patterns Online. Your next stop on the hunt is a visit to Christine at The Alchymyst's Study. Want to learn about the Hunt? Visit Jo at Serendipitous Stitching.

A small project I stitched a few years ago.

Frustrating Five

I plan to get back to my Five on Friday, five things that made me smile during the week. First, though, I need to get my Frustrating Five off my chest.

5. Standard Time. I hate the switch from Standard to Savings Time. Now that we're on DST 8 months out of the year, can't we just be on the shifted time all year long? (And shouldn't summertime now be "standard" time and winter be "savings" time?) This week has been particularly tough with getting the girls to bed. All of us have had a hard time waking up.

4. Communication. I feel like the last island in the archipelago when it comes to receiving timely information.

3. Potty training. Just when I think we've progressed to the next stage, some new problem arises.

2. Allergies. This year's wacky winter has released the spring pollens early. I'm suffering greatly, especially on days when I forget to take my medications.

1. Self-flushing toilets. They're never calibrated to flush when I want them to flush, and they scare the girls.

Daffodils

My daffodils bloomed yesterday. Here are photos from last night and today.