Studio Friday...Ta-dah!!!

Ta-dah! People throw away good stuff. I found this window in the alley behind my house, it was bright yellow and had two broken panes. I cleaned, painted then sanded it. The pictures are 8o year old black and white shots of the town I grew up in. Getting the photos matted was the tricky part because they are odd sizes. I used some electrical wire that my husband had left over from a project to hang it. So....ta-dah. Our house was built in 1926 so it fits nicely over the fireplace in the living room. Last year we replaced all the original windows in our house and saved them in our basement for later projects...I can't wait. Now if I can only find some spare time...I know I put it right here next to my extra money but now I can't find that either.

Cheetos....again!

HammmmBurger.
uhhhh......yum, I guess.

Chicken soup.

mmm....homemade chicken soup. I'm not much of a chicken eater but I really like chicken soup. Not the canned kind...homemade. I think mine is the best and this batch was extra delicious. I simmered a couple of chicken breasts in 2 cups of broth until they were shreddable then I raided my fridge for veggies. I found carrots, celery, yellow onions, green onions, zucchini, fresh rosemary, fresh thyme and cabbage. I also found about a cup and a half of wild rice left over from dinner. The shredded chicken,veggies and rice all went into a pot along with the left over broth and about 5 cups of water. 2 hours of gentle simmering and this was the best chicken soup I've ever made. There was a lot of it so I was able to freeze some for later. The frigid weather has put me in a soupy mood...I think I'll make some clam chowder this weekend. Maybe I can get Mr. Janedoh to make his famous biscuits to go with it.
mmmm.....chowder.

Tree hunter!

Observe the mighty hunter tracking the rare and elusive tannenbaum. Could danger be around the bend? We tremble with fear...oh no wait, that's just the sub-freezing temperature.
Man it was cold that day. We did find a nice tree and eventually thawed after treating ourselves to hot chocolate and hot-buttered rum. Our dog Joe came home with feet so frigid they were red and raw so she spent the rest of the day curled up on the couch...poor puppy.

Christmas time!

Nothing gets me in the Christmasy mood more than baking massive amounts of sugary treats. This year I also made kahlua and mocha mix....both went together quite nicely during testing...hic. I need to get my hands on more bottles for the kahlua, the easy close bottles are a lot harder to come by than they used to be so I may have to find an alternative...or else keep all the kahlua for myself. Hmm...that may not be that bad after all.

Studio Friday...What was I thinking!

About 6 months ago I decided to make the grand sacrifice of giving up my craft room so the kiddos could have a playroom. So I went through everything....organized and purged...packed and then moved most of my craft stuff to the basement....and now after some time has passed I realize that I...I....'sniff sniff'...I miss my stuff and my room. I miss all my crap being spread all over and being the only one that knows where the good stuff is, I miss being able to walk into the room and being able to work on a project at will. Now if I start something I pretty much have to finish it because it usually is spread all over the living room. I hate having to go down into the cold icky basement to get what I need....waaaahhhh.
Those darn kids hardly even play in that room. I should reclaim it.
Yeaahh...that's what I'll do. I'll slowly ever so slowly start moving my stuff back upstairs 'till it's all back in it's proper place, scattered from corner to corner that is. The room will be mine again muahahaha...haaa.
I'll start tonight.

It's the simple things.

When it's only 11 degrees outside and you need to keep warm all you really need is your favorite blanket and your best girl.....I mean dog.

Studio Friday...Where the Wild Things Are!

The 'wild things' were home all day today cuz it was a.........Snow Day!!
Tons of wintery fun was had by all and then we made peanut butter cookies and hot chocolate. Yummy! We also learned that the red sled goes faster than the blue sled.
We love the red sled.

The dark side....

...of the park.
Thanks to sorryigotdrunk.com

Snow!

For the past three months he's been saying "I can't wait 'til it snows."
Now he says "I wish there was more."
Sheesh.
I say...'he sure is cute in his snowsuit.'

cranberries

Fresh cranberries for cranberry sauce. So easy and so much better than canned. All you need is...
1 bag of fresh or frozen cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
In a small saucepan on med. heat disolve the sugar in the water. Reduce heat and add cranberries and orange zest. Simmer uncovered until all of the cranberries have popped and the sauce is at desired thickness... the more you simmer it the thicker it will be.
After all the cranberries have popped I like to use a potato masher as a stirrer to smash the bigger chunks or you can run the mixture through a strainer for a smoother jelly-like sauce.
Can be made the night before. This recipe makes quite a bit of sauce, you should have plenty for Thanksgiving dinner.

Veggie time!

So after a lazy summer spent drinking too much, a hedonistic trip to Mexico that would have made the Ancient Romans jealous and a Thanksgiving weekend choc full of mashed potatoes and cheesecake it's time to start taking better care of myself again......darnnit.
Anyway here's a good way to start....mushrooms, zucchini and onions sauteed in garlic and olive oil. A couple of drops of sesame oil make it taste like butter. I like it when the veggies are still kind of crunchy.

Studio Friday....Let's Pretend!

It's 5:07 am...I should be in my nice warm bed. But instead I'm sneaking out of the house and into the cold and snowy darkness to take advantage of all the post-Thanksgiving sales because now it is time to pretend to be........Santa Claus!

Sunday breakfast

Easy like sunday morning...
Dreary day, big mug of joe and the sunday paper. I like to read the comics first and then if the paper is depressing I read them again. My husband made breakfast and fed the kids.
I even have dinner in the crockpot (potroast).
Ready, set..........loaf around.

My new purse.

Cool plushie corduroy (I think it might be upholstery fabric) on the outside and super skinny corduroy on the inside. Nice and deep to hold lots of junk.
Thanks to my pops-in-law for the vintage fabric.
On a side note... check out the retro-chic genuine Naugahyde wing-back chair and recycled towel pillow circa 1970's.
Recycle reuse renew......or just cheap?
You be the judge.

more pizza

What can I say, it's the perfect food. This one is Greek Pesto from McGlinn's.
A delicious mix of artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, onions, garlic, spinach,fontina and feta... hand-tossed and wood-fired to perfection. $11 well spent.

Sweetness

My first Studio Friday....woot!
I love candy! Gummies are my favorite and who could resist these. They really did have little tire tracks on them! I tried to get them to show in the picture but I'm not much of a photographer... they sure were yummy though. I ate the whole bag while at my sewing machine. I'm glad there wasn't very many blue ones.... they tasted kind of funny.

Check this out!

Ultra-cool artist Nishant Choksi.
Sigh......I wish I had laser vision.

Seeds

My favorite part of carving the Halloween pumpkins? Roasting the seeds. I like to toss them with a little fine grain sea salt before spreading them out on a baking sheet and sticking them in a 400 degree oven for about 25 minutes. I've tried a few different spices over the years ...garlic salt, cumin, Johnny's and even cinnamon, but salt is my fave. The darker roasted ones are extra crunchy. Yum.

Tuna!

Mr. Janedoh caught this Yellow Fin Tuna off the coast of Cabo San Lucas. He really wanted to catch a Dorado, supposedly they are good eatin' but I think it's kinda funny that he caught a tuna because he is always telling me how much he loves it when I make it for him for lunch... so much so that now I just roll my eyes and say "I had no idea". It was an adventure in itself just bringing that baby home. We luckily were able to get it fileted, frozen and packed in a cooler(along with the Marlin my friend Carla caught) before we had to jump on a plane back to the real world the next day. Thankfully the cooler passed customs and all the fish stayed frozen till we got home...about 30hrs after this picture was taken. I had visions of the empty cooler coming down the luggage conveyer belt followed by half-frozen chunks of fish in ziploc bags leaking stinky blood all over my fellow travelers luggage. It was all cool though, we ended up with about 25lbs of tuna and now we know what to expect for next time.
I caught and released a 6ft. Marlin...reeled it in all by myself, thank you very much. Well kinda, I had excellent instructions from Fisherman Nino and lots of experience in boat piloting from Capt. Roberto...oh and thanks first mate Martin, you the man! We drank many beers on the boat, ate pretty good boxed lunches and an excellent time was had by all.
I can't wait for our next trip to Mexico. We promised the kids a trip to DisneyWorld next year but after that we're Cabo bound baby!