I'm Going on a 30 Day Facebook Diet

I often joke that Facebook is the devil. I admit it, I am a hardcore Facebook junkie. My facebook addiction is only slightly less embarrassing than my affinity for all things Disney including WDW podcasts. OK, you can stop laughing.

The FB addiction, however, teeters on unhealthy. I sit at my computer thinking "I'll just check FB real quick" and emerge 3 hours later. What the crap? For the life of me, I can't figure out what makes it so darn fascinating. Many of the people I'm "friends" with are high school buddies who I haven't seen in years. FB has been great for reconnecting me with those guys. I love that I can keep up with out of town family as well. I've laughed and smiled a lot while on the site, So while there is some fun to be had and some good to come from FB, it's all the other silliness that has me thinking it's time for a break.

The spats, the "I hate XYZ posts", the name calling, the "your political party is evil" garbage, the "venting" (can I vent about how THAT drives me insane?) it's all just gotten to be too much.

And all those cutesy pics with precious quotes...like the one above...I'm so over those, even the ones I may have posted or "liked" myself.

Then there's the creeper factor. You know there is at least one creepy person on our friends list...maybe we knew them 20 years ago, or maybe they are acquaintances. We think they are harmless because we don't know any better, but those creepers are stalking our pages, looking at our photos and know our every move--depending on what and how often we post.  Eeew.

Now, lest you think I am judging my friends, I want you to know that I am 100% certain that nearly every single one of my FB friends has rolled their eyes more than once at something totally dorky and/or idiotic that I've put out there. I've let my dork flag fly more than once and in hindsight I'm a bit embarrassed about it.

More than any of this(except maybe the creeper thing), what has really made me take a step back is the utter lack of motivation, creativity, and productivity that has come about as a result of too much time on FB.

Now, I'm calling this the 30 Day Facebook Diet because I have a TON of stuff to do in the next 30 days and the only way I feel I can accomplish any of it is to eliminate the distraction. So, I pulled the plug last night. And you know what? I instantly felt lighter and actually breathed an involuntary sigh of relief. I did leave up my blog and etsy shop pages, but those don't call to me the way status updates and friend feeds do, so I think I'll be safe.

We shall see, at the end of this little experiment if my house is cleaner, my laundry stays caught up, if I've finished any art/quilting/sewing projects, read any books, kept my blog up to date, spent more quality time with my husband, and possibly lost a few pounds due to being less of a mouse potato.

After 30 days I may or may not log back in. I'm hoping not...or at least not as often.

Wish me luck!

No self portrait tonight. I've creeped myself out enough with all this talk of Facebook Creepers that I'm rethinking the whole self portrait idea!

Have you ever deactivated your FB account? Never opened one to begin with? Or, are you obsessed and can't imagine unplugging?

#3 or Baggy Eyes.

In an attempt to become more creative, productive and less sloth like overall, I'm deactivating my personal FaceBook page. More on that tomorrow. 

I knew I couldn't do it consistently and already missed a day, but gonna keep plugging away with the photo a day idea. Here's #3, bags, jowls and all...taken late at night after a full day of work, a workout, a run to the store and some goofing off at the house. And yes, 9:30p.m. is late! 

Self Portraits #2

Photo #2. In the sewing room after a long day at work. Two posts in two days. I'm on a roll, kids.

Something New

So I came across a link about his guy and was instantly intrigued by the idea of a self portrait a day. An unusual way to capture the moods and uniqueness of the day to day. I thought I'd give it a go.

And then I remembered that I have a bit of an issue sticking with all things bloggy. So even though I'm still gonna give it a go, this may be a portrait of the week, month, or even year.

This first photo was taken by my husband with an iPad in crappy lighting conditions on my birthday.

** 8/7/12**Note to self. Cutting and pasting iPad photos into blogger will not result in an actual photo being blogged. Silly iPad.

Coco-Pineapple Sticks

I'm a fan of both pineapple and coconut, so I couldn't wait to try this simple little snack from the July/August issue of WW Magazine!

As it turns out, it was not only simple but scrumptious in a frosty-frozen-pineapple-y way! And, according to the mag, it'll only cost you 2PointsPlus.



Start with a cored pineapple, coconut, some skewers, a bowl for dipping and a plate or baking sheet for the freezer.

Cut the pineapple into 1"x 3"(ish) chunks and add skewer. Sample some of that fresh, pretty, sweet pineapple. Not because you can't help yourself...just to make sure it tastes OK of course. 

Toast up some coconut, about 1 cup. Try not to eat it all before you dip the pineapple.

Roll the pineapple in the coconut. Or do what I did...smush the pineapple into the coconut because rolling wasn't getting it coconut-y enough! The magazine suggests that you dip the pineapple into pineapple juice before rolling in the coconut. My pineapple was pretty darn juicy to begin with and I didn't have any pineapple juice on hand, so I skipped that step. Don't think it affected the outcome much.

Take a couple of gratuitous pineapple/coconut shots before sticking your plate of goodness into the freezer.

In approximately 2 hours, your coco-pineapple sticks will be frozen to perfection! Enjoy them on their own or with a slab of angel food cake...my preferred way!

Fabric Scraps Wrangled. Sewing Closet Situation Averted.

Those among you who sew or quilt will appreciate this. The rest of you may think I have lost my mind for posting about and taking photos of a closet.

I don't know a single person who sews and/or quilts who doesn't have at least a small fabric stash that includes some scraps. My stash, I would guess, is on the smallish side, but I do have a lot of scraps from various projects and they got completely out of hand.

Y'all know how that can get away from you. One minute you have a couple ziplock bags of scraps piled into a tote and the next thing you know it looks like this: 

The Pile...my scrap fabric nightmare.  How in the world do you find something in the midst of that mess? You don't! You dig through The Pile in search of the perfect shade of blue for a project. You know it's there. You put it there yourself. But The Pile has eaten it, never to be seen or heard from again. So you completely give up, frustrated, hot, and grouchy without ever starting on the project at hand. And then you actually consider tossing every single scrap since all they do is make you mad.

At least that's been my experience. 

Not too long after one of my rounds with The Pile, I  came across the book Sunday Morning Quilts by Amada Jean Nybergh and Cheryl Arkison. I quickly snagged a copy!

Finally! A book that shows not only how to use scraps in a quilt, but gives you practical tips on storing and organizing them as well! Cue angels singing. You can currently pick up a copy of Sunday Morning Quilts for a great price at Connectingthreads.com. I love that shop!

                                     

After reading the book and wiping the drool off the photos of these amazingly gorgeous scrappy quilts (seriously, I want to make them all), I got busy. I was inspired not only to make my scrap pile useful, but to organize my sewing closet as well. I don't have photos, but trust me, finding fabric in my stash wasn't much easier than digging through those scraps. 

My budget for organizing my scraps and the sewing closet in general was  about 15 bucks. I'm not kidding. SO I drug home a plastic shelf from my parent's garage, headed to my local Kmart and picked up some clear plastic shoebox sized totes and got busy sorting.

When I was finished, THE PILE had become this...

So. Much. Better.  I was so happy with my little shoeboxes of color that I decided not to shut them up in the closet, but to leave the out in the open on a bookshelf in the sewing/computer room!

Once I had the scraps tackled, I was motivated to finish up the rest of the closet. My mother saw it and said "I don't think you need to buy anymore fabric".   She's right, of course.

I know it's plastic shelving and nothing fancy, but this makes me soo happy. I know I can walk into the closet now and find anything I need within minutes with no cussin' or cryin'! 

Even room for a little art on the walls. And yes, a Kona card qualifies as art! 

FQs, mostly sorted by colors. 

More FQs...my most favorites, so they're out in t he open for me to drool on look at.

...and more fun stuff...

All this organizing and I'm ready to tackle a new project!

Cupcakery

A couple of trips to GiGi's Cupcakes absolutely did me in. I mean, I liked cupcakes before, but GiGi's Cupcakes? Lord. Have. Mercy. These are wedding & chocolate varieties. So good.

I don't have a photo of it but the Lemon Poppyseed with Cream Cheese Frosting...Heavenly.

But after plopping down nearly four dollars per cupcake(numerous times) I eventually got to the "I can make an entire batch of cupcakes for four dollars" place.

And so began my cupcake obsession. I picked up the easy-cheesy cupcake decorating kit at Walmart.

My first batch of cupcakes were from scratch. SCRATCH. With buttercream icing.

I realize they aren't that pretty but Holy Moly, these were some dang tasy cakes! The flavor was not unlike that a sugar cookie! Yummy! The recipe for the cake can be found here. The icing was equally delicious and that recipe is right here. 

Next up, cupcakes for my friends at work. These are mini sized and made from a  box-mix (with some mayo added to make them extra moist) and topped with yummy Oreo Decorator Icing. Oh, they were good and being bite sized was perfect for the amount of sweetness.

 

I joined a local chapter of Free Cakes for Kids and my first assignment was, you guessed it, cupcakes! The little girl I baked for was turning seven and requested white cupcakes with pink icing. My kind of gal! 

Again, just a plain ole' box cake, but the icing makes it sooo good. This was my best attempt at icing yet...I was eating the stuff by the spoonful! I made a decorator icing using 1 stick of butter and 1/2 cup of Crisco(creamed together). I mixed in a bag of powdered sugar(a little at a time), whole milk, and a teaspoon or so of vanilla. Just kinda kept adding sugar and milk until it tasted right. I haven't made one as tasty since. I got word that the birthday girl was "tickled pink"with her cupcakes!

Speaking of birthday cupcakes, my brother requested chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing for his birthday. I was thrilled to finally get to use the vintage clown pics I snatched at a flea market a while back. Again, I used the mayo + chocolate box cake trick. These have a chocolate buttercream icing. I was not a fan(I prefer white cake, white icing), but my brother and the rest of the family loved them. 

Granted, they aren't GiGi's and yes, I realize all my cupcakes are decorated with that same ole' swirl. I have yet to branch out into flavors like lemon or red velvet, but I'll get there! Also, I've made several more batches that aren't pictured...they were either too ugly for documentation or were eaten before documentation could occur.

Soooo, does anyone else suddenly crave a giant glass of ice cold milk?

And She Blogs!

...but most folks wouldn't suspect it

because I haven't made a post

in almost four months.

Cue crickets chirping...

I miss blogging! Not too long ago, I heard that no one reads blogs anymore.  But I don't believe that...I come across way too many active and engaging blogs for that to be true.  I started this blog several years ago as a way to document the recipes I tried when I was attempting to learn to cook like a grown-up(I still can't, by the way). It was never really about getting readers so much as it was a way for me to document that process, and later, my sewing attempts.  Although having regular readers to interact with is dang awesome!

I miss being a full fledged member of Blogland and the bloggy friends I made. Some of them are still around and I'm still in touch with them occasionally, but others have left their own blogs and ridden off into the sunset, never to be heard of again. [sniff, sniff, sad face]

I miss the reflection that naturally comes from sitting down to write a blog post about a particular project or experience. It sounds corny, but I think I was more in tune with myself when I was blogging regularly.

I miss the way being a blogger encouraged me to constantly try something new or at the very least pushed me into doing something...trying new recipes, painting, quilting, crafting, sewing, writing, playing with my camera. Waaay back when I first started blogging, we didn't have cable TV in our new house yet and I hadn't discovered Facebook. There are times when I wish I never had bothered with either of those things!  I'm still creating, but not regularly and not with the passion that I once did. Now it's more of an "I should probably sew/bake/quilt something" rather than "I cannot wait to get started on the next project!".

I want to be that girl who couldn't wait to get up in the morning or get home from work for crafty and creative endeavors. For whatever reason, blogging motivated me to begin being creative after a long period of non-creativity and I'm feeling like I need a push in that direction again.

I see no reason why I can't be that creative, motivated, blogger-girl again. It may be sparse, and it may take a while for the momentum to build and for me to get back into those routines, but I am going to make a bloggy comeback!

I hope you'll stick around and hold me to it!

Vintage Thingie Thursday -- Tablecloth Purse

I love vintage linens. Especially tea towels, sheets, and tablecloths. I have a closet full of all three. I was recently perusing Etsy.com when I came across this lovely little Spring/Summer bag made from a vintage tablecloth.

It was love at first site. I had to have it.

It's one of my favorite vintage-nouveau thingies!

For more Vintage Thingie Fun, Head on over to The Colorodolady!

First Finish of 2012 -- A Process Post

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I realize it is MARCH and I should have already had a finished quilt. But hey, I'm a busy gal!

I'm happy to show off my first finish of the year, though. This quilt is for the soon-to-arrive grandchild of a dear friend. When I asked my friend baby colors, she said "soft pinks and greens". Those aren't colors I typically buy and as I mentioned in an earlier post, I am on a fabric buying diet...trying not to buy any quilting fabric unless it is for backing. I am proud to say that everything in this quilt--except the binding--was from my stash. Hooray!

The patchwork blocks are made from two Lilly and Will Moda charm packs that I bought ages ago. I pulled out only the pinks and greens from each stack and "fiddled" with them until I came up with the idea to do four patch blocks and sash them w/a wide border. Please ignore my hideous design wall/cat scratcher.

After digging through my stash, I found an off white print that actually had enough yardage for the sashing AND the backing. Woo Hoo! 

My last attempt at free motion quilting was a pain in the neck, so I opted to do a straight line design following the patchwork blocks. I get a little impatient while quilting and that often results in a few wonky lines and puckers(although I'm not certain puckers come from trying to hurry). This quilt is no exception. but I'm hoping the recipents won't find the mistakes to be  as glaring as I do. If I do say so myself, I did manage to snap an awful purty picture of the quilting in process! 

I went against my new no-fabric-unless-it's-for-backing rule and bought something for  binding. I had nothing in my stash that would work. NOTHING. OK, I did have enough of the off white, but I wanted the binding to stand out a bit. I'm very pleased with how this soft taupey print worked with the other colors. I refuse to speak of the hell that is machine applied binding, but the binding was applied by machine.

It is a noticeable frame for the quilt, but the pink and green patchwork blocks remain the stars of the show. 

So the lighting is horrid in this last shot, but I couldn't wait to photograph it in natural light! Here' the finished product...I'm pretty happy with it!

I'm immediately starting on another baby quilt. I want to take a bit more time with it. I have an idea (thank's to the babe's grandma) and I'm hoping that it will be a hip, funky quilt for a very special little person! Hopefully I'll have pics to post very soon!

The Bangles

I have a thing for vintage costume jewelry. I have since high school. I used to go to flea markets and yard sales with my mamaw as a teen, and remember picking up bracelets, necklaces and especially brooches. How I loved a gaudy old brooch back then! I still have one of those brooches that Mamaw bought for me. It has a big ugly lion on it and I thought I was totally rad when I pinned it on my denim jacket with the puffy sleeves and turned up collar.

Mark and I have spent many many hours at flea markets and antique malls(he's definately not an early bird, so we don't usually do yardsales) over the past 24 years. I don't know how much vintage jewelry I picked during that time, only to sell it in a yard sale or send it back to a thrift shop. Sigh.

Not too long ago I was blog hopping when I came across this photo:

Photo Source: http://vixenvintage.blogspot.com/2012/01/bangles-and-bras.html

"GAH!" I thought to myself. "Holy Bakelite Batman! That is one fabulous little collection of bangles! I cannot go on living without my own fabulous little collection of bangles!"

And on a sidenote, if you've never visited Vixen Vintage before...Do It!  I discovered the blog through the bangle photo and became instantly enamored. She posts some of the most beautiful photos and amazing vintage goodies that you are likely to see. It's one of my new favorite blogs!

I immediately went to my jewelry box and started digging. I knew still had at least four bangles because I constantly wear the polka dot, black, gray, and red(not pictured) ones. I managed to dig up several more and WooHoo! I do have a small collection!

Yesterday, Mark and I took off for another round of flea marketing and I picked up a few more pieces to add to my collection. 

None of these was over $2.00! Score! I was so happy to pay .50 each for four of these that I didn't notice the red one was broken until I took the photo this morning. Luckily, I have another red one! This one will be used for a craft project...I'm thinking decoupage.

These were a bit more costly...$3.00 each!! Oh how I love getting stuff for cheap! 

I realize there is not a single piece of vintage Bakelite in the bunch. And a girl can't really have a bangle collection without some Bakelite, can she? For now this girl will...because she is a public school system employee. Furthermore, she already has a serious spending problem with fabric and sewing/quilting items.  So, sadly,  no Bakelite for me until I win the lottery.

Here's my current collection, a few are vintage 60's but most are 70's and 80's bangles. I'm cool with both of those decades! I am looking forward to hunting for a wider variety of eras and lots more colors!  I might have hopped on to etsy.com and ordered a few more just this morning. 

using a sock/underwear drawer organizer for storage. A pretty vintage one is on my "to get" list. 

Despite the Bakelite disparity of my collection, the bangles make me happy! 

For even more Vintage Thingies fun, head on over to The Coloradolady!