May 31 0 comments
clothes, crafting

T-shirts

Like everyone else you know, I have accumulated far too many t-shirts in the last few years.  In my recent attempts to get myself in order I was forced to acknowledge that I just have too many of them. Seriously, I don’t even store them with my other clothes. Well, not exactly. I keep them with my work out clothes, but I don’t work out in them because I feel like I am going to get tangled up in them. I tend to like my shirts snug. I like to know they’re there. I like shirts that give me a hug. I like hugs. Anyway, Here I am with a bunch of shirts which I never wear. Not even to sleep in. If I try to sleep in these, I really DO get tangled up.

BUT, I am somewhat sentimental about my t-shirts.  They’re hard to part with. Even when they still stink when they come out of the washing machine. So, I decided to re-purpose them. And with that, three scarves were born.

I made the first scarf and third scarfs according to a video on youtube, by Megan Nicolay, author of Generation T and its sequel. The second scarf required no sewing and was inspired by another video, which I can’t find right now.

No frogs were harmed in the making of these scarves.

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May 30 0 comments
crafting, decor

Home

One of the things I have been working on in the last 7 months is really trying to turn my apartment into “home.” As soon as I type that out it seems contrived and hokey. It is one of those sentences that makes me think, what does that mean?, when I read it elsewhere.

I guess what I mean is that when I come home I want to think, “Aaah, I’m here.” I want to be immediately comfortable. I want to see something that gives me a tickle of thrill. Frankly, I am a bit of a homebody. Oh, sure, I enjoy having gone out and about once I’ve convinced myself to have done it, but I like to be at home too. I especially like it when I look around and see things that augment my mood.

While I have been working on it for a while, I have decided in the last few weeks to focus more directly on it.

I have focused most heavily on Alex’s room. I want him to love his room. I want him to feel special when he goes in there.  I think that I have had success in this area. He spends a lot of time in his room these days. There are a couple more things I want to do in there, but the basic room has taken shape.

The living area is getting better, but is not where I want it, yet. I have some ideas that I am unsure how to implement. And then there are the things that are just a matter of doing them. The kitchen is what it is. My bedroom has a way to go. But I am glad to say that the bookshelf is in much better condition. Speaking of condition, I have to do something about the closets.

I’m also trying to turn the hallway into sort of exhibit space for Alex’s art. While I am not the parent who is preciously preserving every bit of it, I want him to feel good about what he has up there. I have added some things I’ve done so that he can see his stuff right up there with mine. I smile every time I walk past an owl he drew.


I turned this lamp into something I could better live with with the assistance of a can of spray paint. I was made to show ID and promise not to huff it.

Step by step, day by day, I’m getting there.

May 24 0 comments
cooking

And who thought this was a good idea

I was taking stock of my goals and see which ones still look reasonable. The one that I am thinking (obsessing?) about right now is my goal to try 100 new recipes. This is one that I would be most proud of if I could accomplish it. But I am a wee bit behind. So, I decided to take matters into my own time and have sort of a marathon cooking session. That said, it’s not like I am just cooking things just for the heck of it, which was never the intention of the goal. The goal is intended to keep me trying new things.

But what is a marathon cooking? 7 recipes this weekend. Well, maybe that’s more like a 10k.

1 . Banana  Bread Yeasted Waffles 2. Bloody Mary 3. Liver and Onions 4. Buffalo Chicken Dip 5. A Tasty Fritatta 6. Rhubarb Buttermilk Cake 7. Onion Marmalade.

If you think that the Bloody Mary recipe is stretching it, take a look at it. It involved a lot of chopping, some boiling, some pureeing, etc. This was not a case of mixing and mixing alone.

I would NOT make the Buffalo Chicken Dip again. I would definitely make the Rhubarb Buttermilk Cake again, only I would make sure I baked it long enough. I would make the onion marmalade over and over and over again.

But, now I’m back on schedule. I just have to try 2 new recipes a week to meet my goal!

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May 21 0 comments
clothes, projects

Moist

Right outside my apartment building is the drain for the parking lot.

I hadn’t paid much attention to this in the past having moved in the fall and missed spring rain.

Well, let’s just say I am glad that I bought rain boots this year.

Let’s also say that this is a serious amount of water. So  much that despite the rain boots, my feet were in pools of water. Not, however, because the rain boots were faulty, but because the water came in over the top. AND, I almost fell in it. Shudder.

Yuck.

Oh, and this isn’t solely about my dislike for being wet unless I’m in the shower. This is about the fact that this standing water came from the very parking lot where the goose play (and poop) and where I’ve seen more than one Colt 45 can and where, this week, I saw a condom wrapper (which I am assuming…well, I have chosen not to think about it, and was really successful until I got all sloshified.)

I felt dirty and immediately took a shower. Then I put the groceries away.

May 16 0 comments
cooking

BBA Challenge: English Muffins

Recently I was sitting at my table when The Bread Baker’s Apprentice stared back at me. It wondered why I had turned my back on it after such a promising start. It reminded me of the good times we had shared.

The answer was that I am determined to go through this book in order, but was not that excited about  making English muffins. I like them fine, but they just aren’t sexy to me.

This experience did not change my mind. But, it opened the door to focaccia.

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May 07 0 comments
cooking, letters

Love letter

Dear fiber,

I am sorry that my recent culinary forays have led me to forsake you. Really, I am sorry.

I will not ever forget the good times we have had,  your study mouthfeel. The way you have always made me feel, after an encounter with you, that I have done something good for myself. I should have never gotten off track

.

I am sorry. I am sorry. I am sorry.

I promise you that I will pay you the attention that you’re due. Please note that I am of more than words. I have eaten many salads in the last few days. I have loved them, each crunch bite. Right now, simmering on the stove is a pot of lima beans. We will have good times together.

I swear.

Please know that the love that I feel for you is real.

Besos,

sherlonya

Apr 25 1 comments
cooking

Everybody loves salad!

This week was a week of poor morning planning. Translation: I didn’t bring my lunch to work as much as I normally do.

One day when I was wandering around wondering what I was going to buy for lunch, I noticed that Potbelly’s had a sign in the window for some new salads. So, I went in and had one and it was delicious and I probably made inappropriate noises while eating it and reading about President Taft.

I need more salad in my life.

I like salads and they are so easy. Chop and throw the pieces in the bowl. I’m not a fan of salad dressing making my salads even simpler. So, that evening  I went to the store and bought salad fixings.

I will have more salad in my life.

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Apr 19 0 comments
books

I’m In Love With a Poet

And I admit that I have a bit of a problem with my tendency toward hyperbole.

But thanks to Barrelhouse, which I recently discovered, I also found the object of my hyperbolic love: Erica Miriam Fabri.

Recently, at a meeting of my writing group, one of the writers said (and this is my paraphrasing) that every writer has a group of writers that belong to them. She meant that there are people who are sort of cut of the same cloth, or doing the same sorts of things. They are by no means your literary twins, nor even the bastard brothers you never knew about, but there is something of them that resonates with you and the kind of work that you’re generating. When I read Ms. Fabri’s poems, I felt like, “Yes! This one is mine!”

At least, we share motifs.

I think that it is too hard to procure a fresh new volume of poetry. You can’t just walk into a major bookstore and browse all of the new voices. Recently I vowed to buy more poetry, and I am glad that I purchased this volume. I will read it over and over. I will keep an eye out for this name. Which poets do you love?

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Apr 09 0 comments
books

President Monroe

I don’t know what it was about this biography, The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation’s Call to Greatness, but every time I picked it up, something about it made me think, “Oh, James Monroe is so cute.” And then I followed it up with a sigh.

This biography  made me realize just how little I knew about President Monroe. Of the founder-presidents I have read about, he strikes me as the one that you just stop and say, “I like this guy.” (I haven’t yet read about Adams, nor have I finished my Jefferson bio.)

What stood out to me here was Monroe’s relationship to his family. He had two brothers whom he very desperately tried to help and support, but his efforts were relatively fruitless. His marriage, as portrayed here, was fun to read about. And his ties to his daughters, well, they just make you think, “cute!” And then you sigh. And then you read about, how at the end of his presidency, that people kept describing his dress as “of the old style.” You think about this, how he continued to dress how he thought appropriate though the times were changing around him, as the leaders of the revolutionary era faded and a new generation came forward, and you sigh again.

An appendix included the Monroe Doctrine. Despite all of the history classes I’ve taken, I don’t recall every reading it as a whole, which actually quite makes sense as the Monroe Doctrine was actually part (a few nonconsecutive paragraphs) of a state of the union type speech. I am glad to have read this bio, and this appendix, at this part of the President reading project, as the Monroe Doctrine is something that has had political implications ever since and has been interpreted very broadly since.

*sigh*

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Apr 08 0 comments
cooking

Breakfast Pizza

Well, it actually turned out to be breakfast pizza, then leftover pizza. And then, with remaining ingredients, I made a very similar dinner pizza. I found the recipe here.

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