pancake breakfast for lovers

So I went home to BC for the weekend. It was so great to see my family and friends and have a chance to get away from the pace of the big city. I took Mack and Maddie with me and Nate decided at the last minute to come along as well so my little car was pretty full! I did take a ton of photos while I was there and I will get them posted shortly but I just had to share this series of photos that I took of Mack and Maddie while we were making Easter brunch. I had gotten up a bit early to get all the prep done; I cooked sausage and made pancake batter and Byron and I scrambled a ton of eggs.When the rest of the household woke, I decided to leave them to take care of making the rest of the pancakes while I ran off to get ready before my Dad arrived. 

I came back in the room to take this series of photos and realized that this is what its like making pancakes when you're in love... 

So the trick here is to make the pancakes heart shaped! And to think all these years I've just made damn circles. No wonder....

Anyhow, I just think these two are adorable. Mack can't stand to be more than ten feet from this girl, and she's absolutely perfect for him. I truly wish them all the love in the world...It is such joy to see your children finding happiness.

The SheArt Class

I was so excited to be included in the guest list for this class at Selena's house last week, and I couldn't wait to get my hands dirty learning all of Carolyn's secrets! I was so disappointing when I missed the class the first time it ran but it just happened to be right smack in the middle of my move, and if you remember, I had the FLU during that move so doing anything extra was out of the question. 

So it was my first attempt at this popular new SheArt style that's been popping up everywhere and I was super stoked to realize that its a lot easier to pick up than I expected. Carolyn did such an amazing job of really simplifying the steps and showing us how to customize our canvases to our personal taste. She gave us the tools to be able to create totally unique images and how to customize our backgrounds to suit the design. As a result all of our final projects were totally different from one another but each was absolutely beautiful!! 

FYI: My first stop the next morning was at Scrapbooker's Paradise to buy another half dozen of these canvases and a big ole jar of ModPodge and I can't wait to have a bit of time to get my hands totally dirty making more and more of these. I think I may decorate an entire room in my house with SheArt!! 

A quick run down on what we did: 

First, we primed the burlap panels with Gesso, then covered them with random scraps of patterned paper. Then we mooshed paint all over the top of that, thinned down to almost a wash. there was lots of layering of colors and dabbing, smearing and spreading with paper towels. When that dried we used random household items like pill bottle lids (which there seemed to be ironically few of available...) and bubble wrap to stamp with. Then a bit of stamping with black Staz On, and I added quite a bit of doodling with my trusty black Copic Multiliner. Then we made our dresses out of patterned paper, lined them up with the body parts that we had cut out of magazines. You can kind of see the process through the photos I took as I was working. This is a great technique to help remember the perspective and shapes as you remove more and more of the image from the original page. First I cut off all of her body parts from one another and removed them from her clothes. Then I drew my own outfit for her using her body parts as a guide for both the configuration and pose. 

Then it was embellish embellish embellish. I added lace to her skirt, and a few pearls around her neck. I stuck on some rubons, some tiles and then painted her some hair. 

And this was my final result: 

I absolutely love it and I can't wait to make more. Here are the other projects from the girls in the class: 

Dianne's canvas.. she had brought her own paint, it was super thick and gooey and I loved it. I have to get my hands on some of it! 

Nola's canvas. You can see that Nola's thinking is very linear and precise. We give her a hard time about it, but I think there is something to be said for that kind of thought process, and I loved her end result so it certainly works for her! 

Nishiki's Canvas. A lot of ModPodge was used here today. At the end of the class I mentioned how I couldn't wait to see the final result and Carolyn remarked that I don't really have a choice! LOL I'm still waiting to see the final result, but I can already tell its going to be amazing.. I mean.. just look at those shoes!! 

Of course, Holly's SheArt is pregnant, since she's got grandbaby on the brain. I thought she did an amazing job of translating her woman onto canvas, and the whole effect was rather stunning. What a fantastic gift this will be.  

Selena's canvas. Clearly this girl is still in Jamaica, Mon. I so love how she did the flippy hair and especially love the vine up the side. Welcome home Selena! 

For reference: this was Carolyn's original canvas that we fell in love with and from which we were all working. You can see which elements each of us decided to keep and what we customized along the way. I so love the creative process!  

Thanks so much girls for such a great evening. I really enjoyed every minute of it!
A

in my spare time .. I mean...yeah never!

Funny how it happens isn't it. For about two weeks between jobs I had nothing to do. And because I was unemployed and stressed about it and just a little freaking out about, you know.. my whole life, I had no motivation to use that down time for anything at all of value. So I surfed the net looking for a job and watched a lot of crap TV. HowLame.
So then, I got a job. A pretty decent job. And now I'm in training to do that job and I have no free time to speak of. As a result, I'm highly motivated again to do things with my life! Yay!
So I registered in an online class on mixed media design from Christy Tomlinson and I'm super excited to find the time to get started on that. But so far, its been ten days and I've opened the first couple of PDF's and saved them to my laptop. the end.
But wait! that's not all folks....because I'm the overachiever that I am, I recognized my distinct lack of time and immediately registered in a class at Scrapbooker's Paradise to learn some mixed media techniques hands on from my artsy girl Carolyn. She's such a talented artist that I'm really pumped to be learning some new stuff from her.
ahh yes, in addition, I am registered for Camp Croppin' in April which is super exciting because I'm going to be taking classes directly from some of my favorite manufacturers (hello...GRAPHIC 45!!). What do you mean I have to find time to get organized and packed to go there??
Oh and then, I am attending the women's scrapbook retreat at Kamp Kiwanis in May. Its all girls, I don't have to bring any clothes right? Oh wait.. I have to pack to go there too? oh dear.

So its good to have my mojo back! Now...who wants to come feed my cat, because I just don't have time!
A

The big change (s)...

So I've been pretty quiet over the past few months, I know. Partly, I'm having a hard time settling into the routine of blogging regularly, I think because I can't imagine what anyone might find interesting about what I have to say. However, I've come to the conclusion recently that I don't particularly care! I am going to post stuff on this blog as a way of keeping a personal journal that I can go back and slog through when I am finding my memories a little fuzzy. And with what's going on right now, it might be kind of fun to track this journey.

To address the title of this blog post, which is appropriately labelled "The Big Change (s)"...

In late December Nate and I decided to separate. I didn't know how to talk about this publicly, let alone make any kind of announcement, because it was a very difficult decision for us to come to. Please don't misunderstand, this was not an easy choice, and neither of us are particularly happy with how this has come to pass. I want it known that I care about him very much and wish him the absolute best in his future. Ultimately, we are just moving in two totally different directions and were not finding our paths compatible. I sincerely hope to be able to be excellent friends eventually, since I really value his companionship and character. This whole situation has been painful, emotional and exhausting.

Of course, the separation necessitated both of us moving out of our townhouse, myself to a basement apartment close to where we lived previously and Nate in with a good friend of ours who happened to have an empty room.

As they tend to do, the move SUCKED! Just sayin...

This photo is Mack cutting up an onion on the butcher block...in the living room. Yeah, I wasn't as organized as I usually am...

The morning of the move, I woke up with a bit of the flu which just got worse as the day went on. And it snowed, and was windy and cold and just yuck. I just want to give another huge shout out to my sister Kathy, to my friend Lisa's husband, Brian and to Mack, Maddie, Paetonn, and Matt for all their help! Brian showed up with a truck and covered trailer that saved all my stuff from the snow and it was Brian, Maddie, Mack, Kathy, Paetonn and Matt that moved all the stuff that I couldn't when I got struck down with the chills right around our lunch break. I passed out in Mack's bed and shivered for the entire rest of the day and it still took me another WEEK to shake the remnants of the virus.

That said, its over now! All the junk is sifted through, the boxes moved, the furniture in place and its time to get organized. I'm getting settled in to my new place and its starting to look and feel a bit like home.

I have a great scrapbook studio in my apartment (I'll post photos when its set up). Its large, clean, spacious and ready to help me get my mojo back. And speaking of getting my mojo back, onto the next big change....

I quit my job. Remember my dream job of managing a large retail scrapbook store? Yep, that one. just like that, I quit. I was just so stressed all the time. Sick to my stomach with anxiety and constantly feeling on the edge. I knew it was the end as I laid in bed the night before I gave my notice, absolutely nauseous with anxiety from an email that I had received. All I could think about was my blood pressure and wondering (as I spent the better part of the night trying to talk myself out of a full on panic attack) what this must be doing to my health. No amount of discount on scrapbook stuff is worth my health. And honestly, beyond a two day retreat in November, I haven't scrapped a single page for myself in nearly a year!!  All this stress from of a job in an industry that I am so passionate about that I live and breathe the products!? Not ok. I want my hobby back!!
So, I literally went in the next morning and drafted a resignation email, hesitated only a minute, called my sister for moral support and then hit send. What a moment! I was freaked out...and terrified...and upset....and ... wait, what was that feeling bubbling to the top ... relief?? Oh yeah, I was relieved. and it only got better from there. Of course I cried. I cried when I told the girls, I cried when I told the customers. I cried at home. I cried in my office as I was packing. I cried in my car in the parking lot. It was the most emotional work related separation I've ever experienced.

But all of a sudden, I have made the conscious decision that if I'm going to make such huge changes to my life (moving, separating ..) then I may as well do everything that I need to in order to create a peaceful and happy life for myself. Kind of "go big or go home". I guess if you think about it, its easier to repaint the bathroom if you already have the vanity ripped out during a reno. No sense in putting it all back together and then deciding six months later to go back in and rip it apart again to paint.

So I'm unemployed at the moment. It is both completely terrifying and totally empowering. Everything is in my hands now, and I actually hold the power to mold my life into what I want it to be.

Its a pretty big deal.

And so if that's not enough... At the same time that I was moving, Mack found a couple girls from work who were planning to get a place locally and he joined them in their efforts. They found a townhouse in our corner of the city and set about moving in with them. This is Mack (complete with new dreadlocks) standing outside his new place on his first night living there. Bittersweet moment for mom...

So now he's moved out on his own (again) as well, living his own dream episode of "Three's company" and leaving just Snickers and myself to set up this new life. I actually had the thought that if I had more hair, I would totally do something crazy drastic with it as an outward manifestation of all this change in my life. As it is, I cant cut it much shorter, and I can't get away with some funky color when I'm hunting for work, so I'll just smile and nod and know that my hair is streaked purple in my mind :)

Christmas equals Turkey soup and homemade noodles...

Every time a turkey is sacrificed cooked in our house, it requires a long and complicated ritual involving many other ingredients, tools and procedures. Several of these involve large amounts of wine but the biggest of them all is the making of soup and specifically: the noodles. I guess it is my own fault but I have created a culture in my home of the homemade noodle and no amount of pouting on my part will convince my family that they can tolerate the store bought noodle in a pinch. Of course, it is my lifelong ritual to start the bones simmering for soup before the bird is cooled enough to tear it apart and the L tryptophan has kicked in, so I just have to suck it up and make the damn noodles. Actually, I say it like its a chore, but I love this process. This is one of those little things that (with practice) can take less than about a half hour all together but provides such a sense of accomplishment and pride. I love giving friends big bowls of steaming soup and soaking up the praise for the "real-ness" of it. No Campbells here! (not that there's anything wrong with that...)

Anyhow, onto the soup! As you can see, I start with a clean butcher block table. A counter top or table would do just fine, I'm just spoiled and have this beautiful table designed for kneading and chopping! 

(As quick and sweet aside: this table was built for my by my beloved son when he was in high school and I absolutely love it to pieces! Isn't he talented??)

 Anyhow, table clean and well oiled and dried. 

Next step is to take a couple handfuls of all purpose flour and dump it smack in the middle of that beautiful table top. This might be about three cups of flour or so?

make a well in the center and...

crack three eggs into the well in the middle. Don't let them escape... they will want to.

Sprinkle liberally with salt... 

pour in a few tablespoons of good canola oil. 

this is the tricky (and often messy) part. You need to start incorporating the eggs into the flour without letting them escape their flour wall.

This means using a fork to lightly beat the eggs, pulling a bit of flour at a time into the egg mixture. 

I usually end up with this sort of crumbly egg/flour mixture which I assume is what I want because it works just fine! I then pour in a few tables spoons of cold water, just enough that it starts to hold together.

It will still be quite dry and crumbly but with a bit of kneading it will start to smooth out and hold together.

This is the workout... knead knead knead! end to end, roll the far end back into the center, push hard into the center with the flat of your palm away from you and then roll the far end into the center and repeat. You can YouTube this step if you haven't kneaded before. Or stop by my house and I'll show you. Or better yet, just give you a bowl of my soup :)

eventually it will form a nice smooth ball. take a break and drink some wine. It has to rest. for real... just the dough has to rest.... not me... I'm fine! 

Now... I have this super pasta roller that my mom got me several years ago for perogy making, but lots of people use Kitchen Aid attachments to do this step. If you have neither of the above, you are welcome to use a rolling pin, but you may need to rest halfway through.. this is tough work! 

Take your ball of dough and slice off a piece about a half inch thick or so. 

Using your hands, just flatten it slightly, especially around the edges where the roller has to 'grab' the dough and move it between the bars.

then take one of the flattened edges and ease it into the space where the rollers meet. I start with setting one for this step.

this part is fun. just crank the handle and watch as the dough flattens out. I imagine this is how laundry was once done. It was likely less fun then. 

when it comes out the other side, you have this uneven funny looking sheet of dough. I run it through usually at least once more on a tighter setting (3 or even 5) to get it thinner. 

Now I just take a nice long knife and hack the strip of dough into noodle shaped pieces. They do NOT need to be perfect. They actually prefer to not be, otherwise the boys think I'm trying to trick them into eating store bought noodles!

Keep them lightly dusted with flour so that they don't stick together and just throw them all in a pile on the butcher block while you repeat this whole process with the rest of the dough.

Here, you can see that Mack and his thumb heartily approves of the pile of the noodles.

Now on the stove I usually have the broth back on the stove simmering (it has been strained, set to cool overnight and skimmed of fat and impurities). I'll dump in a few handfuls of cut up onion, carrot and celery, a couple of bay leaves and quite a bit of seasoned salt.

Dump the noodles in the pot while the broth is simmering and stir well to keep them from sticking to one another.

It usually takes a good 20 minutes to cook the noodles through. you'll be able to tell by tasting one if it is cooked. It will be soft without being mushy but it won't be tough. 

Now if you like, add a few handfuls of chopped cooked turkey and even some frozen peas and voila...

 Crap... I forgot to take a picture of the finished soup. And now its all gone

*sigh* 

Guess I'll have to make some more! 

I forgot...

How much I love fall!

I realized this last night as I was looking out the kitchen window while I was making dinner. The last of the day's sun was shining down on and through the trees that line our street. It was stunning to look at because the leaves that have been starting to change to that trademark fall shade of yellowish orange picked up that glow from the sun. It made (my already delicious) dinner taste slightly better, and the sight of those leaves shining in the sun was comforting and beautiful and reminded me to slow down and look out the window sometimes.


A

its been how long?? Time management reminders..

I cannot believe that I haven't posted anything since May.. It feels like I just started this blog mere weeks ago and already I've managed to let go of posting for several months. Realizing how quickly this time has passed unnoticed prompts me to stop and reflect on this summer that's just passed and what has held my attention so raptly to the exclusion of the commitment I made to this sad little blog.

In answer, I can talk about work, or holidays or CFI stuff,  appointments or whatever other things make up the colored blocks on my Google calendar but really it all can be refined quite nicely down to one main point: it would seem that I still struggle to balance all the roles that I play in this new fast paced life. When any one of those roles requires more attention, I tend to lose my grip on the others and play a precarious game of   real life jenga while I struggle to regain my balance while not completely dropping any of the other pieces and breaking them beyond recognition.

And Inevitably it would seem it is work that is taking a bigger piece of the pie.
I know that I pour too much of myself always into my role as manager and team leader at the store and the result tends to be that this leaves only leftovers to be picked at once I leave there. And, of course, there is housework, cleaning and cooking, planning, organizing, more cleaning and errands to do and since Mack moved back home this summer (can I get a "Ramen"?) I am spreading myself even thinner (ha ha.. I wish!)

A friend asked me recently how I manage to find the energy to do what I do, how I don't come home from work and just pass out, leaving all the work for another time. The only answer I could come up with came out sounding sanctimonious and condescending and a little like this:
"When I moved to Calgary, I made a choice about the kind of lifestyle I want to live... blah blah.. this is the price I pay (exhaustion) and so there are many days that I just come home tired and push through because this is what I choose to do because of how I choose to live." okay, so while this is truly how I felt, I know that its not for everyone. And as I walked away from that conversation, I wondered to myself:  At what cost? I get so wrapped up in this vision that I have for what my life should look like that I forget that I must also be a sister, and a daughter, an aunt, a friend. and I pay a high price for this imbalance.

So the question is this:  Time Management. How do I simplify and get back to basics? And how can one withdraw from the rat race and still share the same cage with the other rats? Maybe I have to accept that its okay for the floors to stay dirty for a bit longer or that we can eat macaroni and cheese one night if the trade off can be that there will be time to play a board game. Go for a bike ride. Call my mom.

I don't want to end up consumed by this job. And I must remember that if my goal is to one day have a decent blog, then I bloody well better post on it, hmmm?