All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel
I think this Sherwin Williams commercial is done beautifully. I absolutely love it.
I love the comemrical for how well it is executed. The colors are vibrant. The way the flowers are created is creative. And of course I love the bee in there.
I wish the song was something that you could purchase. Too bad.
I think I have my mojo back. At least I did this weekend. Price and I got up early and went to Haymarket to get tomatoes for sauce and veggies for the buns. I knew I wanted to make a lot of sauce and I wanted it fresh so we went to Haymarket to get a lot of tomatoes. Well a lot is an understatement. I did not feel like getting bags of tomatoes by picking out each tomato, so we went to area where they have a boxes of tomatoes. Well did you know that they are 25 pounds each? I did not, but that did not stop my from swallowing my fear and buying 2 tomato varieties. 25 +25 = 50 pounds!
So we dropped it off and I ended back out to the store to the quart size Ball jars, meat for meatballs, and some other stuff. Once I was back home I started cutting, and cutting, and cutting. It seemed like it was never ending but was relaxing and worth it. My feet were sore by the end of the day from standing at the stove for hours on end but I love that kinda of pain. Like working out at the gym and being sore later on.
Well all of these tomatoes yielded about 22/23 quarts of marinara sauce. Even though I just bought a pot for this I had to use another because we had soo much! I had bought a 20 quart stainless steel pot last weekend and it was put though a very food first test. It passed with flying colors since nothing burned, it held heat evenly, it held heat well, and it was easy to clean. Loved it.
Besides the marinara sauce Price and I made meatballs using 4 pounds of meat (beef and pork), onion, parsley, breadcrumbs, cheese, 5 eggs, crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper. I also used a package of hot and sweet Italian Sausage. Since you can’t put meat into sauce and can it (well maybe you can, I just head you can’t so I am not about to question it) we divided the sauce up for canning and freezing. I froze the meatballs that we will eat with the jarred sauce.
Every time we heard a lid pop we counted down with the # remaining that needed to pop and we would then cheer. I think canning is going to turn into a new addiction. I love how the process, the popping, and how I have all that sauce and I still have room in my freezer. I now have 14 happy quarts sitting in my cabinets.
I’m hoping this productivity carries over into the week since I have scrapbooking to do and clean up and an office to rearrange.
I have been feeling stalled lately. I have lost my motivation for just about anything. Our sofa, the Cos, is my friend. I just spend my nights lounging and watching movies. I try to get motivated but nothing is really grabbing my attention. I tell myself that life would be easier if I just did all the laundry and then actually folded it and put it away instead of leaving it in the dryer/on sofa/in wash baskets. It def would make getting dressed in the morning faster. I tell myself that but I still have not touched the piles that keep getting higher.
It’s those types of things that are falling behind in my life. I have like 6 blog posts started, 8 yelp reviews, a few scrapbooking pages, etc. I have always been a person to start something and not finish it but it has gotten bad this summer. This summer of freedom. The summer of no classes, no portfolios, and no registration. You would think I would love the free time but it is such a weird experience I am having trouble figuring out time management. Saying that is just weird. I have been so good at juggling work, school, homework, and lack of sleep for years that not having that extreme pressure has me completely confused.
The biggest issue is that I am a weekend person. I am a weekend warrior. It is when I catch up on cleaning, laundry, being crafty, shopping, meal prep, etc. With the last few weekends away I have thrown my typical schedule upside down. Dont get me wrong, I love my weekends away but it really wrecks my ‘schedule’.
I’m really hoping that I can regroup this weekend and get out of this rut. So far I have planned…
finish up some blog posts and schedule them to post finish my yelp drafts and do a few more reviews 3 scrapbooking pages making marinara sauce (about 18 qts) and canning it begin the process of purging the office finish the cube projectwe shall see how everything turns out…
Happy Friday!!!I always joke that I am the planner and Price is the dreamer. It’s not to say that Price does not plan and I dont dream but most of our conversations are steered that I plan and he dreams. So I say that I am a wisher. My arguement is that my wishes come and go quickly. I wish I had a glass a milk. I wish I had a new pair of boots. I wish I could take a nap. I wish we could move right NOW. Well that last one is not going away until we do. But the point is that I dont invest much time in my wishes. Price is dreaming for a jeep so he spends time online looking at old ones in order to be 100% prepared if the day comes that he can get one. Totally cute.
The layout is based on the Day 6 sketch from the Sketchbook 2 class I have been taking. I focused on the components in the sketch, rahter than where they were. I looked at the qty of things and carried that into my layout.
“I am a planner. I am not a dreamer. But I love to wish. I guess there is no real diffference but I’m a planner so that holds me back somewhat. A dream has investment but my wisher is instants. Just a thought.
My thought when this photo was taken was thatwe could stay in Maine longer. My self portrait captures my relaxing moment under the tree in the yard. I wish I could lay there looking that the wind low the leaves around. In the end I jsut took a little nap on the plaid blanket. Maybe I dreamed in the end…”
I was really excited about doing this layout. I loved the sketch from Kelly Purkey’s Sketchbook 2 class. I know it is one that I will refer back to time and time again. While I liked all 3 examples of LO’s, Kelly’s was the one that best related to the photos I really wanted to scrapbook. I used her layout structure to create my layout. I’m so happy that I have completed another scrapbooking page within a week of taking the photos. I just could not resist these pictures that Price took of his nephews.
I loved this paper from Cosmo Cricut. It’s call Fitting In. I told myself to get more than 1 sheet when I bought it but I was (happily) overwhelmed with all the paper in front of me that I forgot. But I have a feeling I will send up getting another sheet or a few. I just see this working inot so many things. The back is really cute too!
Supplies- Cosmo Cricut- Patterned Paper, Sticker; Stamping Up!- Cardstock, rub ons.
Today is my Dad’s 70th Birthday.
My brother, Me, and our Dad
Last night we had a little party for him at the boat club. I love to cook so I took on the responsibility of the dinner for the 10 11 of us. I planned grilled chicken with roasted veggies and a salad. Robin, my dad’s girlfriend, brought the appetizer- muscles and garlic bread. I also made a chocolate cake with chocolate icing. He told me her had a slice for breakfast today. I think that is a perfect start to any day, let alone your birthday.
It was nice to be able to make something for everyone to enjoy, even though I had to do 3 trips to the food store that day. (sigh) It all came together and we had a great time.
Happy Birthday Dad.
Here is a quick little photo run down from our past weekend in Sunshine Maine.
Escaping Boston
Braedan at the point
Getting lobsters for lunch at Conary Cove
“Tickle me!!!”
Happy (almost) 90th birthday!
Lilly at Ames Pond. Price as a good sport and held on to me while I leaned over the edge for this pic
Relaxing on the porch
It seems like everything slows down once we are on Deer Isle. It is the place where I can walk around a pond within 30 seconds of thinking about it. Where I can see stars… a sky full of them. Where the milky way is not a candy bar but something I can actually see! Just walk by a bush and I can pick a blackberry. The salt air makes me feel refreshed and tired at the same time. It’s the place where we walk on to a dock to get lobsters. I love that the plan for the morning is to get jam (hot pepper jelly to be exact) and the plan for the afternoon is to drink, read, and nap.
Can’t wait until we are back there next!!!
Here is an example of why you should stop scrapbooking when you are tired.
I should have stopped when I started to loose focus. I was watching Extract (really funny movie) and wanted to finish the LO last night instead of wrapping it up in the morning. I only had the title left to do at 11.30, so I figured it was mangable and I would just finish it. I should have stopped then! I cut out the title using the cricut. I laid it on the page and it felt flat. I should have recut it with a darker paper (maybe a light grey?) but no I decided to make it ‘pop’ with some spray. Once I glued it down I hated it. So I just messed around with it more by accenting some of the title text with a black pen. At least that helped some of the 10’s stand out. I’ll probably go back and cover it to put a new title on there.
Lesson learned.
In just a few short hours Pricer and I are leaving Boston to head up to Maine. We are going to a teeny tiny town called… ready… SUNSHINE!!! No Joke. Guess what the main road through there is? SUNSHINE ROAD! I’m absolutely giddy about our long weekend there. We are getting to hang out with Price’s family, which means getting to see the little guy who is the star of this layout. These pictures of Addison, one of Pricer’s nephews, are about 2 years old now. Can’t beleive how fast times flies!! And how slow I am at scrapbooking. Ouch!
While Price and I were camping in NH 2 summers ago we met up with his family. I love how Addison is just so happy. He was so proud of himself for crawling on the rock. I love the picture of him nuzzling up to Chase. Totally love for his Dad.
Every now and then Emily and I have these adventures where crazy hijinx occur. Such past adventures include our day at the Brimfield Antiques fair, our trips to the Quite Corner, and our day visiting the cape. With the summer winding down and the start of school fast approaching for Em we decided we needed one of these adventures. Well instead of going somewhere we decided to say local, very local in fact…. my kitchen. We decided would would make jam and can it!!!!!
Last Christmas I got a pressure canner and a canning accessories kit (thx amazon wishlist and Mom!) Since then I bought 2 books on preserving home made food, starting to hunt down some canning blogs, and follow people on twitter. So with the equipment, some ‘knowledge’, and a desire we set out to make jam and can it.
Hijinx did ensure. We ended up with plenty of burns from hot jam and steam, a sticky floor, well used aprons, and got to prove that my smoke dectors do in fact work ( I already new that the one in the kitchen worked but sure enough, the one in the living room does too!). Luckily Price and his friend Chris were out getting us more jars when the apartment filled with grey smoke. Of course, Price knew when he called with a question that from our laughing and hint to ‘take your time’ that something was up. Price sums it up best… we are bad news. Yes, but we love it 🙂
So we ended up with 26 jars of 3 types of jam. Everytime a jar popped we would squeel, jump, or give each other high fives. eek! We have not cracked open any of them. I’ll describe them when I post recipes next week.
Enjoy our video…. be sure to leave some jam or general canning suggestions. I’m going to do another round of canning at the end of August!
Price is such a good sport. I bugged him 2 nights in a row about this simple layout. I started it late on Monday night because I just had to get it going then. So when he we he was ready to get to bed I called him back to show him my work-in-progress layout. Poor tired Pricer is trying to get to bed early (to be at work at 6) and I want to stay up all night scrapbooking. And then I started working on it again on Tuesday night and had him checking it out again when he just wanted to drink a beer in peace. He is such a good sport about it considering my scrapbooking table and storage unit ended up taking over the office and now there is a table in the dining area. At this point he has as many rounds of golf and cigar smoking owed to him.
Anyway… I am absolutely loving this Sketchbook 2 class!!! It is helping me stay current with my scrapbooking. Like having 3 weekly assignments. I’m going to fall a bit behind since we are going to spend this upcoming weekend in Maine but I’m okay with it. Our long weekend in Maine will result in lots of photos and ultimately more scrapbooking! So I took this picture on the 30th when my mom came up to Boston for a weekend visit. We had a fantastic time shopping in the North End and in Coolidge Corner, going out for dinner at Euno in the North End, having a grilled dinner in the backyard, 2 trips to Haymarket, making smoothies, and another great meal at Bouchee. We were basically go, go, go so these are the best pictures from that weekend. This was such a fantastic meal and time I just had to document it.
I enjoyed playing with this sketch a lot. The sketch had spots for 2 photos and 2 small circles (focal points) Instead of just 2 photos I used 5, but I reduced the size of 4 of them to fit into a 4×6, mimicking the 2 photo look. Also I did not use 2 circles in the layout. I still wanted to use a circle but I made it 1 larger one. Instead of treating the 2 circles as just 2 circles I used their spots as focal points, which allowed me to put my text embellishments there.
Day 2 of the Sketchbook Class from Kelly Purkey and Studio Calico brought along another great sketch. I loved this sketch! It was fun to do this layout out. Esp since Emily was over (we watched the Informant!) and we went through a lot of my papers to pick out what to use for this paper and just discuss my addiction. Piles of blue and green solids were pulled out, as well as patterned papers as well.
I might redo the title for this. Still not decided. Or I might add something to it. Always a work in progress.
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