Reading List

So far for the goal of reading 12 books this year I have read 2- The Help and The Friday Night Knitting Club... OMG I hope I enjoy the next 10 as I have these 2 (at this rate I may read 24 this year!!) I couldn't put either of them down! I'm not going to go into a book review but they were both very touching-

Next on the list from my mothers library is......The Book Club

10/28/2011
Well, apparently I have fallen off the reading bandwagon this year and can only think of (2) books recently that I have read... 

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See and Sweet Grass by Mary Alice Monroe

To start Sweet grass was a going-out-of-business find at Borders and for some reason think that Shanghai Girls was the same reason for the pick.  Either way, both great reads. 

Sweet Grass was a little slow going for me, but probably because I have had a lot going on and well reading wasn't my main priority.  Once I got into it though, it was one that couldn't be put down.. I read it on a recent trip back east to see my family.  Based in the 50's and today has an amazing twist that makes you NOT want to put the book down.  It is really interesting to me how the older generations always make themselves out to have been such angels in their day.  It makes me happy that I am an open book (whether good or bad) what you see is what you get.  It upsets me how many stories you hear about teenage pregnancy, and how they "took care of it",  hid who the father really was and or just had the teenager sent away and the child up for adoption.  I think that our future children will respect us more knowing that yes, we are not in fact PERFECT.  No one is and never will be.  Make mistakes, that is how we learn and there is no reason to cover it up... its never really covered up and will come out in the end... after you pass we will find out.  Tell us now, let us understand how you became the person you are today and not have to figure it out later... If you read this book you will understand why I just went on a rant. 

Shanghai Girls was one that I couldn't put down the minute I picked it up.  Walking  through the airport, not paying a bit of attention to those around me... that is a good book :) This really put perspective on how bad things were in Shanghai (well in the world) back in the 30's and how hard it was to get into the US during that time.  Amazing how many "paper" marriages and "paper" babies there were and how people could manipulate the system so easily.  

While reading these (2) books traveling I had more than one person mention that i was the first "young" person they had seen reading a "book" and not a "Kindle".  I personally like the feel and smell of the good ol' paperback. 

balance..

Not going so well for this not quite so "domesticated" chick...

So since my last blog I have not sewn a darn thing, I've traveled to NY to see my family for a long weekend, rehung the racks in my rental closet, cooked a few impromptu meals, baked a lemon pound cake for my husband, celebrated our dog Elroy's 5th BIRTHDAY by taking a quick trip to the dog park, and started to take a yoga class, sold 4 elevators at (my FT job) and well I feel a just a wee bit overwhelmed with life...

I try to do do do and be perfect and one of these days I will realize I can't do everything... in the meantime this is what I have accomplished since my last post...

Since I had not been home to NY to visit my family in over a year I decided that this was probably the best time to do it, MLK Weekend. My 91 year old gram is not doing verywellheath wise and besides that I missed everyone. Here are a few photos from my trip, what a FUN trip it was!

DIYR (Do-it yourself renter)

Clothes not fitting properly in your closet? Maybe your rods aren't hung properly. Rather than dealing with my clothes getting caught every morning I decided to take matters into my own hands and rehung my rods to my satisfaction:

Issue # 1 clothes getting caught and closet not closing properly-

the reason was that when the DIYHO (Do it yourself homeowner) hung these closet organizers he centered them in the closet and NOT with the tracks that the doors were hung on.

as you can see the center for where the hanger was and the edge of the track, then add a shirt to this and it is not gong to work...

I do not have my "after" photos uploaded but the closet doors now shut perfectly and I only had to move them in about an inch on both sides on all 3 rods that were previously hung-

Tools required:

Drill

Drill bit

drywall plastic things for the screws

measuring tape

level

The Pound cake was a nice stress reliever using fresh lemons from our rental lemon/lime tree, when it called for lemon extract I used lemon juice (it turned out just fine and had a very fresh flavor).

Too good to not share the recipe, I can not find it online so here we go:

Very Lemon Bread

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons lemon extract

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup milk

2 tablespoons freshly grated lemon peel

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Lemon Glaze

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar

**In large bowl, mix butter with sugar, lemon extract and eggs. In separate bowl, sift flour with baking powder and salt. To butter mixture, add flour mixture alternately with milk, stirring just enough to blend. Fold in lemon peel and pecans. Pour batter into greased and floured 9x5-inch loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove bread from pan and with a wooden pick poke holes of 1-inch intervals on all sides. While loaf is still warm, drizzle lemon glaze mixture over top and sides. Wrap in foil and store for 1 day before slicing to serve.**

On the other hand work for the girl who is "not going to put work first" is great! In my new career I sell residential elevators, I LOVE it but I lose sleep over the little details. Little details are really the most important of my job. I've been told its just because I am new, but to be honest I have always been this way. Waking up in the middle of the night when I made pizzas, was a bagger, cashier, bank teller, selling advertising, etc. So I have taken up yoga as of this week, I've gone twice and to be honest it is so great when you reach that place of total relaxation.

Getting "Scum" off of your pans

So, like most newly engaged couples we registered for wedding gifts, pots and pans being the one thing I left to my to be husband. So we register, we get married and decide to never use the pans until we live in a house that is worthy.. We got married in June of 09 and moved into our new "rental" home September of 2010. There is no reason why our pans (only out of the box for 4 months should look like this):

I am a little OCD on somethings in our house and having our pots and pans, toaster oven, stove and dish towels looking as if they have never been used are on that list. So how I managed to let this happen is beyond me. That being said, it will not happen again. I unlike many women have a husband that actually helps out around the house. He cooks, enjoys doing the dishes, takes the dog on a bike rides and quite a bit more... but the little details of making sure the bottom of the pan are clean or that the crumbs are not left in the toaster are not on his list. So while he was planting something in the backyard this weekend and taking down the Christmas lights I tackled this nasty thing... and with a little elbow grease and my SCOUR OFF SHAKLEE product our pan is looking (almost) like new again...

I share this with you because a good friend of mine introduced me to this product about a year ago and I am hooked! I used to clean the shower while I was in it, breathing in all of the chemicals that came along with that and when she found out that we would like to have children someday she forced me to try this product. I can honestly say that I have never used a product that was so powerful and non-toxic. With cleaning the pots and pans I only used 1 teaspoon on a scour sponge.

Over the summer I tackled our "rental" oven. I have no idea how the oven gets food in between the glass but this oven was probably the worst I have ever seen.

Before After

Learning to sew

Thank you mom for my new sewing machine Brother L2600I.

Today I finished my first project and I managed to do this 100% on my own!

Last weekend I decided to head on over to JoAnn's Fabrics to get started... the onlything that did was delay me- I bought the book Sewn Spaces, and I am so OVERWHELMED!! So many great ideas, but I just didn't know where to start. So I came home got the machine all set up in our wonderful garage and then realized I needed to thread the thing... Youtube was a HUGE

help: threading video (this was the best one that really helped me understand the bobbin, plus the little bit that I remembered from 4-H as a tween) 2 hours later and I was good to go.

I know it isn't the best area to get your creative juices flowing and it is a little cold in there right now but it is perfect for now:)

This material is from Bali, the front (left) is made up of 4 pieces of the outside edges of the fabric and the back(right) is one solid piece. then it has a little flap that I am thinking about adding a few buttons to or a zipper. But it is just perfect for now and now I need to get started on a second.