Baking makes life better

Sometimes, for stress relief and relaxation, I just go spend a bunch of time in the kitchen. Today I noted with satisfaction that I had some bananas and zucchini that were on the edge of going bad. You know what that means: time to make bread.

My bread always involves quantities of whole wheat flour and honey, which I’ve found are quite easy and tasty substitutes for bleached flour and sugar. Almost always turns out just as well as the intended ingredients. I forgot to try using apple sauce in these rather than oil–next time!

I’m also pleased that veggie and fruit breads usually turn out well for me. My experiences in baking are about 60% failures, particularly if they involve yeast. I will never make a successful loaf of French bread.

I also made these, which are vegan sausage wrapped in puff pastry. A local coffee shop makes these and you can’t tell it’s not real sausage (a brand called Gimme Lean if you are interested). Since I’m still in the novice vegetarian phase I really appreciate these sorts of tasty, protein-rich substitutes.

Also can I note that I am a giant nerd? I was sucked in by the “Steve Jobs reality distortion field” and the promise of maps on-the-go (i really love maps) and bought an iPhone. Then I found out Wordpress had released a blog app. So I said what the hey, I’ll try it. I have made this entire post in a short period of time, pictures and all, on the thing. I will not make a habit of this (seriously, my computer is a foot away) but I had to at least TRY.

Swap!

I’m excited because it’s almost September. I just realized I sidestepped mentioning my birthday back in July. I feel like birthdays are really weird now - I just can’t seem to wrap my head around the idea that I’m in my thirties - 33, in fact. I seemed to have a concept of what this age would be like in my head, and I’ve realized that age really isn’t what I made it out to be when I was younger. Like I’m settling down - ha! Sometimes I feel like I’ve just recently grown into myself enough to start really being nuts.

SO - I’m all ready to get out the fall stuff. The days are getting shorter, the temps are only in the nineties and I’m doing a swap! It’s called the Very Vintage Halloween swap. I do not really know what “vintage” Halloween means, but the idea somehow still appeals to me.

If any of you have any ideas about what might count as vintage-y Halloween items, I’d appreciate hearing them. Seriously. I mean, Halloween to me is spooky things and cauldrons and black cats and witches in red-and-white striped stockings! Carved pumpkins! Hasn’t it always been that way? One thing I did suggest to my swap partner, the lovely Claudia of The Knitting Blog by Mr. Puffy the Dog (isn’t that an awesome name?) was Dia de los Muertos. That’s sort of retro … to me. The catrinas of Dia de los Muertos and The Nightmare Before Christmas always struck me as having a similar vibe, too. I love those things.

Meanwhile, I seem to have gotten my crocheting vibe back. I’m working on both my blankets again, and possibly a third if I can just manage to decide on the pattern I want to do. One of the blankets is a revisit to the very first thing I learned crocheting on. It’s going to be four very large granny squares (that’s a pic of one there to the right). I’ve decided to finish one large square per year, and I’m on #2. I would finish it faster, but I’ve found that it’s interesting working on this project over time. I can tell how much better I am at crocheting now than the last time I worked on it. I’m interested to come back in a year and see if I can tell a difference in my skill then. One thing I will say is that Red Heart Super Saver is very rough yarn. I mean, I can see starting out with it, learning and stuff, and I use it for stuffed animals still. But … wow. I do believe I may be exfoliating my fingers with this stuff.

I have to say that I’ve been pretty amused today because my cat Callie is very, very high. It’s nothing big, just pain medicine, but she’s being very loopy and her pupils are dilated and she’s kinda crossing her eyes. Dilated pupils must be rough for a cat, since they have such light-sensitive eyes. Poor kitty. She was spayed yesterday. When Jeff went to get her, he got the usual finger-shaking-in-our-face from the vet about her - about how she’s violent, and she wouldn’t eat, and she wouldn’t let them give her pain meds last night.

Honestly, I’m not terribly sympathetic. This is a veterinary practice, yet they’re lecturing me because my cat was defensive about being terrified, in pain and locked in a cage away from everything she knows? Pardon? This doesn’t seem right to me. I’m not arguing that the cat isn’t a handful, she is, but surely if you’re a vet you have a few tricks up your sleeve for handling terrified, defensive animals, right? Surely instinctive defensive behavior isn’t a shocker, either.

Off to investigate my bed. I’ve spent a bunch of time working on Photoshop and HTML today, and my brain is BEAT. I’ve been Twittering things today like “there’s nothing like a computer to make you feel like you’re being ignored.” Ain’t that the truth.

Project accountability

I don’t remember much of today. At 8 this morning I was headed to the oral surgeon’s office. I’m not too good with dentists, but they gave me Valium.  Really, I don’t remember all but 5 minutes of actually being there. I’ve spent the rest of the day either slowly waking from anaesthetic or feeling kind of hazy from medicine. This is fine with me, but if I say something weird or nonsensical, it’s not really my fault. My recommendation: please avoid cracking your teeth on things, so no one will have to fix them.

I’ve been kind of scarce around my blog, and I do have a reason … I realized whilst stuck here on this couch that I am working on eight projects at the same time. Eight crafting projects, that is, in addition to my hiking, my frequent arguments with the graphics programs I’m trying to learn and my quest to rebuild the Index of Indie. I want to make the Index into a website of its own, but I’m not quite ready to show it to anyone yet. Oh, and there’s that pesky full-time job, too.  These things all take time.  I do believe that what with my blog reading and writing people believe I spend all my time here at the computer on the internet, but usually it’s more like stealing odd moments of time with the interwebs.

Kitty Memorial: I finally started work on my kitty memorial. It took me a while to be able to sort through my pictures to decide which ones to use. Now I’ve got everything finished, but I’m waiting on the actual pictures to be printed and delivered. [update: just delivered!]

Butterfly Exhibit: This is a project that’s been living in my head for a while, probably 6 months. It’s taken several different forms as I’ve worked through it in my head, and some time to figure out exactly how I wanted to go about it. I’m really hoping it’s going to turn out as cool as I want it to. It’s an experiment in shape and medium.

A Piacere: This is a piece that’s just sort of fun.  I gathered things from around my house that I’ve collected from places I’ve been or things I’ve done. I always have lots of things like postcards or souvenirs I don’t know quite what to do with but I can’t possibly throw away.  So I put some of them together in a way that’s intended to describe the manner in which I like to live my life … a piacere is an Italian musical term I find appropriate.

Austin Picture: I have a collection of prints I’ve gotten from some of my favorite places I’ve lived and visited in my living room. Or rather, I’m working on that. I have DC, Moscow and New York represented so far, and I’m planning on getting Austin, Boulder and perhaps Alaska finished soon. I’m trying to find items that are actually from the times I lived in/visited the places.

Jacket and Kimono fabrics: I’m using some of my kimono fabrics as a trim for an otherwise very boring black jacket. I’ve got them laid out, everything’s prepared, but I find that I’m reluctant to cut up my pieces of fabric. I know they’re there to use and there’s more where they came from, but they’re so pretty, and I’m a bit afraid of ruining the pieces.  I’d actually like to figure out ways to put trim on more stuff I own, not cheesy trim, but just stuff to make things more interesting and unique.  In addition to cloth, I’m a fan of making crochet lace, and I thought I’d try adding that to a few things too.

Halloween Swap: This is recent, but I am excited and have started getting things together. I have it all sketched out on miscellaneous pieces of paper. I’m going to do two of everything because I like what I came up with.  I’ve decided that the one type of store that I can forgive for putting out holiday items way too early is craft stores.  Because to realistically be done with projects in time to use them for the holiday, Halloween really has to start in August.

Tables: I can’t seem to get my decoupage tables done that I began in June. This is irritating.  Out of sight, out of mind, I guess. It’s pathetic. They’re done except for about 5 coats of varnish. It would take almost no time to finish, yet there they sit …

Projects 7 and 8: These are surprises/gifts for people.  I will show them when they are done