Crash!

Sigh.  Firefox crashed.  So let's start again.

What was I writing about?  Oh!  Cooking.  I was saying we're still getting used to the gluten-free cooking.  It isn't hard really.  It's just that you can't always rely on your lifetime of experience Cooking The Other Way.  At least I can't.  A "natural" cook I am most certainly not.  I have a hard enough time these days getting used to having an electric stove!  Yeesh.

So anyway.....  The other day I baked oatmeal cookies, orange date muffins, and a different sandwich bread.  I used to have a good idea, for instance, when the cookies were ready to come out of the oven.  No more!  The last batch came out like rocks and this batch was soft and fell to pieces.  I can't look at a recipe filled with things like amaranth flour, sorghum flour, quinoa flour,  rice flour, almond flour, flax meal, potato starch, xantham gum (among many other things now in the pantry) and have a clue as to how it will come out....or taste!  Each baking session is an interesting experiment.  The Tramp, bless his heart, eats it all....even the rocks.  And he compliments the cook too.  Smart man.  ;-)

The little fish tanks on the counter are good feng shui.  Or not.....but I like them.  :-)  Actually the blue one belongs to Grand #1.  I was put in charge of Cook....yes, he named it Cook (the reason why is a mystery) .....while the Sailor Son was underway. 

The season is finally changing.  It's going to be almost cold this weekend!  Yay!  In the meantime it's bringing in all the bugs.  Ugh.  The ants are the worst.  The exterminator has treated for them but apparently we have to wait seven days for the full effect.  They're coming in under the wall by Charlie's cage.  It hasn't been too bad in the pantry (on the other side of the dining room doorway) but it's nasty when they swarm all over Charlie's fruit and veg dish.  Ugh, ugh, ugh.  But we shall overcome!!  :-)

At bee the other day, one of the gals showed off her quilt from the retreat last year.  Click on the photo for a better look.  It's marvelous!!!  Mine has flowers all over it, but she went with an Easter theme.  I just love it! 

Even her label is fabulous.

Mom (hiding) has finished her latest Maggie Walker quilt, "Fox Chase."  All needle-turn applique and hand quilting.  Also fabulous!

Another quilt top finished for Patchwork Memories.  These were all sorority t-shirts.  Fun!

And tonight I made up two of the little duffle bags from the pattern Mom bought at stash dash.  Cute!  These are the smallest size.  Just 4"x2"x2".  The strawberry one is for Mom.  I wonder if she's going to want them in all four sizes???

It's a nice pattern, well written.  The bag is nice and firm.  All the raw edges are bound.  It's kind of fiddly, but maybe the larger ones are easier.

But then I never start with the easy version.  Of anything.  Ever.  :-)

Lamps.....still :-)

After much more browsing last night I found a number of Danish modern lamps similar to the lamp I bought yesterday from a Craigslist posting.  I was trying to find the name of the manufacturer.  The shade on mine is old, and it looks right, but I'm not sure if it's original. 

Among others, I came up with this one.  Similar, but not the same.  Nice though.

Ooooo.  A pair!  Same design, different color.

And finally.  BINGO!  There it is!  It has a tag marked Stiffel.   Hmmmmmmm......

Totally Tickled

What am I tickled about?  Several things actually.  It's been a pretty good week.

On Thursday I stash dashed with Mom and Kathie.  We didn't make it to all the stores but we had a good time together.  I'm tickled to now have more sizes of yo-yo maker, from Elegant Stitches and Carolina Sew n Vac (I think).

I'm tickled to have more Kaffe Fassett fabrics, from Wish Upon A Quilt and Thimble Pleasures.

And I'm tickled to have a fresh supply of machine needles, from Carolina Sew n Vac.  Also Mom bought me the cute little duffle bag pattern at Thimble Pleasures....so I could make her one.   LOL

Mom was anxious to buy a Jelly Roll and try the Jelly Roll 1,600 quilt.  So she bought a Jelly Roll at Wish Upon A Quilt and I'm tickled to say she bought one for me too!  :-)

I'm very tickled to have finished my flying geese rows for the Whistle Stop BOM.  Now I have to do the applique blocks to go in between.

I'm tickled about the nice new switches and outlets The Tramp installed today in the newly painted master bedroom.  It's the small things....ya know?

I'm tickled to have The Tramp's Queen poster and the rainbow quilt Mom made for us back up on the wall.  Much more to do, but not having any greeny-yellowish walls around us has been so uplifting.  I may even be sleeping better!

The floor still needs to be done but we're both tickled to have our closet operational again.

Excuse the still-needs-to-be-sorted mess on the counter, but it's fabulous to finally have medicine cabinets.  Woot!  (It's hard to take a photo of mirrors. :-))

We are hugely tickled that Maisy (we call her Maisy Of The Iron Stomach) has stopped being sick all over the house.  She was so violently ill I got quite frightened for her.  She was madly running around licking the kitchen floor and I had to move any house plants so she couldn't eat them!  We also couldn't let her out without her frantically eating every twig and oak leaf she could find on the ground in the dog pen.  We have no idea what started it.  At first I thought it might have been the spray of dried chili peppers for Charlie, which I thought I had left on the kitchen counter, but I found them unscathed.  It's just like kids.  Sigh.  They're always throwing something new at you.  (Oops.  No pun intended.)

And lastly....actually what started the whole "tickled" thing....is this lamp I found on Craigslist today.

Very cool, very retro/mid-century/Danish modern.

It's wood above, ceramic in the middle and a wood base with a couple of inlays of different wood.  Practically mint condition, but enough wear to make me think it really might be from the '60s. 

After searching on the net until nearly blind, I found exactly one image of a similar lamp.  Not in any way conclusive of the lamp's origins, but it's fun to speculate.  :-) 

Since....

.....I was thinking I should remember to post more often....and since I seem to need photos to inspire me....here is the photo of the day.

Yes indeed.  I found another (rather vicious green) product with the "New Zealand Springs" scent.  (Cascade--previous post)  The Tramp (a Kiwi) and I were quite curious as to what "New Zealand springs" could possibly smell like, if not clean, basically unscented, water.  So when I spotted this bottle in Target yesterday I couldn't resist opening it for a sniff.  Big mistake. 

Now Mr. Clean is a product I've always liked.  Not too stinky and it gets things clean.  Febreze on the other hand, is a product I absolutely can't stand! It's a guaranteed migraine.  In defense of Proctor & Gamble, most scents are difficult for The Tramp and I, (so nice to live with someone who understands!).....but I still don't understand the concept of spraying something as disgusting as Febreze all over my belongings.  *shudder*  So putting that thought aside, I opened the bottle anyway.  Sigh....don't ask me why.  I do know better.  Really!  Well guess what.  It smells like the Clairol Herbal Essences shampoo from my teenage years.  Ugh!  Talk about a headache.  I can tell you it shortened my trip to Target.  I'm darned sure that spring water in New Zealand doesn't smell like fake herbal perfumey shampoo. 

Just so you know what my poor family has to put up with, I'll tell you about me and Cascade.  When I was about 12 years old we got our first dishwasher.  I soon found out that it made our dishes so squeaky clean I couldn't bear to touch them.  Sounds like a teenager making an excuse not to empty the dishwasher, doesn't it?  :-)  But sensitive me really couldn't deal with it.  Handling the dishes was like fingernails on a blackboard.  It set my teeth on edge.  I can feel now, it just writing about it!  The worst were a set of glass dessert plates my brother and I called the "air plates."  Mom figured out that using Cascade made the whole experience worse....for me....and the whole family who had to listen to me complain!  So of course the one dishwasher detergent I never buy is Cascade.  I'm sure it really doesn't make a difference what kind we buy, squeaky clean dishes often feel nasty to me. 

Send The Tramp a sympathy card. 

Every day I think I should post......

....and then I go to bed instead.  :-)

We continue to visit the dog park.

Where we do the usual dog stuff.

Until we get tired....and stretch out in the cool dirt.  (sigh)

And we meet all sorts of dogs, including this sweet great dane.

There are decorated fire hydrants all around.  Very cute.

Especially this one outside the skate park!  :-)

The Tramp bought me a composter.  Yippee!  I've always wanted one that didn't require lots of digging.

It was a bit of a fight to assemble.  The Tramp said he didn't know how anyone could do it without some significant tools.  I don't think that's a problem for us....do you?

Of course it's always advisable not to drill into your finger.  Way too much drama.

Kathie and I finished our Holiday Block kits in time to sell at the guild meeting.  We sold out!  :-)

It was a big crowd this month.  It's a fabulous meeting room.  Plenty of space for over 200 people and tables for charities, library, workshops and etc all around the perimeter.  And a nice stage for speakers and show & tell.

I finished ten of these mug buckets to donate to the guild's Heritage Day Auction & Boutique.  The pile of cut t-shirts has been stabilized and returned to Julianne.  The fleece is waiting to be made into a dog bed cover.

We spotted this on our last trip to WalMart and I couldn't resist taking a photo.  New Zealand Springs Scent.  Huh?  Interesting marketing decision we thought.

The Tramp and I had a chat Friday evening which resulted in the decision to finally paint our bedroom.  The dull yellowish-greenish color (darker than it appears in this photo) sucks all the light out of the room.   The whole house actually, since it, or a version of it is everywhere we haven't painted yet.  The house is shaded and somewhat dark as it is.  Nice in a hot climate.  But this is more than I can live with.  We also took down the wooden slat blinds which I hated.  Yay!

We removed the vanity light fixture since it kept blowing expensive CFL bulbs.  Removed the mirrors to make way for medicine cabinets. 

First up was painting the ceiling white.  Much better than 25 yr old dirty popcorn.   Whoohooo.  What a difference.

I think I mentioned a while back that popcorn ceilings are evil.  (Last year at this time in fact, as I painted in preparation for moving in.)  Grrrrrrrrrrrr.   What a mess when it starts coming down as you paint it.  Not too bad elsewhere, but always around the vents.  Sigh.  I even tried to stick some larger bits back up with my Tacky Glue.  Yeah.....I know. 

There was so much ugly black dirt by the vents too.  Ewwwww.

The room brightened up as soon as the ceiling was done.  Then the pale chiffon pink on the walls added even more brightness.  :-D

I have a sallow complexion, so looking at myself in the vanity mirrors surrounded by all that yellowish-greenish ick was sooooo depressing.  Note the Formica matches the walls.  SIGH.

But with a white ceiling, pink walls and a fabulous new light fixture it will all be a rosy glow from now on.  Yay!  This is a low budget project so I'm going to have to live with the counter as is for now, though did you know there is Formica paint?  Hmmmmmm.

The tramp also replaced the closet light since the old one worked intermittently.   Not good in a room with no daylight that is painted in a light-sucking color.  So now it's all painted and bright too.  :-) 

So still a bunch of finishing work to do.  The Tramp is replacing all the beige outlets and switches with white ones, and the medicine cabinets are still in their boxes.  The floor in the vanity area and closet is still subfloor, but we bought some cheap vinyl tile and will work on that next....when our joints and muscles have a rest and we don't stiffen up every time we sit down!  :-)

I finished the two churn dash memory quilts today.  I hope the client likes them.

This is what a pile of 49 t-shirts looks like.  Yoiks!  I got most of them cut today.....before my legs and feet gave out that is.   I'll get them finished and stabilized tomorrow.   No rest for the weary!  ;-)