Artichokes! (Of the Grilled Variety)

Artichokes have been on my mind as of late. I bought a grill last summer and (shame!) have yet to use it. My interest was peaked today when I logged into WordPress and saw that one of the featured blogs was (you guessed it!) about grilled artichokes.  Paleo Girls has written a great tutorial on grilled artichokes. You know me, a good tutorial is all it takes for me to be set off onto a researching binge. I’ll definitely be back to Paleo Girls later as it looks very interesting. I’ve added it to my Google reader (extremely, terribly, frustratingly long but incredibly detailed in its organization) and soon shall add it to my blog roll here.

So, back to my research on the artichokes. First up comes an article I found when attempting to find out when artichokes would be in full bloom from The City Cook (which is another site I intend to check out later), What’s In Season: Artichokes.

Naturally, since it is spring which means tiny blooms will soon be on the way and my mind is on all things growing, my mind next skipped to growing my own artichokes. As I am in an apartment and artichokes apparently take a lot of room to grow this won’t be on my plate (well, it will be on my plate, but not my porch) however this was an interesting read. Can Artichokes Bring New Heart to Texas Agriculture?

Speaking of gardening, I found a new (to me) forum for gardening, GardenWeb. I have yet to fully explore the site but it looks interesting on first glance.

Last up, another recipe/tutorial for grilled artichokes from Cooking for Engineers. Grilled Artichokes by Michael Chu

All of this has made me decide that I’ve got to figure out my grill this summer and grill up some artichokes. It will be a nice change from the boiled ones I usually eat. I’m envisioning artichokes and chicken, artichokes and ribs, artichokes and corn…

Reading This Month

I didn’t read 50 books in 2009. I’m not even sure that I read more than 30. So this year I’m trying again. Right now I’m in the process of reading a few books at once.

Spoken Here : Travels Among Threatened Languages by Mark Abley

I’m only  a few pages in on this book but so far it is interesting. I’ve added three languages to my list of languages I want to learn more about (as opposed to my list of languages that I want to learn) in just about ten pages of the book. I love reading about the research of those studying and learning dying languages.

The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs

This is one majorly hyped up book. I like the thought of religion translated into a literal sense. I’m interested to see where this book ends up. So far I’ve found that Mr. Jacobs writes honestly but not unkindly. This is a touchy subject, religion, and I’m glad to read a book that (so far) is neither preachy nor condescending.

Never Check Email in the Morning by Julie Morgenstern

I believe that one can never be too good at one’s job. I’m in the running for a promotion so it is time to brush up my skills.

I’m not going to make a list of books that I “have” to read like I did last year. Instead I’m just going to read what I feel with the goal of reading 50 books by the end of the year. Of course, I’ll be checking various book blogs for inspiration, as well as referring to my ever-growing “to read” list on Shelfari. I think I’ve got over 2,000 books on it right now. That isn’t including everything, to be certain, but it is pretty expansive.

On that same thread, I’m starting a separate Shelfari account for kid books. I’m hoping that it will make it easier to keep up with their lists this way. We’ll be reading tons of books to celebrate Black History Month which I’ll be posting here.

Felt Food Tutorials!!!

I find it ridiculous that I would spend so much time researching something and not update my tutorial page with the results of what I’ve found. So, I’m going to spend some time tonight updating the play food section of my tutorial list. So far I’ve added a few but I’ve run into technical difficulties and as such am now swamped trying to figure out how to fix what I messed up. Check back in the morning for what I hope will be one of the most exhaustive lists of links for play food tutorials on the web!

(For those new to my blog, just click on the tab that says “Tutorials” above to get to my page of free tutorial/pattern links.)

12 Days of Christmas

Having made some felt food I now want to do nothing but work with felt. Some of the ideas tumbling about in my head are as follows:

Umecrafts (etsy)

I might make turtle doves (free)

And a partridge (free)  in a pear tree!

Felt owl (free)

I’ve also added some more tutorial links to the tutorial page. Today I’ll be doing some deep, after-Christmas cleaning after which I’ll work on some Little Christmas (Epiphany) presents for the kids. You guessed it: felt food!

Puppets!

I’ve made a cat puppet for Dul and a dog puppet for Fin. The cat is relatively plain because Fin is more creative in his imagination. I didn’t give it a mouth so that he can imagine it is making whatever face he wants it to. Dul’s dog has a smiling face which he’ll love.  Next up is felt food. I’ll add pictures for each project later, I’m already way behind schedule.

Down to the Wire or That’s Just How I Roll

Every year I say the same thing: I’m not going to leave my Christmas crafting/shopping until the last moment. I’m sure you know by now how that turned out. So tonight, once again, I’ve just finished shopping and am now crafting.

To keep better order of what I’m doing I’m going to keep a running update here.

I’m going to make Belle a poppet. I’m going to make one outfit now and then I can add to the wardrobe on other holidays.

I’m thinking of simple clothing for the poppet. Though Belle would love this Tink poppet. But a mermaid might be something I can finish by the morning.

Her hair will be make of yarn like the one in this thread.

If I have the time, I might make a mini doll.

Which would look great in this dollhouse.

A knotted doll looks really cool. I think Belle would like it.

I’m going to make the boys each a puppet. I haven’t yet decided on the tutorial that I’ll follow for that one. I like the way this cat puppet looks.

I’m considering making a play pillow like this one. I especially like the idea of the pieces sticking to the mat with velcro. I’ve got tons of velcro in various colors. I’m thinking it will be harder to lose the pieces as well.

A play mat with a scene would be really cool. Maybe a farm or zoo with a garden!

This is kind of how I’d like mine to look.

Dul would probably love some felt Pokemon.

On the educational side I could make some counting bean bags.

I definitely need to make a few pieces of felt food. Both Fin and Dul would love to have a feast of felt food like this.

Felt cake is so cute! Sometimes is can almost pass for the real thing.

Simple felt food is interesting.

This cloth book is a great idea. I see making one for each of the kids with a story about them. Of course, I won’t have the time for it this Christmas but it is an interesting idea.

A Season of Hell Has Ended… Let Christmas Commence!

I don’t know how many times I’ve started to blog over the past few weeks. Each time I sit down and start to type, something interrupts me. Bad blogger. Bad, bad blogger.

But finals are (finally!) over and I have some time to breathe, eat, meet my family again (‘How do you do? Remember me? I believe we met prior to the beginning of (booming voice) The Semester from HELL…’), you know, the usual.

So what have I been up to, other than attempting to gouge my eyes out with an e-book? Ah, absolutely tons of fascinating things. Of course, my brain is fried from all the studying so I’m not really aware of what fun things I did. The past few weeks went something like this:

Friend: Do you want to have a playdate this week?

Me: Yeah! I’d love to!

…

Three weeks later…

Friend: What the &$#! happened to you?!?

Yeah… That’s been my life.

However, don’t let my comments fool you. I have no idea what to do with myself now that the semester is over. Part of me wishes that I’d signed up for at least one winter semester class so as to have something to occupy all of this (what’s the phrase? oh yeah…) free time that I now have. Of course, the other part is completely and totally over the moon about the no studying aspect of this holiday season.

So to bring this post back on track, let’s talk about these holidays, shall we?

I have yet to make even one single gift. I’m whittling down my list and have decided to just make five gifts. Ten days until Christmas, five gifts to make.

NaNoWriMo 2009

NaNoWriMo has started and I am already three days behind. I’m going to get started tonight. My goal is to write 1,000 words today. I haven’t even picked a topic yet. I have a few ideas bumping around in my head but we shall see.

What is NaNoWriMo???

What’s up with NaNoWriMo today?

Fall Cleaning, Part Deux

Today I’m trying to get a bit of fall cleaning/preparation done. I’ll be working on these things in ten minute bursts:

1. Pick up living room
2. Organize bookcase
3. Vacuum living room
4. Pick up dining room
5. Clean dining room table
6. Sweep dining room
7. Mop dining room
8. Pick up bathroom
9. Wash bathroom walls
10. Clean toilet
11. Clean tub/shower
12. Clean bathroom counter/sink
13. Sweep bathroom
14. Mop bathroom

I’m going to go work on those things before I get to a deeper cleaning.

Update: I’ve finished all but four of the first list. I’ll finish that off and then I’ll work on the following:

1. Organize entertainment center
2. Clean coffee table
3. Unload dishwasher
4. Load dishwasher
5. Pick up kitchen
6. Clean kitchen counters
7. Sweep kitchen floor
8. Wash kitchen walls
9. Mop kitchen floor
10. Clean refrigerator
11. Pick up bedroom
12. Make bed
13. Organize vanity
14. Vacuum bedroom

Whew. Taking a quick fifteen minute break and then back to the grind.

Naked Crochet?!?

You have got to check out Everyday Crochet’s blog post, Naked Crochet, about the Knitting Nora’s calendar. She’s got a link in her post where you can order the calendar. I’m buying it. It is so totally cool and affordable at that!