Word of Wednesday

Word: Wanweird

I know it sounds like a made-up word. But it isn't. It really has a meaning. Do you know what it is?

If you do, and even if you don't, place your guess in the comments section.

No prizes but you'll win bragging rights :)

So, play along.

Then scroll down and see if you were "write" or wrong. ;)




Scroll down further.



Further...



Further........


Wanweird means misfortune or ill or unhappy fate.

Jovan's Dress

Jovan made this dress from scratch. She even used an old bed sheet as the lining. She explained it to me by saying, "sheets are meant to be up against your skin for 8 hours a day. They're soft and always easy to wash."

It all makes sense to me now. I'm going to be looking at sheets in a totally different way from now on.

And, how sustainable...? I thought this was a fantastic idea I wanted to share.

Plus, she goes to Scrap to get fabric and patterns.

Here are a few more projects she's been working on.


Plus, it never hurts to have a puppy in the picture ;)

And, it's super sustainable to make your own clothes - especially if you can figure out a way to use old sheets.

Breaking Dawn - Movie Review Monday

It was a holiday weekend - so one of our family traditions held out - we went to see a movie: Breaking Dawn.

I'd read the book(s) and that helped understand some of the scenes. Such as
Rosalie wanting to help with the baby - I don't think that was developed fully in the movie. In the book, she resented the fact that Bella would willingly give up her life and the chance to become a mother (things Rosalie never wanted to miss) to become a blood thirsty monster.

Breaking Dawn had some good moments. BUT, and that's a big but, it was super slow. I felt they drew out the wedding scene and the honeymoon waaaaaaay too long. It could have been done in a couple of minutes and then they could have moved on to some action. There was only one scene with some real action in it.

Things I really didn't like:

1) The sloooooooooooooooooooooowness of the movie

2) The vampires being out in the daylight!!! No disintegrating, no sparkling, no nothing. Explain that one to me. They could have gotten married at night. It would have made so much more sense. Vampires can't go out in the sunlight - even in the earlier books: Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse, the Cullen's didn't venture out into the daylight in front of humans. So I have no idea how they just skipped right over that fact...or fiction.

I don't usually like stories that play havoc with lore - and vampire lore is pretty well settled. But, I overlooked some "havoc" in the books; however, that doesn't explain how Edward and the Cullens managed to have a daylight wedding with no one noticing the sparkling or anything out of the ordinary at all.

3) How thin Edward and Bella were from the very beginning of this film. It looked like they had lost 20 pounds each since the last movie (maybe more). I thought they looked unhealthy even before Bella was starving from the pregnancy.

Things I liked:

1) Jacob. I think he looked much more like the character in the book in this film than the others. He worked hard to "become" Jacob and I think he did a great job.

2) Seeing the softer side of Edward. He didn't have a continually pained look on his face.

3) Bella looked beautiful at the wedding.

Overall: I wouldn't recommend the movie UNLESS you've already seen the other movies and if you'd read the books. I do think the second half of Breaking Dawn will be better and you should see the first half of the story if you want to see the second half.

But, at least on this one part of the story, I prefer a little more action in my movies.

Turkey Trot 2011

It was only a 4 mile run but. . . it was uphill a lot of the way and I mean straight uphill through Washington Park. It's a tough run but it was also a lot of fun.

What better way to burn off that pie and turkey than starting out your Thanksgiving morning with a challenging run? That's what my hubby and I did. We met my sister at the Zoo and took off together for the run. And, it wasn't even raining!!!

A wonderful way to start a day...plus I didn't feel guilty eating that second slice of pie :)

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing you all a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Hope y'all will have a fantastic day filled with family, friends, and good food ;)

ThanksGIVING

With Thanksgiving on our doorstep, I wanted to remind everyone that while we're feasting with family and friends others aren't always so lucky. At any time of year, but especially during the holidays, we should take a minute to think about Giving...

Every community has organizations that can help stretch your donations. Here in Portland one great organization is the Oregon Food Bank (OFB) – it is at the center of a statewide network of 915 hunger-relief agencies.

OFB serves all of Oregon and Clark County in Washington. Oregon Food Bank recovers food from farmers, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, individuals, and government sources. OFB then distributes the food to 20 regional food banks across Oregon. And there are plenty of ways to donate: 1) give canned goods; 2) give dollars; 3) donate time.

These are ways to really celebrate the season.

Sasha Suit

Check out Sasha's home-made hoody

My Run

We were running through the forest.

In Forest Park. Portland's Forest Park is the largest wooded city park in the United States. With a 40-mile loop, there's a trail for every level: from walkers to runners. And there's something for everyone to see.


It wasn't a fast run but maybe if I show you a few photos, you might understand.

When you're running with a crew, you have to take a little more time and just enjoy the journey.

Not all the girls run at the same pace but it was a beautiful trail - although it had leaves all over the path, which made us slow down even more (slippery - so we had a good excuse).

Still, it was a beautiful morning on the Leif Eriksen trail.

It's Starting to Look a Lot like Christmas

I'm starting to think of ways to decorate on a budget for Christmas. I'm pulling out old nick-nacks and repurposing them.

I bought some Christmas Tree balls at Ross for $3.99 and put them inside the Hurricane I had sitting around the house.

It turned out pretty for a very paltry bit of money.


How 'bout you? Have you been thinking of ways to decorate without spending a load of money?

Checkerboard Cake

I wanted to make a fun cake for a birthday. Here's how I did it. I made a banana chocolate checkerboard cake.

First I baked one layer with chocolate in the center and the outside rim and yellow cake in between the two chocolate areas.

Then I baked a layer with yellow in the center and the outside rim with chocolate in between the two. And then I baked another layer just like the first.

I stacked them with the two chocolate layers on the top and bottom and the yellow double rim layer in the middle, using cream cheese raspberry filling to glue them all together.

It created a checkerboard effect. My theory is Food should be Fun :)


Plus, I used the extra batter to make cupcakes - Mom always used to say, "never let anything go to waste" - now if I could only learn how to never let anything go to my waist - that would be a real trick

Money Cake

I wanted to make a cake to celebrate a friend's promotion. Here's how I did it:

I made a template out of construction paper and then I cut out the cake.





Then I made a ganache glaze. Here's how I did it.


Ingredients:

2 cups of heavy cream,
12 ozs (or one package) of chocolate chips
1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt.

Heat the cream over medium-high heat until it comes to a boil, pour over chocolate chips and add salt. Let it sit for 10 minutes (do NOT stir or it will come out grainy) After the ten minutes, stir and pour over the cake while the ganache is still warm.

I'm a total NUTcase

Even though these nuts might look like alien seed pods


Pistachios are a Holiday Harbinger, at least in my house:

Every year, as fall rolls around, I pull out the nut bowl and fill it full...over and over again. I love to see pistachios hanging around the house (especially during the holidays) for a couple of reasons:

1) The FDA claims that if you eat pistachios you'll probably have a healthier heart. Here's their official statement:

"Scientific evidence suggests but does not prove that eating 1.5 ounces per day of most nuts, such as pistachios, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease..."

2) Pistachios contain something called phytosterols which fight cholesterol.

3) Pistachios have almost 90% unsaturated fat, or "the good stuff". So, next time you're craving a fat-filled snack (like potato chips or french fries) choose nuts instead--especially if they are pistachios.

4) Pistachios are packed full of different antioxidants, which support your heart and body.

5) Pistachios are a delicious way to eat dietary fiber and they're a naturally nutritious snack.

6) Researchers at Loma Linda University performed studies that found that, despite the fact that nuts contain fat, they didn't cause an increase in body weight.

So go a little nuts these holidays - maybe you'll end up a lot healthier.

And please share a little bit of your own holiday spirit by telling me what food can be found around your house at the holidays. I'm hoping it will give me a little "new" foodilicious inspiration.

Portrait of Portland

People talk about leaf hunting in Vermont and New England but, believe me, Portland is just as pretty. Just in case you don't believe me, I did a little digital leaf hunting.

Take a look at my pictorial portrait of Portland in the fall.

11.11.11 - Veteran's Day

A time to pause...

and remember . . .

all the men and women who have served

Thanks! to all the Veterans out there today.

Midnight Seduction

I usually read horror. My favorite writer is Stephen King. I also like Koontz, Saul and of course Poe. So when I won an Ebook called Midnight Seduction, I knew it probably wouldn't be my typical type of read. And, when I opened the book on my kindle, I laughed out loud because the cover was so...seductive. I thought, "Maybe this isn't my typical type of book but with covers like this, it just might become my favorite new genre."

So, I opened the story and started to read. And...an odd coincidence...the characters' names are Jakob and Kara. Now, Jacob might be a normal enough name - in fact, it's my oldest son's name. But, Kara...I thought I made that name up when I named my daughter. Okay, I realized I wasn't the first to name a kid Kara. But, my husband had wanted to name her Sarah and I took my initial from "K"im and changed Sarah to Kara.

Anyway, I've only read 3% (because the house remodel has been taking a lot of my time) but I've been hit by a few strange coincidences already...like the characters having my kids' names. Next, Jakob is a shifter, so this isn't just a romance novel...it might even be considered a thriller or a horror, I'll know more when I read a bit more. But isn't that odd? It has elements of my favorite genre in it and it has my kids' names in it. It seems like it was destiny for me to win this Ebook and, I'll let you know more, when I've read a little bit more.

How 'bout you, have you ever read a book that made you think...hum...a lot of coincidences here?

Walls and Roof - YIPEE

It's been a Looooooooooooooong week without windows, walls or a roof but thanks to Luke and Lars, we have them all back in place. There's still a lot of work to do. We want to replace these old windows with new ones - but that's going to have to wait a couple of weeks. We need a weekend to get that project done.

Plus, we're a little pooped from coming home from work to work on the house. Luckily, we've got the walls, windows and roof all back in place (before the real rains hit).

And, believe me, it's very stressful seeing my boys outside hanging over the house on a scaffold that weebbled and wobbled but it didn't fall down, whenever they stepped out on it.

Thank goodness that's over for now. And the house should feel a little warmer. . . until the next stage of this remodeling project.

Decorating for Thanksgiving

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I wanted to start decorating for the holiday. So, first, I had to take down the Halloween decorations...well, most of them. I left up the orange Chinese lanterns and the fall colored decorations. Then I changed out the table linens and added some copper colored candles.

Here's a close up of one table topper I put together using peacock feathers and other foliage.

Let me know what you think of it.

Progress on the remodeling Project

This is turning out to be a bigger project than I'd planned on. Heck, I never planned any of it...really. And notice the section of the roof that's missing.

Oh well, we're lucky, my husband's brother came over to help out.
Here are a few photos of the progress they've been making this weekend.And, it doesn't hurt that he's a contractor with 30 years experience. With his help, the roof is back on over the room.


There's still a lot to do, including putting the walls back on and, since it's November, I hope it happens quickly. And, with my hubby working late into the night, I can't complain...too much. And, notice...he has a harness on - just in case.

Tis the Season - Almost

It's coming

Indivisible

For a little cash you can help a good cause - it's a way to create jobs for other Americans

I bought my band at Starbucks.

Remodel - Making Progress

Luke's bedroom had a super low ceiling. It seemed okay when he was younger...and shorter...but now that he's about 6'5" tall, he could sure use a little more height - at least in his room.

So, the boys pulled out their flat edges (small crowbars) and ripped out the lathe and plaster then they pulled down the boards, which was tongue and groove wood (which is usually used for flooring but here it was all over the walls and ceiling - hidden behind the plaster).

Now that they've got the room destroyed, it's almost time to start rebuilding...at least I'm hoping, after all, this isn't much of a room, now is it?