are you?

shopping today?

i'm not. well. not really. i don't do midnight. waiting in lines for hours. fighting crowds. while i love the thrill of the hunt. i don't love that crazy-ness. no. not for me.

i'll be venturing out later. to run some errands. just some regular old errands.

but for now. i'll just sit at my mac. in my jammies. with a cup of coffee. and get some deals online. thank you very much.

thankful.

a lot of my friends have been posting what they are thankful for on facebook. for me. it's just easier to make a list and post it here.

• little one and two.
• silly laughs and crazy questions.
• turkey cupcakes. well any cupcake for that matter.
• good friends. who are there for you no matter what kind of a fool you make of yourself (at a book fair perhaps).
• sunshine.
• memories.
• new friends.
• coffee.
• coffee cups that make drinking coffee more fun.
• brothers. who aren't so much bothers anymore.
• trips and vacations. and faraway places.
• celebrations.
• inlaws and relatives who i'm lucky to have.
• inspiration and creative ideas.
• hours and minutes and time in the day.
• change and thought and wonder.
• words.

i guess i'm just thankful. happy thanksgiving.

in the kitchen.

well. today. i am thankful that i am not doing the thanksgiving feast. just the bread. that's all i'm responsible for this year.

and it's rising right now. as i type on the counter. hoping. it will turn out this pretty tomorrow. hoping that the great dough disaster that happened a few weeks ago will not happen again today.

if you have a le crueset or other cast iron enamel dutch oven. you must. i mean it. you must. try this recipe. you won't want to buy another loaf of bread again.

No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread

1/4 tsp active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting. You may use white, whole wheat or a combination of the two.

1 1/2 tsp salt

Cornmeal or wheat bran for dusting

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add the flour and salt, stirring until blended. The dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest at least 8 hours, preferably 12 to 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. The dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it. Sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let it rest for about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to the work surface or to your fingers, gently shape it into a ball. Generously coat a clean dish towel with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal. Put the seam side of the dough down on the towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another towel and let rise for about 1 to 2 hours. When it’s ready, the dough will have doubled in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least 20 minutes before the dough is ready, heat oven to 475 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in the oven as it heats. When the dough is ready, carefully remove the pot from the oven and lift off the lid. Slide your hand under the towel and turn the dough over into the pot, seam side up. The dough will lose its shape a bit in the process, but that’s OK. Give the pan a firm shake or two to help distribute the dough evenly, but don’t worry if it’s not perfect; it will straighten out as it bakes.

5. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake another 15 to 20 minutes, until the loaf is beautifully browned. Remove the bread from the Dutch oven and let it cool on a rack for at least 1 hour before slicing.

recipe courtesy of mother earth news.

happy birthday.

just remembering someone today.

good grief.

TVGrapevine American Idol, Big Brother 11 Reality TV

do you think?

i might have a ghost?

i know. it sounds. crazy. crazy.

but today. i was sewing. i got up from my machine. to work on something else.

and all of a sudden my machine started to sew. on it's own. mind you. it operates with a foot pedal. you have to push the pedal to make it go.

i looked over when i realized finally. what the noise was. it went again. then again. and again.

i got up. walked over. it did it again. and then stopped. there wasn't anything there. in the chair. but there wasn't a power surge either. or anything else.

strange. very strange. it didn't happen again. and my machine was fine. but. do you. think??

come back.

oh mr. sun. mr. sun. where. oh where. have you gone? why did you let old man winter in? with such a fury? such a cold. wet. windy. fury.

i wasn't ready to pack these away. yet. not just quite yet.

we need some more warm rays of you around here. some more longer days. longer shadows. more sunshine. come back. please.

buffalo chips.

tonight. the other yulie and i went to the see and hear the pioneer woman. if you don't know her. you should. thepioneerwoman.com. she's a person that bloggers like me adore. look up to. admire. envy. wish our blog could be like hers..... i can feel a lot of sighs coming in this post.

she isn't your usual pioneer woman. either.

she's married to the marlboro man. and has 4 punks. i call them littles. she calls them punks. 2 of them and the marlboro man, too. sat right in front of us at the event. and yes. marlboro man he is the marlboro man....

she was funny. and beautiful. and had perfect hair. and her littles. were not perfect. and she was honest. and a bit embarrassed. when they burped into the microphone. in front of over 700 people. yes. it was perfect. she's real. just like the rest of us. but she is talented. she cooks. and takes amazing photos. and lives on a ranch. in the middle of nowhere. and has the coolest kitchen. and a terrific blog. and now. she has a best-selling cookbook. glad it's on my shelf.

twirl.

i took some time off. i know. i shouldn't. but i got through my sales this fall. and i needed a break. a break from the machine. i know. i have another sale in a few weeks. and orders that need to get done. (they will.).

but i needed some time. to re-group. re-think. and do something for fun. because you know. it all starts out as fun. but then quickly turns! and isn't always so much fun.

little one. requested. surprise. a twirly skirt. i know. imagine that. a twirly skirt.

don't we have enough twirly clothes? in her world. the answer would be no. an emphatic. big fat. no.

so i set about. ordering the fabric. love it.

of course there was ric rac.

and found the pattern. (which i altered. there were a few changes that i wanted. pockets. to store treasures. the waistband. decorative stitching. etc. but it had the twirl factor i was looking for. and cute. too!) and three hours later and a bit of !@#*!@*?#! later. it was done.

and we twirled.

and spun.

and twirled some more.

because this. is the twirly-ist. skirt we have.

no. sigh. the great dough disaster.

sigh.

sigh.

and well. for drama. another big. fat. sigh.

you see. i've been making bread for the past 18 hours. to take to a dinner party tonight. because that's what i signed up for. told the hostess i would bring. and what happened? well. there are no pictures. despite hating posts without pictures. there are none. none. because the picture is still vivid in my mind. i will say that straight up. someone was a bit too well. shall we say. unhappy? with a couple of littles? maybe very unhappy is a better word.

you see. the bread. this recipe. has been bubbling and rising and proofing on my counter for about 18 hours now. and i this afternoon. during the last. the last. stage of the process. as it was quietly taking a break on the counter. under some wrap. some certain. little people. (because there was more than one involved here). suddenly were inspired. to become bakers. bread bakers you see.

when i heard dh not so calmly asking what was going on. i knew. just knew. what the situation was.

my dough. the perfect bread dough. the dough that was soon to go into the oven. to become this.

was smeared. and smooshed. and rubbed. and ground in. and thrown all over my counters. and floor. and dishwasher. and cupboards.

the beautiful dough. had apparently died. but died with a good fight. because they fought with it. and kneaded it. (even though it was a no knead bread.) the wrap that was so carefully covering it. was intertwined. and engulfed in what was left of the dough. there was flour everywhere.

hence. there are no pictures. because i've spent the last hour. cleaning and scrubbing. and hearing explanations of why. why the littles chose today. to become bakers. and dh? well. he's at the store. buying store bought bread. to take tonight. because there was no saving it. there were no heroic measures that could have been taken. none.

sale.

day. today. up late last night. and the night before. and the night before. and the night before that.

procrastination is my friend. my good friend.

i'd say i'd plan better next time. but i know i won't. it will be up all night. all week. before the sale. always. is. always...

but. todays the day. another one down. for the season.

strawberry fields.

or thrift thursday. i guess. i am into strawberries these days.

i seem to hunt them out. amongst the linens and such. so it was a good day for strawberry picking on this november day. and these are just a couple of the sweet berries i found. i forgot to take pictures of the others....not sure what these are going to become. but i'm sure they'll have a new life as something else. i must just think about that.

anybody up for some strawberry jam?

how many?

somebody asked. how many crayons did it take to make all those letters?

well. i didn't count. but if i have to estimate. and since somebody asked. i would have to say about 700. yes. 700. new ones. broken ones. used ones. they all melt down the same when the paper is taken off and they are broken up into little bits. i said it was time consuming right?

it's just too early.

i'm sorry. i don't mean to sound like a scrooge. and let me set the record straight first. i love christmas. love the holidays. love the lights and the trees. and the cheer and goodwill. the christmas cards. the presents. the meaning.

but.

it.

is.

too.

early.

(especially at 4 in the am.)

for.

christmas music.

the radio stations here race to be the first ones to play christmas music 24 hours a day. a few years ago they started the day after thanksgiving. that was perfect. then it started before. and then it started middle of november - to be "the first one on the air with all day/night christmas music". not sure why that's a title to covet.

but anyway. now it starts on november 1. yes. november 1st. and since i don't listen to the radio that much anyway (i'm more of an ipod girl). i hadn't noticed. until today.

when my radio came blaring on at 4 am. to madonna's version of "santa baby".

too early. for:

a. getting up.

b. madonna

c. madonna singing santa baby

colors.

so. apparently i am a genius. yes. genius. you. see.

at the party. the take home gift (besides the aprons) was a bag of homemade crayons. and one of the little girls. told her mom this... "I was showing K. the party favors you made and I was explaining to her that they were crayons and you made them, to which she emphatically replied, "her mom MADE these??? She's a GENIUS!"

nice you see. nice!

but let me tell you. those crayons. a pain. a big fat. pain. it takes a lot of time. and lot of crayon encrusted fingernails (mine and several good friends who i put to work. thank you! you know who you are!) to get the labels off of over 300 crayons...but the result? perfect.

and the celebrations continue.

we (almost) wrapped up a week of celebrating little one's sixth birthday today. her arty party was this afternoon.

and you can quote me on this next year. but this is going to be the last big party i do. well. ok. remind me next year when i'm caught up in the craziness.

i've been adventuring for weeks now. looking for old shirts i can upcycle into aprons for all the littles. 18 shirts later and i was done. and of course i forgot. in all the nut-y-ness. to take a picture of them all. except when they were all on. oh well. lesson learned (maybe.).

we did arty things. coloring and creating. and imagining.

had cake and ice cream and various other treats.

and of course. we had a pinata. because little one doesn't think it's a party without a pinata.


and we had party favors as everyone left. because whats a party without a gift?

(those are handmade crayons, by the way. more on that later).

and thanks go out to lots of people. the ultimate party planner. oh beehive. who unfortunately came down with a bit of a nasty bug and couldn't come, but was there in spirit and idea. and to m&d, uncle john and juju and suzanne and loryn and mimi and poppy. for without whom this party wouldn't have happened and my sanity would have been lost.

hmm. maybe i'll think about a theme for next year's party.