Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Getting ready

     I feel that I'm always getting ready for something.  So much for living in the moment.  Whether it's clean clothes for the week, canning for the winter, getting the doll's  Christmas ready, there's always something I need to do to get ready.  In fact, I don't think I'm exactly sane when I don't have something to work toward.  I like having a plan.  Even in so little a thing as what to fix for dinner in the evening.  And I have heard countless women complain that they can't think of a thing, that they're tired of inventing something every day!  So I am happy to have that decided for me, either by events or by plan.  Sometimes I make menus far into the month.  That doesn't always work.  What sounded good two weeks ago may not be suited to the taste today.  Other times there are reasons, like we have to eat the last of the lettuce before it spoils.  Sometimes I just get going and fix things ahead.  That is what happened this week.  I got out a pound of ground beef and thawed it to make spaghetti, Hubby's favorite food, and used 1/4 of it for that, then made some tiny meatloaves in mini-pans, (slice it the long way, it's 3 regular size slices).  We didn't eat all the spaghetti so there was enough to make another meal, (baked spaghetti with cheese).  I also made whole wheat bread.  So here are the menus:  

Monday        Spaghetti and tossed salad
Tuesday        Meatloaf, Potatoes au gratin,  green beans, fresh baked bread
Wednesday   Baked spaghetti, Frozen broccoli, canteloup
Thursday       Soup and Roast beef sandwiches  (we need to use the deli meat up)
Friday is up for grabs but I'm thinking of grilling chicken breasts and corn on cob
Saturday night for company, Pizza with bread dough I saved back in the fridge.  Brownies.

     Now as to getting ready for the doll's Christmas, well, we haven't told the dolls yet but I think they suspect something.  They just seem a little restless.  I'm sure we will tell them soon.  I'd like to get them  distributed around the house nicely first.  And clothed.  I know that anticipation is a doll's greatest pleasure!
The Christmas cards are coming along nicely.  They measure about 1 1/2" by 1" and the envelopes are a little larger.  Some are square, they have a different envelope:



    Note the tiny stamp made out of stickers sent to us in the mail.  I see I should have put a quarter in to give some idea of gauge, you'll just have to take my word for it.  The print on the back of the card reads, very tiny, Doll House Christmas Productions, 2010



  

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Christmas for the dolls

     It started out very innocently, I tell you, it was just a suggestion.  I think I've mentioned that I love this season of the year, the holidays, the weather, the scenery during the fall.  I even love winter right up through Christmas.  I'm pretty much done with it then.  But my children are all grown up and the chaotic Christmases of the past are quiet now.  And I guess I resent that, some.  I was pondering that and trying to think of ways to jolly up my Christmas this year.  I've always loved Tasha Tudor, for her stubbornly living the kind of life she chose, and I remembered that she always had Christmas for the dolls in her establishment.  So I wrote that down on my list, a short list, I have to admit. Dolls' Christmas.  I didn't think it was all that great an idea though.
     Then I couldn't get  it out of my head.   What would a Doll's Christmas look like?  I had a momentary flash of tiny Christmas cards in tiny envelopes.  Tiny cakes.  Tiny presents, and then "Oh, What kind of presents would they like"?  Really, I thought it was harmless to speculate because it wasn't really going to happen, was it?
     I was momentarily flummoxed because all the dolls do not have names.  Time to remedy that.  But then what about the dolls who are packed away in boxes, we couldn't have Christmas without them, could we?  Then, what about the dolls who have recently received presents, like my large tin head who was just given a lovely mandolin, to scale, which has the further advantage of playing music when wound, by my dear friend A______.  One voice in my head said, "they don't know anything, you can do what ever you want" but another voice said "they'll know if you're not fair"  and so on.  I began to troll the house for objects that would serve as presents.  I even had the thought that there were certain objects that I didn't want to give away!  As if I wouldn't still own them if they were given to a doll that I already own!
     Now, you can see that it has gotten completely out of hand and has taken on a life of its own.  And I am constantly busy making dolls dresses, glueing on wigs, surfing the internet looking for ideas.  I got a pattern for lace mitts there!  My husband was drawn in, working on 40 miniature Christmas cards with stamps which will be canceled before delivery.  I am looking for a suitable postal box.


Ana doll
Dolls in need of clothing




Abe and Mary







the upstairs gang

The downstairs gang
The big tin head is named Beatrice

Marie Clair is having a fitting for her new dress and petticoat


     So you can see that I have pretty much gone gaga as we used to say.  I am enjoying it to a ridiculous extent.   More on the Doll's Christmas soon!




Friday, September 10, 2010

Another view of creative

     For a couple of years I tried to learn to paint pictures.  Great art on my walls!  Later, when I had tried it, I thought, well, "acceptable art".  But is there such a thing?
       I bought some good watercolors (of course, on sale) and worked on it every week for a couple of years.  After all, both my parents were artists, several of my children are too, it couldn't have skipped me, could it?   Well, yes, maybe it could.  Though my early efforts were suggestive, I never improved, in fact I got worse, if possible.  Finally, I gave it up. And then eventually, the expensive paints sitting around unused began to bother me.  I began to look for a way to use them in a more controlled (so I thought) way. 
     At the same time I had been experimenting with covering cardboard hatboxes and bandboxes with wallpaper.  I have always liked those quirky boxes and have bought a few at auctions for pennies with an eye to collecting them.  They are not always available on the cheap though and I began to think about making them myself.  When in want, make it yourself, I always say.  Besides, I am not the world's neatest person and these containers could make a neat-nik out of me!  I bought some vintage wallpaper at a garage sale and started.  Whew,  what a lot of work!  Rather, it's not the work maybe, it's the precision needed that eluded me.  I gritted my teeth and practised.  I got books from the library.  Glue appeared on all my clothing.  I got more books.  One pictured faux-grained objects.  I was intrigued.  The only thing better than wallpaper covered boxes would be Amish boxes, right?  And I had plenty of paint!
     So I started, having the book open on the paint table.  I was sure it would be hard to do . . .but what's this,  the grain effects are all a trick of brush strokes.  Follow the directions and it happens right before your eyes and it's just like magic.  And my lopsided tendencies, my disorganization, are assets, since wood grain tends to be random. . .
       
     I even found a way to add the swallow-tails, out of cardboard, of course.  I used the wallpaper to line them with.




     A hundred boxes later,  I've sold a few, given many more away as gifts and still have a supply for my own use.  I'm still learning but I'm also still enjoying, which is perhaps more important.


Note the one wallpapered box here.

     Granted, all my projects have not been so successful but this one has bolstered my belief that one can make the things one desires, satisfy the need for creativity and express one's self  without a large expenditure of money, in fact, I'm not sure money is any indicator of what one can do.!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

A little snack

     When we get to the last few days of our two weeks of groceries, snacks get kind of scarce.  Then it's a good time to make graham crackers.  I got the recipe on the internet, of course.  I've gone back to recipe cards and a loose leaf notebook with print-outs of favorite recipes.  In fact, I've given away most of my cookbooks, since I have my favorites pretty much memorized.  I rarely buy new cookbooks because there may be only 3 or 4 good new recipes in a whole book.  I mean the kind of food we end up eating every month or even every week.  It would be worth paying for, of course, but I could get the books at the library, or if I do buy them, give them away for Christmas presents.  Have to keep those clean, though.  I did that this week. Bought a new book, I mean.   It was the newly published soup book from my favorite lunch restaurant. From that I made a south-western corn chowder that was very good indeed.  But back to graham crackers.  It's sort of a biscuit with sweeteners.  Whole wheat flour and self-rising white flour and brown sugar, and lots of cinnamon, are combined with butter or margerine.  Oh, I forgot to say I had just finished canning some carrots!

Now a small amount of water mixed with the molasses and honey is stirred in.  I grease the bottom of my
two biggest pans and, dividing the dough in two, roll each half out as thin as I can get it.  Then I use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into small squares, about 40 per pan.  After I bake them I have to cut them again and get them off the pan before they get too crisp.



A fair number of them don't survive through this step as the smell brings every one in the house to sample.  After they cool, they are put into the cookie jar and become the snack of choice until they are all gone.


This is a very old candy or peanut jar that came from my Mother-in-law's candy shop down by the Grade School.  Though it doesn't show in the picture, it is etched "Cookies".  I have a whole set of old jars etched like that.  My daughter, an artist, taught me how to use etching cream on glass and I have had a lot of fun with it.  Well, today I plan to make doll clothes.  I will take some pictures of that too.  Let me know if you want the recipes for these goodies, I wasn't sure if people expected recipes from a blog.