Ding Dong and Springsteen

Celebrated #59 on Monday, January 30, 2023. Fairly quiet event - made a Ding Dong Cake on Sunday using a recipe from Pinterest. 

Cake involved adding coffee, which made the batter rather thin. Filling, my favorite part, involved creating a thick pasty roux which you then added to creamed butter and sugar until it transformed into a whipped mixture. Final step was to make the icing which, because it was my birthday cake, I snuck in a few shots of Kahlua. Cake was moist, filling was fluffy, and tasty frosting topped it off!

Received birthday flowers from Jay and Linda!

Along with numerous cards, received one from Sam where he actually drew a picture of Wonder Woman. Awesome talent!

Sam, Shelly, and Braxton stopped by for cake.

Recently discovered The Golden Girls, a show which bestie Lynn loved but one that didn't interest me. Manny was watching it so I randomly caught a couple episodes.  It is hilarious! Pretty rare a sitcom makes me laugh but found it happens every time with Golden Girls. 

Tracked down the full seven year series on Hulu, binge watched and finished up the last episode this afternoon.  Because Manny had seen every episode more than once, the worst part was keeping him quiet and not telling me in advance what was going to happen i.e. oh you'll love this part coming up as Dorothy kisses Miles; have you seen the one where Rose gets bypass surgery; and so on. Arrrgggg!! Along with the girls, silence is golden!

During my birthday week I won a work raffle of two tickets and parking pass to see Bruce Springsteen in Seattle on February 27.  As my plus one, Erin will be my partner in crime. A few years back saw him with primo seats and it was a great 3-hour show.

News Flash - I've discovered Hearts of Palm, which are edible interiors of certain palm tress. Heard they are a cross between artichoke hearts and water chestnuts but had never eaten them. Was making an artichoke dip today so grabbed a can to test the taste.

Where have these been all my life? Taste fabulous and could be used in everything. They were a perfect addition to the creamy cheese dip. Ran across a recipe for faux garlic lobster using them as a substitute and that is next on my list.

During my weekly trip to Goodwill, ran across a NYC International fake cheetah with fur collar jacket that called my name. Decided to buy it as a happy birthday to me gift! 

Also picked up a pair of beige, pointed toe ankle boots at Goodwill for half off which will go great while wearing the jacket. 

Long Weekend Means More Jackets!

Couple more jackets made this weekend.  Picked up a tiny Levi's jacket for Hazely that I'll be painting tomorrow during the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

Flamenco flair

Mosaic on light green jacket

Old Denim to Wearable Art

On to a new craft - painted and embellished jean jackets!

Was browsing Pinterest and stumbled across some killer creative jackets. I have a few jean jackets but rarely wear them because it seems I'm channeling Brittany Spears from the 90's!

Dug out a jean jacket after saving tons of pictures for inspiration. Browsed through my closet looking for velvet, sequin, and satin clothing that was no longer being worn. Had recently picked up some fake leather fabric at Goodwill so grabbed it. Then my meditation began in order to create my denim vision.

In the beginning

Cut and draped fabric on the front, rearranging pieces until they sat just so. Off to the sewing machine! Sewed straps of cloth directly to the jacket. Things were going great until BAM! The needle broke. Had to search to first find my sewing basket then dig deep into its depths to find a replacement needle, all the while telling myself the basket seriously needs some organizing. Finally, lo and behold, uncovered a package with two needles!  Saved myself from having to pause my creative rant to run to the fabric store for necessary supplies!

Playing with fabric

Happy with layout

Replaced the needle then finished sewing the front. Waited until the next day to paint the back with a moon theme, including gold leaf and glitter.

Sewing done

Almost there

Back is finished!

All in all, I'm pretty happy with my piece of jacket art. Have already dug out a few more denim shirts and coats to continue this new obsession. May even sell them on Etsy; during my browsing the majority were being sold between $300 and $500!

Happy New Year 2023!

Close the door on 2022 and hello to 2023!

Had a great Christmas with the kids. Only downside was my Amazon gift order didn't show up until after Christmas due to the weather!!  Made from scratch cinnamon rolls, prime rib, hashbrown casserole, spinach dip, and pumpkin dump cake for the holiday. Sent home leftover care packages for each of the boys. 

We all enjoyed our gifts with the exception that the workboots ordered for Sam were too big. Had never returned an item to Amazon and just have to say it was eazy peazy! Besides standing in line at the local shipping drop off shop for 30 minutes, processing the return went quick.  Handed over the package to the clerk, who wrapped it and processed my return quickly, with no charge for return mail. My refund showed up the next day, which really surprised me.

Took a few days off after the holiday to unwind. December 27th (which was actually my one year mark at my duplex) packed away all the decorations, cleaned the living room, and even made pillow covers out of an old Goodwill blanket, which match nicely with the quilts from Lynn that hang over each couch. So comfy!!

New Year's Eve was fairly quiet.  We did go out on the town but returned home before midnight.  Spent New Year's Day trying to beat my boredom by searching Pinterest and YouTube for a DIY cut your hair in a long bob style tutorial. Ended up rubberbanding my hair into a ponytail and chopping a couple inches off to create the style. It's passable but it needs a little, shall we say, refining so a visit to hair goddess Abbie will be in my near future!

Happy New Year's everyone!

FIFA Fakers

Experienced for the first time the FIFA World Cup of Soccer. Manny is big into soccer, especially since he played it in his younger days.  As for me, have never watched it or been a fan. However, after viewing several 2022 World Cup games, it's clear the players should not be winning matches but instead be awarded Oscars for their acting!

Could not believe the sheer number of "injuries" on the field, be they accidental, intentional, or self-inflicted. These guys were jumping into each opposing player then falling to the ground, holding back tears as they gripped their legs, arms, or faces. They looked pitifully toward the referees with cries of penalty, faces contorted with pain. Replay is shown and it was obvious no physical contact was made. Miracuously, the player is healed, bounces up, dries his tears, and returns to the game.

These injuries were not one-time events. These choreographed scenes were repeated over and over in all the games by all the players. They had their fake injury moves down to a science!  Manny said this behavior is par for the course for soccer games. 

Soccer games still aren't my cup of tea but they are definitely entertaining!

Haul Out the Holly!

Last weekend the Shepard family party, held at Arlene's place, went off without a hitch. Always wonderful to catch up with the siblings and cousins, although there is never enough time to fully fill each other in on our activities. We need to hold a gathering such as this on a quarterly or bi-annual schedule to catch up.

Food was awesome and abundant. I brought taco dip and spinach dip along with cardamom bread and cardamom shortbread. Tons of leftovers along with goodies, which included Arlene's addictive, homemade carmel corn.

As always, we played the white elephant gift game. Wound up with a lighted lantern that fit perfectly with my standing snowman.

Unfortunately, it seems germs were shared too as I wound up with a winter cold the following Monday. Took a few afternoons off from work to nap and am on the upswing now.

Friday the 16th was the annual  company employee party in Tacoma. Sipping mimosas, rode the party bus to the convention center with the Portland office. Abundance of swanky food, open bar, and raffle prizes. When the opening ceremony started, a couple of big wigs ran through the crowd, shooting bills with air guns.  I wound up grabbing $105 so that was exciting and made up for not winning a raffle prize! Cheered sis Erin on when she was selected as a member of an elite group of high performers. Way to go little sis!! Was a fun event but boy was I tired when we were dropped off by the bus upon our return.

Christmas is almost here, which means finishing the shopping for gifts. Have done quite a bit of Amazon purchases this year and need to submit my final, guaranteed delivery before the 25th items. Also took 12/23 to 12/27 off from work so this will give me time to finish shopping then time to recover!

Merry Christmas!!

Nativity and UberEats!

Last weekend went through the boxes of holiday decor and spread some cheer throughout the living room. After being in storage for three years, I was happy to see only a couple of tree ornaments were broken. 

Set up the tree then dug out the Goodwill brand new nativity set, which reminded me of mom's, found a few years ago for $5. Googled the display and found it goes for $249!  The bonus was the set included every character,  even baby Jesus! Sadly one king lost his head but that was an easy fix with E-6000 glue. 

Wrapped the barn in lights, added the animals, angel, kings, shepherd boy, Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. Just love it! 

The great news this week was I received a surprise $200 gift certificate from one of producers in appreciation of my work. The bad news? It was for UberEats! Ugh. Put my thinking cap on and used the funds for grocery store delivery along with antifreeze from an auto store. 

The hummingbirds have been out in full force once the weather turned cold. One in particular seems to have just discovered the feeder and has staked it out as his own.

Speaking of cold, woke up Wednesday to the sight of snow!  Normally take Sam to work but had to bow out due to all the white powder on the road. Happy to report it melted quickly.

Poor Manny has been sick with a winter cold. The couch has become his second home where he's kept himself entertained by watching the FIFA World Cup. I've been using hand sanitizer and Lysol to ward off the germs. 

*Any resemblance to real life is purely coincidental!