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Post since moving spastic crafter code from feedburner into wordpress blog.

Posted on WOM wordpress, hoping it’ll show up on Spastic Crafter’s feed.

This is a new post on WOM WordPress after I’ve moved the Spastic Crafters feed to WOM WordPress.

Recently, Jaden‘s favorite movie to watch is The Triplets of Belleville. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it as a kids’ movie, though. It’s really dark and weird and well, yah, you’ll have to watch it yourself (plenty of it on youtube). But, what can I say. All of our kids love it too.

So, of course, she chose that as the theme for her birthday. For the cake, Aurora decided to cover a sheet cake with frog pieces. Once again, hard to explain if you haven’t seen the movie. (Though if you watch from about 4:05 on this link, you’ll get the gist.)

We all sat down to sculpt them out of gumpaste, but Jenny was the only one who was able to make anything presentable. My frogs were so ugly that I squashed all of them and made tadpoles instead. And even those managed to look more like sperm than tadpoles. Aurora’s attempts were a bit better, but still, Jenny kicked our butts on the frog sculpting front. Then again, she’s awesome like that (in a very ‘perfectionist, keep going til it works’ way, while my personal style is more along the lines of ‘meh, good enough’).

And guess what, I’ve got a Don’t Do What Donnie Don’t Does for you. Don’t leave a bunch of gumpaste figures out in the garage during a rainstorm without first double, no, triple checking that your roof doesn’t leak. Because ours leaks. And I had no idea that it did. And I actually cried when I saw this.

(And for those of you who are wondering why I would put these in the garage… here’s my reasoning. We have a naughty cat and I didn’t trust her to not eat these. I thought of putting them in the oven for safe keeping, but I was sure that someone would turn it on without realizing they were in there. Most likely me. No one goes in the garage, so I figured they’d be safe out there.)

So my wonderful sister came over the next day and re-sculpted a cake full of frogs. Isn’t she sweet? And I think the second batch turned out even better than the first.

And while she was re-making them, Kam was nice enough to give a tutorial for just how to make this frog. We used cocoa to keep them from sticking and also to give them a nice “fresh from the swamp” color. It totally worked.

Aurora whipped up a sheet cake with some brown/pink cream cheese frosting and we just plunked the frogs down on it.

And this last picture… technically that is one leg and one arm, but I stuck them in there like they were a pair of legs.

Don’t tell Jenny.

Note- I’m closing the comments on this post because I’ve been getting a ton of spam on it for some reason. It’s all been in Japanese, which I find pretty amusing. But well, I’ve got zero tolerance for spam. If you’re interested in commenting on this, feel free to email me.

Thanks.

Originally, I wrote this post focusing on many of the things in my life that are, well… less than ideal lately. Not really to complain, but because I find it all rather amusing. And just as I was about to hit publish, I happened to hop over to Flickr and find some beautiful pics that Jenny took at my house in the very areas I was complaining about. It’s amazing how much beauty she was able to uncover by simply focusing on it.

It also made me think about our mom, who could walk across a dry field of grass and emerge at the other end holding a bouquet of wildflowers. Her ability to do that always amazed me.

So in the spirit of both full disclosure and unashamed optimism, here are seven things I am not proud of (and a few things that I am)…

Background Info- I’ve been preparing for a multi-family garage sale and getting ready has used up all spare time, space and energy.

1) I wrote most of this last Wednesday, and am just now editing and posting it.
2) I was just looking at a video from Sunday, and I can see that I was wearing the same t-shirt that I currently have on.
3) I have a patch of thistles in my backyard that is almost as tall as I am.
- Those thistles did create a lush green background for some of my favorite flowers, though.

4) When I woke up with a sore throat today, my first thought was, “Ah, I can postpone that damned garage sale.”
5) The state of my living room, dining room and laundry room. That picture shows the living room and part of the dining room. I know. It looks like a crazy person, no, a pack of crazy people lives here. (Feel free to click on over to Flickr for a fun Eye Spy game of crapulence.)
- Just out of frame of that picture, though, are my orchids, which I’ve managed to keep alive and blooming for many years.

6) I had removed a couple of containers full of old leftovers from the fridge and instead of immediately emptying and cleaning them, I forgot them on the counter. They’ve started to bulge menacingly and I’m worried they will soon explode. I’ve actually considered throwing all of it away, containers and all, because I feel that the situation is beyond my ability to deal with. And each hour that passes makes the situation that much more dire.
(But I think I may be over-reacting here.)
7) I walked around with peanut butter in my hair for several hours. Jenny insisted on taking a picture of me before she told me what she was laughing at. And I let her.

And the final thing that I’m happy with is the family of volunteer flowers (sweet peas, violas and snapdragons) that are growing out of the rocks in the back yard.

So, here’s hoping all of you can focus on the flowers and not the weeds.

And thank you, Jenny, for helping me to do just that.

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Let the beauty we love be what we do.
-Rumi

One of my absolute favoritest things about this blog is knowing that something I’ve made has inspired someone else. The first time I saw that another blogger had actually printed out one of my posts, I honestly got a little teary. (I feel I should remind you at this point in time what a dork I am.)

With that in mind, I bring you my newest category.

First up is from one of my good friends from high school. When Defne isn’t using fluorescence microscopy to discover the mysteries of the world, apparently, she’s pretty handy in the kitchen. She sent me this picture of the fantastic fireworks cupcake toppers she made after reading about mine. I love how she alternated red sprinkles and the toppers. And also how perfect is that red table as the background?

And then there’s Stefanie from Nutmeg Stamping who took my pattern for the sheer produce bags and decided to add stamps of fruits and veges. So brilliant! I cannot tell you how excited I am to try this. I just bought some permanent ink pads, and am ready to carve myself some stamps.

Anyway, this post is just a little FYI in case you’ve been inspired by anything I’ve done and would like me to show it off here. Just send me an email or leave a comment somewhere.

Really and truly, the best part of seeing these pictures is the fact that someone followed my directions and it didn’t end in a giant, smoking wreck. That truly makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something.

If that’s a sad goal to have, please don’t tell me.

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Also, for those of you who read this via a feed, I’ve changed out my Tutorials, Tips & Recipes to something a bit more summery, including some Margarita Jell-O Shots that you probably ought to go try.

;)

Thought you all might enjoy some pictures (ok, a ton of them- but it was next to impossible for me to narrow them down) from the wedding of our friend Chula, who you can’t seem to take a bad picture of.

Seriously, how gorgeous is she?

Jenny and Brad have been friends with her family for quite some time, long before they moved into the same neighborhood and she began babysitting Kam. He adores her and gets so excited whenever he gets to see “Chu-wa”. It’s no wonder, as she is one of the absolute sweetest people ever.

Her side of the family is Cambodian, so there were lots of traditions to follow. Although, as one relative explained to me, this was actually a shortened version. Back in Cambodia, it lasts 3 full days, instead of the one and a half days of near constant activity that this one entailed.

My favorite part was the blessing ceremony that took place the night before the wedding.

(Joey and Kam preferred the view from above since it was easier to see everything that was going on.)

The day of the wedding, we walked from their house to the reception hall, carrying plates of food and presents.

I had no idea how heavy a plate of mangoes and lychee fruits could get.

They had two wedding ceremonies that day and then fed us some of the tastiest food ever. We loved it and our kids loved it, but the three other Americans at our table passed on most everything that was served, even the jell-o that, I swear, tasted like chocolate.

How sad for them.

By the end of the night, the kids were on stage dancing in front of the strobe lights, the girls twirling and shaking their booties, the boys doing the robot.

(Joey never again gets to tell me that she’s shy if she can get on stage and do this.)

All in all, we had a blast.

More pictures can be found in Jenny’s Flickr photostream.
Cambodian Buddhist Blessing Ceremony
Wedding Day

Hello, my name is Wendy, and I’m addicted to Mason jars.

They are just so handy for so many things. Every time I see them on sale (and they’re always on sale at this time of year), I pick up another dozen.

-I prefer using Mason jars for leftovers in the fridge because they don’t get all stained and grotty like plastic does. And the glass never absorbs smells. Even if they’ve harbored some science experiment gone horribly wrong, I can actually sterilize them in boiling water. Also, everyone can see exactly what is in them, which actually encourages them to eat it. After a couple of days in the fridge, if it doesn’t look like it’s actually going to get eaten, I pop the freezer-safe jars directly into the freezer.

-Whenever I buy a bunch of fruit on sale, or for some other reason end up with lots of it about to go bad, I freeze the excess for smoothies. I’ve found it’s best to lay the fruit out flat on a cookie sheet and freeze first, then put the already frozen fruit in the jars- it’s much easier to remove this way. You can use as little or as much as you need.

-It’s also great for storing particularly stinky items in the fridge, like pieces of onion or opened cans of wet cat food. Those lids really keep the smells contained.

-I love to store things in the freezer that would otherwise go bad because I use so little of it at a time. Most of these are ingredients that I use as flavoring when I cook. I keep whole ginger (that I grate on a rasp as I need it), rolls of bacon (3 strips stacked together, rolled up and frozen flat), cubes of chipotles in adobo sauce, cubes of tomato paste, left-over Parmesan rinds (to add to soups) and left-over wine for deglazing pans (which never completely freezes, so you can spoon out the slushy stuff as needed).

-I always use Mason jars to freeze liquids like soups and stocks. Whenever I have left-over stock (homemade or out of the can) I put it directly in a jar and into the freezer. The soups I put in half-pint jars for lunches remembering to leave an inch or so of headroom because the water they contain expands when frozen. Note- It’s important to make sure to use freezer safe jars because the expanding liquid can easily crack the glass otherwise.

-They’re great for storage, both cold and at room temperature. I keep dry goods that tend to go rancid (like brown rice, nuts and shredded coconut) in mason jars in the top shelf of my fridge.

And I have several shelves in my kitchen with things like beans and lentils and grains.

I also use the tiny mason jars to store the extra whole spices (that aren’t on the door) in the cupboard.

Seeing all of these beautiful ingredients can sometimes get me going when I’m in a cooking funk.

Sometimes.

OK, boys and girls, it’s time once again for another helpful Don’t Do What Donnie Don’t Does. Garden version this time.

Don’t plant only one tomatillo plant in your garden. Because apparently, they tend to need at least one other friend to cross-fertilize with. I say ‘tend to’ because it isn’t always the case. According to this, sometimes a plant will have the right genes for self-fertilization, in which case you’ll be fine with just one plant. Some of the time, though, it won’t have the right genes and you will therefore need two of them.

What you’ll end up with, if you are unlucky enough to get the kind that does need a friend to pollinate it, is a ton of empty little lanterns, but no fruit. Which is exactly what we have.

Sad.

But at least now we know for next year.

What I’m trying to figure out now, in order to make the most out of this crap situation, is how to string these puppies onto lights or some other equally ridiculous use of my time.