how’re you coping?

(You really must overlook the area rug and furniture, which came with the house!) This is a photo of me dealing with my CHS withdrawal. I took out all my charts the other night (except the ones that are in my WIP or UFO piles) so I could stock up on the ones I still don’t have that I’m certain I cannot live without. I ordered a few from Kathy’s etsy shop that night including Early Maine Pincushion and am now stalking the mailman till they arrive.

I finished reading Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict last night. It was a fun book – up till the end. And that ending made want to throttle the author for ruining what had been a really fun read. I’m terrible about endings, I know … but didn’t anyone else out there have serious issues with this ending? I’m now finishing up a re-read of She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb. I read it back when it first came out, hated it, and recently decided that maybe I’d like it better now. I’m afraid that the humorous part of most dark humor tends to zip right by me, but I don’t outright hate the book this time around. Still have 120 pages to go though …

Not exactly the most riveting of midweek musings, I guess. Thanks for stopping by to visit anyway!

PS: Just finished She’s Come Undone and I have to tell you that the ending ROCKS!!

can’t bake every time it rains…

Hey, who turned this Dutch weather on? It’s raining so much and so often that I feel like I’m back in Gouda! If I keep baking every time it rains, I’m going to  need to apply for my own zip code. The kids had a half day today, so the afternoon was taken up with them and I didn’t really notice the weather (other than the fact that we were not outside playing it, LOL). Then my mom came over for dinner. Come to think of it, I did do some baking because we feasted on six different kinds of homemade pizza.

We had to venture out into the rain yesterday for the appraisal of our property in Machiasport. It’s a lovely place, even on such a dreary day, and we really cannot decide whether to build on it or simply keep it as an investment. I don’t think I’ve posted any pictures since we initially purchased it, about three years ago, so here are a few quick snaps that Niek took. On a sunny summer day, it’s utterly breathtaking.

I managed to sneak in a wee bit of stitching on one of my samplers today and was very pleased with that. Maybe I’ll get in another hour or so this evening. I’m afraid while I’m working on it, this poor blog will be a bit short of stitching photos.

Thanks for visiting with me here! I hope you’re in the bloom of health. Here at Chateau Chaos we’re all trying to come down with colds. Break out the orange juice!!

monday, monday

Curious about how well I’m using my time, here’s today’s to-do list:

• Make bread
  Done: Two loaves oatmeal, one loaf white, both  new recipes
• Call friends re: dinner together
  Need to wait till their work day is done
• Create a resume
  Done!! And a cover letter, too!
• Finish-finish exchange and post it
  Oh no! Good thing that deadline is still a few days away!
• Go to post office to mail Margaret’s win and some other stuff
   Yep!
• Attend property appraisal
  Done: Fortunately Niek was also able to go, so I sat with Arden in the car while Niek tramped the property lines on this rainy, cold day.

Oh but wait, there’s also:

• Feeding humans & animals several meals
  Keeping up with it so far!
• Sweeping the kitchen
  well, at least my intentions were good, LOL
• Walking the dogs repeatedly
  Doesn’t it seem like they want to go out even more often if it’s raining. Sigh.
• Watering the plants
  Done – now to watch them grow!
• Playing with smallest human
  Can you say “terrible twos take hold” ten times fast?
• Catching up on FB/blog/email/etc.
  Done!
• Writing  several letters to accompany outgoing post
  Done! With pleasure, I might add.
• Checking on Mom
  Done! Both on the phone and later in person.

And I mustn’t forget to:

• Spend a little time enjoying Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler
  Lovin’ this one so far!
• Catch up on some more laundry
  oops – can you see that I fall all apart when it comes to housework?
• Do dishes
  About one thousand times, it seems
• Help the kids with their homework
  Done!
• Run a myriad of errands including the supermarket and library
  Done, despite the pouring rain and howling wind and having all four kids with me!

Maybe I’m not as bad at managing my time as I thought I was. It’s only 6 pm and I’ve gotten a fair amount done.  Of course I’d also like to have:

• Finished painting Arden’s bed and assembled it in his room.

Sorry for the Dullsville posting, but it has helped to put things into perspective a bit. I come down so hard on myself for being ineffecient with my time management, but maybe sometimes my goals are simply a bit out of reach.

Oh, anyone looking for something really great to read should give The Dogs of Babel  by Carolyn Parkhurst a try. (Don’t read the Wikipedia article – it gives away too much!!)

the rest of the story

I really didn’t do justice to our GTG in last night’s post, so I’ll try to rectify that now. (I was a little bummed out when I was posting last night because one of the kids had broken the cat skull that I’d found last year. I’ve taken such care with packing it and shipping it, etc. and it upset me quite a bit that one of them felt they had the right to remove it, break it, and try to hide the evidence. Just to explain my little funk.)

But on to happier things! We did indeed have a whale of a good time in Belfast and any other Mainers who’re looking for a good place to meet up for a day would not go wrong by choosing Belfast. The food at the Co-op is delicious, the people who run the shops are friendly, and the ambience is great.

My day started at the library, where I picked up some books at the sale they were having. These are the ones I got for the kids. The novels I chose for myself are hiding at the moment. The kids loved theirs and we promptly read them all cover-to-cover.

From the library, we headed to the Co-op. I enjoyed their scrumptious bagels again. We also got some quality stitching time in, yay us! Here’s my progress on Birds of a Feather’s Apple Sampler. Sadly, it’ll have to go in the WIP pile now because I need to focus my time & energy on the samplers that will be appearing in the Gift of Stitching Monthly magazine.

After stitching and lunching, we walked around town a bit. One of our stops was the fabulous & friendly Brambles shop, where I picked up two new additions to Chateau Chaos. Aren’t they sweet? The owner gave me some great advice on ferns, too, to ensure these guys (gals?) will have a long and happy life.

At the Good Table, I picked up a much-needed scraper for handling those ‘wetter’ bread doughs, but that’s a boring a picture. We checked out some other shops, too, but I really did show remarkable self-control. Aren’t you proud of me? After we went our separate ways in Belfast, I headed home - but I couldn’t resist a quick stop at the Left Bank bookstore in Searsport where I found these two treasures. Ooooh!! Happy, happy me!

I also made a very quick stop at Rooster Brother in Ellsworth just before they closed and found six egg cups. We have boiled eggs on the weekends and it’s been a bit of bother that we didn’t bring our egg cups with us. (Whose dumb idea was that, anyway? LOL.) Egg cups here seem to be a luxury item, with prices ranging from $6 to $14 each – a steep price tag for a family this size! – so I purchased these sake cups for $1.50/each instead.

The only times I took my fabulous mittens off during all this was when I went into the shops. Didn’t want anyone reporting me for Public Weirdness. LOL! They look gorgeous, but the real treat is slipping your hand inside. Oh my goodness! It’s like a spa visit for hands.

Rico says hello to everyone. He’s having some fun today crawling around the outside of his cage. He’s still very nippy so I’m not handling him too much right now, but I’m not sure that’s the right approach either. In any case, he’s very happy to have his freedom, and the dogs have been great about not trying to eat him.

Once again, I’d like to thank Patti and Evelyn for meeting up halfway yesterday – I had a great time! And thank you to everyone who’s visited me here and left comments – you’re fabulous! Now I’m off to finish-finish my Arbor Day exchange so I can pick up with my GOS samplers on Monday. Enjoy a great week, everyone!

PS:
I just saw Kathy’s announcement and am totally bummed out!!

i <3 maine

(Didya get it? I *heart* maine. I’m so clever!)

Today I met up with Patti and Evelyn. (Evelyn doesn’t have a blog but should start one!) It was a lot of fun. We returned to Belfast, checked out the library sale, and then retreated to the fabulous Co-op where we ate and stitched, stitched and ate, and laughed a lot. Patti even had a finish during our GTG – way to go, Patti! It was great to meet Evelyn. Oh, and I got my Oscar mittens, handmade by Patti. I’d show you a picture of them, but I refuse to take them off long enough to operate the camera. You think I’m kidding? They’re a-w-e-s-o-m-e. I’m in love with them. Thank you so much, Patti!!

I did take some pictures before I became unnaturally attached to my mittens. Belfast is a funky little city on the coast – it looks like a timeless “American Main Street” sort of town, which I tried to capture in a couple of quick shots. 

There’s a lot of artistic talent packed into this little city, though! There’s something beautiful or unique to look at everywhere. Today’s find is this trompe l’oeil “door” – which is actually just a section of wall that’s been very cleverly painted.

Before Patti and Evelyn arrived, I stalked a couple of local crows. They’d found something to eat (I wasn’t looking too closely at what it was) and I took advantage of their distraction to try to capture a few closer-up photos. I don’t think my crow photography will ever make me famous, but here’s the best I could do.

It was a stunningly beautiful day (if a tad cold) – one of those days that make you feel you’re nearly bursting from the glory of it all. Here’s a quick snapshot of the waterfront by Verona Island. It’s just a tourist-snap, but isn’t it stunning?

I did make some purchases and I’ll share those later. (Maybe I’ll even get a picture of my Oscar mittens.) For now, I’m very ready to hit the hay. But before I go, I have a winner to announce! Margaret, the random number generator chose YOU – please contact me with your snail-mail addy and Mary Garry will be in your hands before you know it. To everyone, thank you for your comments (now and always!). I wish I had 37 charts to give away (the number of people who specifically requested to be included) but alas.

happiness is …

We woke to gray skies and damp weather again today. Although I know the rain is needed (the fire danger has been very high), the dreariness of the weather made me feel tired and out of sorts before the day even began. So I decided to banish it by baking. 

providing
I started off by making bread dough as if we had an army to feed while Arden liberated the dish water from the confines of the sink. I decided on whole wheat, white-with-bran, and potato bread. I stuck with the tried & true recipes for the first two (though I did meddle with the whole wheat – it’s now whole grain because I added rye, buckwheat, and wheat flakes to it). For the potato bread, I tried this recipe and I’ll certainly use it again (and again, and again, and …).

enjoying
Arden was of the impression that if I had time to make seven loaves of bread, one measly batch of cookies wasn’t asking too much. Honestly I was a little nervous about the cookies, as they haven’t been coming out right for me lately. But who can refuse this face? So I tried a new recipe after Googling  ‘the best chocolate chip cookie recipe’ and I loved it! (I did add 1/2 cup of oatmeal.) Everyone loved it!!

improvising
Because I noticed the potatoes were getting kind of old when I made the potato bread, I peeled, boiled, and mashed the remaining few pounds of potatoes and made potato pancakes for dinner. I intended to take photos, but the pancakes were gone before I could reach for the camera – the pancakes must’ve been pretty good. I did get a picture of my lovely assistant, however.

receiving
My Goode Huswife package came in and I was so excited. I held off on opening it till I got all my ‘chores’ done – good for me, right? – only to discover that I’d either ordered the wrong book or the wrong book got sent. Instead of Colonial Gardening I had Quakers. But Anne has kindly said that she’ll send out the right book and I’ll return the wrong book so things will be sorted in no time.  The charts are awesome, though, aren’t they? And Anne was really quick in sending everything, too.

arranging
I’ve said all along that I have no talent when it comes to decorating, and it’s true. Decorating wasn’t done in my family when I was growing up, and perhaps I was just too old to learn it when I finally discovered it (like learning a language, right?). But all the years that I’ve been in Holland vicariously enjoying everyone’s Easter (and other holiday) decorations, I swore that once I was in a  house large enough to put up some sort of seasonal display that I would do it. Well, here’s my first effort. I cannot take all the credit if you think it looks pretty good. There’s an amazing shop in downtown Machias called Berry Vines and they have the coolest decorating stuff you could ever hope to find if you’re into prim or shabby chic or cottage style. The woman who runs it is super-nice and knows everyone around here for generations back. I think it kind of bugged her that she couldn’t place me, even after I told her what year I graduated from high school and where my parents lived, LOL! While I browsed, she let the kids feed the fish and enjoy some Girl Scout cookies.

 

but most of all
Happiness is letting go of what you think a situation should be and simply enjoying it for what it is. There’s my little pearl of wisdom for the day.

honoring
In  honor of my zen-like grasp of how to enjoy life, and because this is my eleventyhundred post (1100) I’m giving away this super cool chart by Mary (Please Come Out of Retirement!) Garry to a randomly-chosen commenter. No rules or hoops to jump through, just mention in  your comment that you’d like to be included in the drawing. I’ll draw the name before I do my next post … whenever that may be.

busy bunnies

Arden and I started our day off running – we unpacked, sorted, and put away all my stitching linens. Yikes, that was a job & a half! The weather has been beastly, so every time I’ve gone out to walk the dogs, it’s been like a battle with Mother Nature just to stay on my feet out there. Niek and I decided to get out of the house for lunch and went to Helen’s Restaurant, which was a great idea. And this afternoon Max had his first official tutoring session, which he did his best to thwart with various passive-aggressive tactics. Nick, meanwhile, decided to get the limelight back on himself with various aggressive (the boy has no passivity in him at all) tactics that included doing bodily damage to Rowen and Arden. Which of course set off the chain reaction of the two of them howling and hitting in return. Oh yeah, one of those days. Sigh.

But somewhere in there, I found a few moments to sew up a couple of bunnies for the Easter basket. These two will be for Nick and Rowen (Arden’s will be a bit smaller) and were created by (very loosely) following the wonderful tutorial of The Purl Bee.

I heard that my Easter exchange made it safely to  my partner (no blog) and that she liked everything. Whew, creating an exchange for someone about whom you know absolutely nothing is a challenging experience (sort of like parenting four cranky kids on a stormy day, LOL). I’m very glad she liked it all. I loved how Wabbit’s Wonder came out (filled with lavender and backed with some homespun-looking stuff) and really must make it for myself one of these days.

Last night I put in a few stitches on Apple Sampler - and took out a whole lot more. My stupid alphabet wandered off by half a stitch so several letters had to come out. Grrr. Now I’m stitching the red first to avoid having the problem recur. It’s a fun design, but what a lot of frogging I’ve been doing. Still, I can see how it’ll look with the kids names added on and I remain quite enthusiastic to finish it, frogs and all.

Rico has been in a snit, too, and has gone back to nipping me terribly, but once he’s up on my shoulder he’s a happy chappy. Here he is checking on last night’s blog surfing activities. He says there are not enough stitchers out there with birdie buddies. Come forth, bird friends, and be counted!

Off now for the cup of tea I promised myself around 8 am and still haven’t managed to get. Take care, and thank you for visiting!

PS: Any fellow hobby cooks out there looking for a new apron should check out this site. They’re giving away a super-cool vintage-style one.

what a weekend!

How’s your weekend been? Yesterday I went to a surprise party for the very first friend I made in Machias – way back when I was 10 or 11 and my parents first moved up here, Kelli & I met and we quickly became friends. Our lives took us in very different directions and through the years we lost touch, but Kelli contacted me several years ago and we happily renewed our friendship. She has two older children and three younger children who are in the same age range as our three younger kids. It’s great. On the way home from the party, I stopped at a WalMart and bought some surprises for the kids. Niek was such a sport about assembling Arden’s trike at 11 pm so Arden could have it first thing this morning!

And the kids have enjoyed playing on it all day!

Nick and Rowen also got a soccer ball, but that’s not a very good indoor toy and our gorgeous summery weather disappeared. There were even snowflakes at one point today! I decided to ignore the weather and concentrate on cooking & stitching. Today’s baking adventures included potato bread and ‘whiteish’ sandwich bread. Both breads are supposed to make good sandwiches, which is important with Monday morning looming on the horizon!

Niek also spent a good part of the day in the kitchen. Check out the homemade pasta he made! (Sorry I don’t have a picture after he cooked them – they were gorgeous with the sauce he made – but I was too busy eating to take out my camera, LOL!) These are filled with sun-dried tomatoes, broccoli, garlic, green olives, and carrot (all pureed). The scallops are a treat we’ve been waiting on ever since moving here – this many scallops in Holland would’ve used up the entire week’s grocery budget!

We’re taking care of future dinners, too, as you can see. These are my baby Roma tomatoes. I’m so proud of them. The cherry tomatoes are also off to a good start, and my first hot pepper poked its wee green head up today. (Actually, maybe I should lay off talking about food for a while, as a person I won’t name recently sent me an invitation to The Biggest Loser. Ouch.)

I got a little more done on my BOAF Apple Sampler today. More than you see here, as I had a small attack of the frogs, but now everything’s back on track. Thanks for all your kind words about the one-over looking good, and not too scanty as I’d feared. The real test will be the apple, of course, where the stitching is more concentrated. I’m really enjoying this project and am already daydreaming about what I’ll pick up next.

My Mom came over for dinner tonight and that was a treat. Like everyone else, she seems to be perking up with the longer daylight hours and warmer temps.

Whatever your weekend held, I hope it made you happy. Here’s to a brand-new week!

boris and natasha

By the sounds of your comments to yesterday’s post, we may need a Room of Shame to hold all of us. While I’m still slightly mortified by my spending, I am very relieved to be in such good company.

So was I trying to cut expenses or simply being adventurous when I chose Varenki (sort of like Russian ravioli) for last night’s dinner? I felt like putting on a Rocky & Bullwinkle skit – Natasha in the kitchen or some such silliness.  

I fiddled a little with the recipe and would be happy to share with anyone interested, but I’ll try to avoid boring anyone by listing it here. It’s easy. It is a little labor-intensive in terms of time, but goes together faster than ravioli or other homemade pasta recipes IMHO. And cheap? Gosh, you can’t get a dinner that’s a better buy. LOL! We enjoyed ours with beets and beet greens.

Today I decided to make some special breads for the weekend and I might’ve gone a little overboard. I found this site and wow, what a wealth of recipes and fabulous foodie pictures! I started with the English muffins and Cookie Scones. I daringly baked out the excess oil in my stone, following Dawn’s directions. Stinky air and sore eyes, but no black smoke, LOL. I cleaned my kitchen, too. Don’t faint!  And then I made the cinnamon raisin bread – oh my yumminess. Believe it or not, my bread wish list included 5 other breads, but time ran out on me. LOL. (And if my landlord is reading this, I’d be so very, very happy if you’d fix that awful oven clock!!)

And if you came for stitchy goodness, I’d really hate to disappoint you.

Here’s my small order from Violarium. I’ve wanted some of these charms forever, and Leena’s price was extremely agreeable. Her shipping, as always, was lightening fast. I also ordered the trim thinking it would look good on prim-style projects, and the fabric was included as part of a special offer she was running – I can’t wait to stitch some over-one on it!

And here’s my  last eBay purchase. (You did catch yesterday’s post about my guilt and anxiety over my recent stashing, right?)

Actually, I have been stitching! I’ve stitched (but not finish-finished) my Arbor Day exchange, but of course you can’t see that yet. Here’s my progress on Apple Sampler by BOAF. I had to do a bit of tree-frogging but everything’s okay now. I’m going to work the kids’ names in on this one, so I put Niek’s and my initials in over-one with a sideways infinity symbol (trust me, that’s what that thing is, LOL). I’ll admit that I actually started this as my Arbor Day exchange, but quickly came to my senses about the improbability of finishing it in time. I’m stitching it one-over-two, as suggested, but I’m not exactly in love with the scanty coverage. I’m hoping that as the sampler grows it will seem less ‘bald’.

A number of people have been asking if we still have four kids, or reduced down to Arden, LOL. Yes, we still have all four of them but I haven’t included as many pictures of Max, Nick, and Rowen because (1) Max is older and more private, generally speaking, and (2) Nick and Rowen don’t hold still long enough to get a focused picture.  LOL! But when I asked Max if he’d mind posing for a photo, he was very agreeable. So here’s my handsome (no, I’m not biased!) eldest. He’ll be 12 very soon, can you belive it?? (I can’t!)

Our upcoming weekend is a busy one that includes two birthday parties, soccer practice, swimming, an overnight visit to Grammie’s house (for Max) and probably lots more. I hope that whatever your weekend entails, it brings a smile to your face. Thank you for visiting here with me – your friendship means so much!

brake lights

Awhile ago, I started hitting The Goode Huswife’s shopworks site, waiting patiently for the male version of her Tulip charts to become available. I wanted that, the female side, and of course Vol III: The Gardening Series. She was slow, IMHO, and other things distracted me. Like the Birds of a Feather seasonal girls series. An OOP chart here and there by Merrily Beams or Little by Little … or a HTF chart like a few by Blackbird Designs … or a chart or two on sale, like when I scored With My Needle by The Good Huswife  for half-price on eBay. And I splurged on The Library by LHN for full price because it had to be done. I mean, we have a library, and therefore I need a library chart, right? You know how these things sort of creep up on you? There was that silk & linen order from Wyndham - everything marked down to nearly half price, but still…. Anyway, last night I noticed that Tulip Garden was finally available through Anne’s site. I was really, really good – that latest batch of OOP designs was just incredible. And I only purchased Tulip Garden, Her Tulip Garden, Noah’s Garden and The Colonial Gardening Series. I could’ve very easily and most delightedly purchased at least four times that. But I didn’t.  But I’m not so sure this argument is going to count for much when the credit card bill arrives.

If you want me, I’ll be hiding in some dark corner.