MapleDip

Oh Value Village…Here’s the run down of the loot I scored

• set of 6 PYREX mugs with green flowers (matches mixing bowl set I already own)
• salt and pepper shakers (1 lid is corroded and stuck on… a little elbow grease and it came off!)
• breakfast tray
• hand mixer
• tin foil holder? (Buyer’s regret with this one. I snapped it up b/c it looked cool and matches my green canister set, but now I am not sure I even want it now.)

Now a photo!

I’m so glad people give away their old junk…

Well I’m back from Toronto and wishing I was anywhere else but here. Little mini-holidays make me feel like I never want to head back to my normal life of work and general boring-ness. So what did I do that was so fantastic? Royal Ontario Museum. Shopping.

The ROM has become my favourite place. Except that I loathe the new “Crystal” addition to it. It’s awful. And ruins the gorgeous old architecture. But I digress. Oh wait I need to digress once again. I’m a very tactile person, I like to touch things. Except you can’t touch things at the museum. It’s bad etiquette according to the map and probably bad for the artifacts as well. So this visit was definately an act of self-control! Anyways, the Darwin exhibit was great, except I couldn’t take pictures. It was quite interesting and strangely enough most of the information I possess on Darwin I learned in my History of Psychology course…The dinosaurs were also cool. One of my favourite parts was the Wedgwood exhibit and also one on furnishings through the ages, I think it was called Europe: History of Style. You must visit the ROM! Go on 1/2 price Friday nights if money is an issue….

Now shopping. I love to window shop…And I window shopped on Bloor. Because I can’t afford to shop in Chanel, Coach or Louis Vuitton. Unfortunately! I went into Winner’s though and held a Badgley Mishka purse. I couldn’t rationalize spending half a paycheque on a gorgeous purse…as much as I tried!!!  I did score some cool stuff at Micheal’s though! (Which wasn’t on Bloor…) Everything was on sale or clearance! i bought 3 dresses. I don’t wear dresses. But I guess I will now! I also bought 2 books for 2$ each : ) Yay for bargains!

And then my mini-break ended. And I was back to reality.

p.s. I also recommend travelling by VIA trains…I was in VIA1 class which was amazing…more expensive but you get a three course meal and bar access…don’t get the red wine. 

[ I have more pictures...maybe I'll add them to FLICKR....]

for reading this!

I’ve officially made it to 301 hits on my little blog! I’m pretty excited about it! I know I have some faithful readers because they have left comments, but there are some annonymous ones too who have reached this place by some pretty random searches! But I welcome all readers and comments! I feel pretty special to have people actually reading/looking at this site! So thanks!

Well not much has been going on…I started knitting the body for a Poodle Bottle Cover, started a new Ballband and while at a supper/creating night at Jen’s, I made a pin cushion! The progress on the knitting is so miniscule I’m not even going to bother with a picture. But here’s the pin cushion:

I’m heading to the city for a friend’s 25th birthday in a couple days…I hope the weather is nice….I detest driving in the rain…especially on the highway!

I’ve derailed on the Healthy Living Plan…Sometimes life gets in the way and I make poor food choices…such as Irish Cream Cheesecake…which when you try to limit sugar and chocolate and generally really good desserts, once you eat something like that your body totally craves it all the time. Or at least that is what happened with me! I’ve lost 10 Lbs so far which is nice, another 10 to go, but I am worried that the work I’ve done has been undone by poor food choices of the last two weeks…Guess I better get in gear and try to stay on track!!!

I’m off to Value Village!

What to do on a day off from work? Head to the local Value Village of course! I was pleasantly surprised to find some lovely linens and a glass jar! YAY! I’ve stopped looking at the clothes because I NEVER find anything worth buying…but on this trip while I was making my way to the “Housewares” section I decided to peruse the “Linens” section. Which I never do. But I am very happy I did because I found this

tablecloth/runner and then on the end of the aisle I found matching napkins! I was pretty excited! I had originally  thought that maybe I would hack up the tablecloth and turn it into something like a wallet or purse, but now I think I may use it! You can also see my other find in this picture…an aqua glass jar! I have no clue what it is to be used for but I plan on putting it in the bathroom as a pretty decoration! After all this thrifting I didn’t even look for knitting needles OR yarn! I did find a cute crochet afghan and wondered if I could unravel it for yarn, but then passed on it…

I also made a trip to the library. I always head to the new book shelf and on it I found 3 books! One is about healing your back through stretches (I have back problems…my Chiro blames my posture…), another is called “Food and Cooking in Victorian England - A History” (it seems interesting and fulfills my love of food AND history!) and lastly, “Green for Life” (ECO ideas…and quite frightening!!! I am trying to be more green in my life…according to this book I am not doing a very good job!) One thing the book informed me about was a Google sister site www.blackle.com, which is a search engine just like Google, only the background is black which saves energy, it takes alot of power for a white background…I just may make the switch! Those ECO books all make me feel uneasy. You’d think it would be intuitive to humans that using products that are full of chemical crap would be bad…but apparently not. I vow to buy local this summer at the Farmer’s Market in town…or at least the little stand by my house…which I will walk to!

So I made some cupcakes the other day. I had these wonderful intentions of providing my mum, grandma and 3 aunts with gorgeous cupcakes that I made –from scratch no less– for Mother’s Day. I chose the Coconut Vanilla Cupcakes from Chatelaine’s May issue, except not everyone loves coconut so I decided to omit it. I also found this All Purpose flour called “NutriBlend” It’s unbleached AP Flour with Wheat Bran (I think…) added to it, so I subbed that in for regular AP Flour. And then I got to baking. My butter was softened, my eggs were room temp and my oven was preheated. Everything went very smoothly! That is until I discovered that I forgot to add the VANILLA! I added it in at the end…instead of with the eggs and prayed to the cupcake fairies that it would all work out. Unfortunately, these cupcakes turned out really dense…almost like a muffin. I wasn’t a fan. I also couldn’t give them to family either…I didn’t want them to have to lie about liking them and then turn around and be like “Poor Errin…can’t even make cupcakes, how will she ever survive?” ( hehehe) Anyways. I loaded 3 up with store bought icing spiked with coconut for my sister and her boyfriend. They loved them. So the next day I whipped up some cream cheese icing, which was delish and frosted the remaining cupcakes, which I admit tasted much better with CC icing…and gave them to my sister to dispose of. And when I say dispose I mean give them to her boyfriend to eat. Anyways here’s some pictures! I felt they looked better than they tasted.

Lessons Learned:

• Slowly substitute new flours
• Don’t omit coconut ( I like it!)
• Try a recipe @ least a week in advance, not night before
• Find a plain vanilla recipe and play with that
• Make own frosting from now on

Off topic but…I also got a sunburn on Tuesday…a lovely blotchy one. I need to remember to wear sunscreen EVERYDAY or at least get a moisturizer that contains one…

So just when I thought BRAVO Was a useless channel, I discovered they have a program called Bravo Videos. There I heard a song called “Mercy” by Duffy which was great! So I imediately downloaded it and another of her singles “Rockferry”. This stuff is very um…bluesy/jazzy/poppy/vintage sounding! I love it. I also caught the song “Chasing Pavement” by Adele. She is also bluesy and poppy all at once, and apparently has been compared to Amy Winehouse…Adele is more clean cut. I bought the whole album and there are some pretty solid sounding tracks.

So go on. Listen. You’ll like Duffy and Adele.

This week I’ve been on a spending spree it seems…a new purse (Matt & Nat…very nice!) which set me back $70, a muffin tin (on sale!), a set of mixing bowls (on sale and a birthday gift!), a red bead necklace ($1.99!) and a lovely PYREX juice caraffe ($1.99!!!!). The last two items were found on my thrifting trip to Value Village today. I also resisted the urge to purchase 2 more owl canister things, I felt I had enough even though they did match my previous owl score. I really  love PYREX. The old fancy stuff, not the new clear stuff. That’s too boring for me!! I own (well my mum owns…) the “Spring Blossom - Green Pattern” and my grandma recently gave me two refrigerator dishes that are red and may be a part of the “Friendship Pattern“. Another score from my grandma is a linen tea towel (picture to follow)! It’s rather nice! My grandma has or had a ton of cool stuff, but like most people never thought their old kitchen stuff would be coveted by others! Plus, I can’t let many of my relatives know that I am searching for this stuff because a) they will think I am trying to steal from my grandmother (I’m not!) or b) think I am trying to make $$$ off her “Vintage” pieces (I’m not!) and therefore try to grab the stuff for their own gain! So, I do covert missions! And my grandma hands over the stuff she no longer uses with a look that says “Why the heck do you want this old stuff that I paid a nickel for??” Ahhh I love grandma!! She really is the bees knees! So I guess I better get re-motivated and knit those dishcloths for her!!!!!

And now without further ado, the pics of the lovely PYREX, necklace and tea towel :

Mmmm…Orange Slices on PYREX! Oops it didn’t photograph too well….

 See?? It says PYREX on it….

My necklace reminds me of Persephone herself Jen!! Who…Whom (?) I saw the other day decked out in rouge! Also this necklace is a perfect match to a dress (SJP’s Bitten line) I am wearing to a wedding! Perfect!!

And the tea towel…it’s handpainted I believe is what was printed on the side of it….love the aqua! And pukey green!

And that’s all for today…

Wow. It’s been awhile. Quite a bit has happened. None of which has anything to do with crafty things! A whole lot of personal stuff, my grandpa passed away, a family rift has been potentially repaired and I have a new outlook on things…But enough with the drama-emo stuff!

So I’m momentarily stalled on my grandma’s dishcloths…But I did buy more yarn because I was getting tired of the colours I had. So I picked up purple and then some white with yellow specks. No pics of it all yet though. Soon though. I feel weird not doing anything crafty.

I have been reading a ton of books about growing an herb/veg garden. I was originally going to have a windowsill garden of herbs, but all the books I’ve read say that it is difficult, so I am going to grow my herbs in containers outside. I have huge plans for this!!! I am going to grow oregano, parsely, basil, garlic chives, spring onions (green onions) and maybe some peppers!! Wish me luck!

I think that’s all for now…oh wait! Those tin canister things I bought? My sister picked up bigger copper coloured ones that were in much better shape for $12.99 at a yardsale…A little pricey but they are nice!

Ok, I shall be back with more crafty stuff soon!

(Where’s Day 1 you ask? Well it wasn’t captured on film. Sorry. It was way better than Day 2 so I am really kicking myself for not documenting my first stab at making bread, without a bread machine.)

I was so thrilled with the way my bread turned out on Day 1 that I decided to make more today.

Things started off well enough…It rose beautifully. Twice. Then when it came time to “bake”, it all went to hell in a handbasket pretty quickly. I swear the drama is needed! Doesn’t it kind of look like it’s frowning? Like it knows it didn’t do it’s job and cook properly? There’s a pretty big divot in the middle, where it sunk down…I blame Libby the Dog for that. She was running amok in the kitchen at the time. I was also on the phone, which may have had something to do with it as well…who knows. Anyways, in case you wanted to know exactly what this bread is, I shall tell you! It is Microwave “Baked” English Muffin Bread, from a Weight Watchers Cookbook. Like English Muffins, this is best toasted, with jam…The first bread I “baked” turned out beautifully and was gobbled up pretty quickly too! This one, just isn’t aesthetically pleasing…Oh well. I’ll still eat it for brekkies!

I realized in my last post that I didn’t put up a picture of my knitting! So here are a bunch o’ knitting pictures.                                                                 The top white blob thing, is actually supposed to be the circular scrubbie from the dishcloth duo pattern from Knitability. It looks nothing like it is supposed to. I don’t know where I went wrong! Then there is the Ballband, which I made smaller because I found the first one I made was too bulky and cumbersome when doing the dishes.             

 Next up is “Nubbins”. It’s a pretty easy knit! I like the nubbins on the edge, makes it look all fancy! The pattern is from here: http://inahappycamper.eponym.com/Nubbins%20Dishcloth.pdf

I think that’s all for now! I hope to find time to break in the sewing machine! I have to make an apron by May for a gift, and I need to beef up my sewing skills! Here’s hoping the weekend brings lots of spare time! It’s also Cupcake Week on Martha! I am OBSESSED with CUPCAKES!!!!! I love eating them. I love baking them. I love looking at them. So, maybe I will make cupcakes this weekend…maybe I can find a “diet” version…since I don’t think cupcakes fit into the healthy living plan…

I’ll leave you with a pic of Libby, who I found sleeping on my bed. Doesn’t her expression say, “What the hell? I was sleeping here, leave me alone!” ??

Ahem. It’s SPRING! That’s all I ‘m saying…I don’t want to anger the weather gods and risk crappy Summer weather…soooo.

I decided to go to Value Village to cheer myself up. I was specifically looking for yarn and knitting needles. There were none to be found! As, I wandered through the aisles, sadly of course, I spotted these crazy tin canisters.

 4 for $1.99???? Yeah I could care less if the coffee one has a copper lid with an aqua handle or that they’re incredibly grungy. With tax it came to $2.25. That’s a bargain! They’re “The Queen Line”

By A.R.Lite, Made in Canada! I was thinking of keeping my crafting notions in the canisters. Or just displaying them on the baker’s rack in the kitchen. I’ll wash them of course! Although, I am against putting consumables in them. It’s just a rule I have. So yeah I was pretty excited to find these! And the colour! I love it!

Tomorrow, I vow to use my sewing machine. I think I will make a passport wallet. Even though there is no travel in my future. Sadly. I also just discovered that…um. The phone just rang and interupted my train of thought!! Oh right. I was going to say the ADORN Magazine is no longer. Could be a rumour. But I did read it on the internet and everyone one knows that if something is on the internet, well then it’s true!

Here’s the progress I’ve made on my 2nd Ballband. I missed SnB because of a migraine. That is what work does to me. Or it could’ve been due to the fact that I didn’t have my morning coffee or tea. Sometimes, I have tea instead of coffee in the morning. I always have a tea at night. I love visiting my grandma because she always puts my tea in a tea cup! (I drink it out of a mug when I am at home…I know it’s unheard of!). Speaking of my grandma and also of dishcloths, I need to make her some. She has these old ratty knit ones from like 5 years ago. She needs some snazzy new ones, courtesy of moi!

And here is the marshmallow salad, AKA ambrosia salad I made for the potluck. The people who ate it, enjoyed it. But I had a ton of leftovers. I know it looks gross, but I swear it tastes good!

Ugh. My computer is having issues and frustrating me, that must be a sign that I need to stop writing!