Solar Powered Steampunk Makes the World Go 'Round...

I received a neat little package today in the mail when I immediately recognized the handwriting I couldn't wait to open it!  My super glam girl  Rachel at Patina Perfected sent me quite possibly the most awesome earrings I've ever owned, ever!  I'd sent her these cool bottle caps from World of Beer a while back asking, pretty please, would she make me some sweet earrings out of them because they have the coolest sunburst design on them with their logo for the beer and I am so ecstatic at the result!  I'd merely asked for her to make them long and match any jewels or baubles to the beer caps and they are PERFECT! I love, love, love them.  She also included a handful of her business cards because she does, and they look like little Patina Perfected Trading cards (the easier to pimp out her business with-I've been handing out my business cards with her info on the back since I'd run out of hers!)  The front of them proffer pictures of her various creations and the back has all of her contact info and shop listings on Etsy.  She touts her jewelry line as "Romantic Whimsy with a Steampunk Twist" and these new earrings definitely fit the bill as they're so sweet and funky!  She can be found on Facebook as well and if you "Like" and follow her you can get special offers and sneak peeks.  It's worth the look, at least.  All of her creations come in cute little boxes nestled carefully in a sweet little bag that you can use to store them in or recycle for whatever you like.  Considering I've gone the purple route lately they might be cute to keep my store of business cards in...Hmmmm...Check out the unveiling process below!

 Here, when I saw the little light bulbs through the bag, I literally squealed like a little girl.  Thank goodness the guys had already come for lunch and gone again! 

 And here they are, looking fabulous!

Her photo-finish Perfected business cards.  Adorable, right?!

I never even thought to incorporate the energy theme and she added these sweet little light bulbs.  I'm freaking out, they're so cute!  It's official, I now have WOB earrings with a cool twist :)  Dare I wear them with my new shimmery skirt?  They're at least going to ROCK with jeans and a tee.  It's the little things in life that make me happy~

What new little surprises in your life have you received lately that have made you giddy?  Please share!

Happy Treasures, everyone!

Enjoy,

Allie H.

P.S. Come look!  It's Patina Perfected's contact info, all right here! Check her out and say hi :)

Here's My Skirt!

I don't know anyone who can take a cell phone photo of themselves without a full length mirror and have it come out good so I waited for Kris to come home and had him take one for me.  The first is, of course, so you can see where the skirt hits and the second one is how I'm wearing it today!  I know it's a little blurry but I'm feeling very shimmery today :)

 

Happy Shimmering, everyone!

Enjoy,

Allie H.

Apparently Wednesday is for Sewing...

It was time for a craft.  I've been going through a current little snag of writer's block and something creative had to be done.  I've been trying to amass enough bravery to tackle one of those paneled t-shirt skirts I've been wanting to do for years but I can't find the one t-shirt I want to include in it.  I did, however, run across a dress from one of my Broadway Revues at the Wharf that I was lucky enough to keep (probably because I was one of the only tall skinny girls who would fit into it!)  I've got a couple like those but this one was glittery, spaghetti-strapped and v-neck.  Very theatre or costume party glitz.  I haven't worn it since and when I picked it up and held it up to me I thought, "Skirt!"  Yup, I converted it.  Not the best sewing job in the entire world but I'm pretty pleased and once I summed up the power to grab my scissors and cut the dress into two very uneven lengths, there was no going back.  And it took me quite literally 20 minutes.  I held it up to me to figure out where the waist was going to be, eye-balled the pins all the way across and went to town!  I put a few pins in place the secure the alignment of the lining material and flipped the skirt inside out, folded a quick hemline all the way around and pinned in place, and went to the machine.  Yes, I know I used blue thread.  I can't find my gallon-sized ziploc bag of color-wheel inclusive colors.  I'm pretty sure it's the same thread I used for Chloe's WOB cape.  Keep in mind that this dress was very clingy on me with a bit of stretch to it so I thought I'd go ahead and sew, and if I needed to come back with some elastic later to tighten up the waist I could, but I think from the way it's fitting, that it will be just fine.  And yes, I remembered to take pictures this time!  I'm learning, I swear.  Check it out.

 I know it seems like a VERY small amount of fabric leftover from the top but this dress, hanging on me, was was about five inches off of the floor.  And I was determined to make it floor length so I needed as much fabric as I could get!

 I was pondering folding it over again but I'm currently having fun just wearing it as it is.  If I find more than a bobbin full of black thread, I'll put it on my to-do list.

And here it is!  I'm pretty happy about how it came out and I figure I can dress up or down.  I think it would  be perfect with a black t-shirt or tank top and flops for a casual day when I'm feeling the need for a little sparkle :)  Makes me want to hit some thrift stores and see if I can find some more dresses that need separating from their tops.

What is everyone else crafting this week?  Share your posts.

Happy Up-cycling!

Enjoy,

Allie H.

Nostalgia Food

I am so glad that I finally found this recipe!  Does anyone else remember that wonderfully yummy olive spread that Safeway used to spread on their Italian-style deli sandwiches?  I used to get that particular sandwich all the time because I loved that spread.  Kelsey and I would get them all the time on our way home from dance show rehearsals at MPC or take them to munch on at the outdoor Forest Theatre in Pacific Grove, where bringing your own picnic was not only allowed but celebrated.  The posh crowd adult crowd (well, more adult than us) would even bring their own bottles of wine.  And then quite suddenly, Safeway changed their deli menu and quit using it.  Or, at least, they quit doing it at the Safeway store closest to both my house and my parent's house.  Which was really, really sad.  I've been searching the internet occasionally over the last couple years when i crave it and not finding anything that seems quite right.  (And admittedly, part of me forgot that there was a cream-cheese layer to help hold the olive mixture in place, but the second I saw it on my screen, I started drooling in remembrance!)  Part of me also wants to mix the two spreads together and eat it with a box full of crackers, but as it was designed as a sandwich topping, I'll try to stick to the plan.  You could also pop a baguette in the oven and get it nice and crispy and serve it as an appetizer, but I'm looking forward to cream cheese and olives and salami being all wrapped up in one package again with Italian ham and a little kick of yellow peppers.  And since there's no Safeway around here, even if I beg them to bring it back, it wouldn't do me much good, so the fact that I've stumbled across something that sounds so incredibly close makes me absolutely ecstatic   

Safeway's Olive/Garlic Spread

GARLIC SPREAD
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons parsley
2 tablespoons white onions, chopped (I'm going to call this optional because I don't rightly remember it being included, but do as you like!
2 garlic cloves
OLIVE TAPENADE
2 garlic cloves
1 (6 ounce) can black olives, drained
3/4 cup kalamata olive, pitted
3/4 cup pimento-stuffed green olives
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
Directions:
GARLIC SPREAD: Add all ingredients into a food processor. Process until smooth. Remove to a medium bowl or spread generously on toasted baguette slices. Wipe the work bowl and blade clean.
OLIVE TAPENADE: Add the garlic and the black and kalamata olives to the work bowl. Pulse a couple of times until minced. Add the green olives and pulse a couple of times, leaving larger chunks of the green olives (for aesthetics). Remove to a medium bowl and stir in the vinegar and olive oil. (Additional balsamic can be added to cut the saltiness, if desired; keep in mind that the garlic spread will also help cut the salty flavor.) Spread the garlic layer on your choice of bread/toast/baguette first and then spread a layer of the olive mixture, eat as is or follow with your sandwich makings.

I hope that if you haven't had this in the past, that you consider it, either on sandwiches or as an appetizer topping.  It's not something to be ignored, I promise!

Happy Nostalgia Cooking, everyone!

Enjoy,

Allie H.

Another Furniture Freebie Find!

I know I'm not usually a "two post per day" blogger but I forgot to share!  On our way to Kris's first follow-up appointment a couple weeks ago we stumbled across a pile of rejected furniture & objects down by the trash in the garage.  Included in the pile was a small free-standing cabinet with a drawer up top and two shelves and the drawer was stuck, not closing all the way for some reason.  Kris took a look at it and tipped it to one side, and we heard something rolling around behind the drawer.  My hand just barely fit and I pulled out a 5-container paint set.  Drawer closed perfectly, problem solved.  I wiped it down, inside and out with Clorox wipes and it was ready to go.  I carried it to a few different spots in the living room until I settled on the short wall right outside the guest bathroom.  The drawer is holding the extra kitchen towels and on the shelves I tucked away some extra sodas and a set of Chinese dishes for four, and matching Marilyn Monroe party plates and highball glasses that our friend Noel gave us for our wedding.  I'm still determined to find some sort of bar cart with room for glasses but for now, at least, that gets them off the counter and out of the way when they're not being used.  On top of it now are our business cards and a couple of knick-knacks that were also on the counter that desperately needed to be moved elsewhere.  But I was mostly stoked because it was free and in perfect shape and it almost matches the color of the dark nightstands we have so if I change my mind eventually, it will go with out bedroom, as well.  
Happy Furniture Finds!
Enjoy,

Allie H.

Personal Projects and Chloe's Cape!

It's been a hectic last couple weeks and I've been working to turn hectic into productive!  We've had two follow-up visits since Kris's surgery, the second of which succeeded in getting ALL of his stitches removed, so he was happy.  58 stitches and the nurse who took them out told me that I should have a my camera ready to take blackmail pictures if he started to cry.  He started physical therapy yesterday and he's going to be going twice a week so he'll get into the swing of things.  He's forgotten how much it's going to hurt before it gets better!  He was pretty sore when I picked him up yesterday.  The PT office is five minutes from our apartment building and he's arranged to do it at 5 PM twice a week since his first appointment yesterday at 3 PM broke up the middle of his work day.  But he's been back to work full days for the last two weeks.  

I've been back an forth to the TJ Maxx down the street a hundred times (well, maybe not a hundred) to return and find another shower caddy, both of which didn't hang correctly over the shower head in our bathroom so I moved on to Bed Bath & Beyond to find a corner shelving unit, which, after three tries, was assembled correctly for the height of the tub to the ceiling and installed it!  It worked and so I took the second TJ Maxx caddy back and while I was there, I decided to wander around the kitchen/home aisles to see if there was anything I couldn't live without.  I settled on a flat spatula, a veggie steamer tray (those ones that collapse into the shape of a UFO) but what my made my eyes widen was a 9-inch deep-dish ceramic Le Creuset for $14.99.  The cartoon light-bulb showed up and the first thought that popped into my head was "Spinach Artichoke Dip!"  I'm pretty sure I said it out loud, too.  And then I thought of tomato pie, which I've been wanting to try, because who doesn't like layers of tomatoes and cheese?  And of course dessert pies, etc.  It's my prized find for the month!  I was surprised that TJ Maxx had the assortment of Le Creuset that they did but I'm happy that they had it, and at a fraction of the price I would have paid at Macy's.  I pondered the colors and settled on black outer-enamel with cream and headed for the cash registers.   

It's gorgeous! 

Bathroom shelves and kitchen gadgets acquired, we're slowly but surely getting our apartment well-rounded and organized.  A week or so ago I helped haul in book boxes one day so Kris could help me unpack.  We've been working on books ever since.  We found a wonderful, lovely used book store/exchange last weekend and spent more than we should have on books and when we came home, I started thinking of listing all the Dean Koontz books I had and the ones I still needed/wanted (which is all of them, really!) and started making a list on my computer, then thought, "I should make an inventory list of all of our books in case anything happens."  So we found this website Kris had heard of earlier called LibraryThing.com where you can sign up and type in the title, ISBN, or author of the book and make a list of all the books you have.  So I've been scanning bar codes with the android and adding them to the list all week.  My plan is to go through all of the boxes again and pull out any more books that might be hiding but I'm pretty sure we have 99% of them out on one shelf or another.  I've been making a list of projects that I want to get done and would like to get done, which seems to me to be a better way to do it.  It's on my laptop and I can change the color once it's accomplished, keep notes on the ones in progress, add new ones and have it all in one place.  If you know me, you know I love post-it notes and notebooks, and I love writing things down and keeping "to-do" lists of things but it never occurred to me to keep a running tab of sorts!  We'll see how well it works but so far, I thought of something while I was starting to do dishes yesterday, and I ran into the other room to add it to the list before I went back to the kitchen.  

Speaking of things that need to be done, and things that HAD to be done, I've been promising Chloe's World of Beer Super Dog Cape and I finally got a chance to get it make it!  The machine showed up the day after Kris was released from the hospital and so I got to "ohh" and "ahh" over having it back in my life for a few minutes before lovingly tucking it into a corner to deal with at a later date.  The case cracked in transit which, being a $3 find at a garage sale, was no real loss but in terms of storing I'll eventually have to find another one.  But the cape was my project a week and a half ago, and it was pretty successful for a first try!  I do still need to alter it to include a strap with velcro to hold it around her little tummy, otherwise she runs and it falls to the side and she actually trips on it, so that's no good.  But needless to say all the servers at WOB loved it and within seconds of us bringing her by to see them they were all out with their camera phones taking pictures of the intolerable cuteness!  They're supposed to be up on the website sometime soon so I'll make sure to share the  link when they let us know.  But she looks so Super in her cape!  And it gets her extra love and cookies ; )  Do you know how many websites are out there with instructions for how to make a cape for your dog?  I can give you a high ballpark figure!  I'd been planning on doing a "step by step" tutorial with pictures but my sewing machine has a tension problem with the bobbin and it was making me really rather Grr-y, not to mention that I kind of went my own way with the steps, so next time I make her a cape, I'll have to do it then, but here she is in all of her WOB-dog glory!

Doesn't she look heroic?!

And there are more projects to come.  And a list of sewing supplies on my wish-list for the future.  I've also gotten as far as paper for the printer, installing the printer drivers on my laptop so I can print via wireless and scan to my computer, which came in handy yesterday when Kris forgot his physical therapy authorization for his appointment.  I called and asked if I could scan it and email it and of course it took about as long as his appointment lasted for me to figure it all out but now it's done!  I think my next goal in furniture/organization would be some sort of desk for the printer or at least a mail-station.  We bought a file box awhile back and I finally remembered to get hanging file folders for it and I tackled the pile of papers we were just merely laying in the box for the moment!  I was thinking about it and while I love not working, I think part of my time writing needs a little more structure in my alternate goals.  I realized that I missed doing projects like putting files in order and crossing to-do's off my lists for the day and making things in my space a little more efficient and neat.  On to crossing more things off my list!

Happy Project-ing!

Enjoy,

Allie H.

Hospital Stay

We have success!  Kris went into surgery around 7:30 on Friday morning and was under for about 6 long hours.  His surgeon, Dr. Zych, came out when he was finished with his part and the residents were closing up and let us know that everything went as well as he could have expected it to go and that Kris went through it very well.  There are a few screws in his upper-thigh that could not come out as over the years there has been some extra bone growth that they had to chisel away to just to get to the heads of the screws to shear the heads of the screws off, and so they just did that and left the rest of the screws in place.  Dr. Zych thought that there would be too much structural damage to the rest of his femur if they were to chisel and chip away enough bone to get them out completely and they apparently aren't going to bother anything so they're going to be there forever.  But all of the other hardware came out easily enough, and the bone shunt and the plates to hold it in place went in without a hitch.  They had to replace four units of blood but other than that Kris went came through it like a champ.  They let us know when they wheeled him into recovery and we were hoping to see him, and the waiting room desk attendant told us to wait an hour while they got him settled.  So Toodie and I went down to the cafeteria and got something to eat, went back in an hour and checked.  Nope, another hour, they said.  So we waited.  Finally, the reason we couldn't go back was that they had another patient on the recovery ward who was not stable and when that happens, they shut down the ward and no family goes in until everyone's good.  And FINALLY around 6:30 we were allowed to come back and see him.  They'd given him a nerve block for the pain but he'd been awake for awhile and asking for us and doing pretty good, under the circumstances, a little groggy but good.  It had been a long enough day for us and he was tired enough and they were going to keep him sedated for the rest of the night so he could get some sleep so it was a "Hi, I love you, go home, I'll see you tomorrow," order from the patient.  We made our way back home and rescued the poor suffering Chloe who's not really sure what's going on and why her Dad isn't home, but who's getting better each day about it.  Monday she'll be the happiest dog in the world.  

Yesterday morning while we were getting up and moving Kris called us from his room, quite awake, complaining about hospital breakfast food and his morning shift nurse, sounding much better.  We decided real-world food would be a good idea so stopped at the little French bakery behind our place and got him a couple mini chocolate croissants and a sandwich with turkey and bacon and he happily ate the sandwich before they brought him lunch, and he eventually ate that, too.  The nurses finally brought him a pair of crutches so he could get up and move around as he felt like it, getting a bit of hospital bed cabin fever.  We'd brought him his backpack he'd pre-packed with his laptop, the kindle, a book, headphones, charger cord for his cell phone which I'd held onto on Friday.  A couple friends came to visit, Andres, who he works with, brought him cookies, as he'd promised, and an ex-coworker who'd wanted to come on Friday as soon as I'd let him know Kris was in recovery but had to tell him there was no way he was going to see him until yesterday.  But I'm glad they stopped by.  Toodie had found the ward for the church in our area on Thursday and we went and got Kris a blessing and gave them our cards, and so the bishop called me yesterday saying he'd like to stop by and see him today, so we're expecting them to come by around they same time we're there.  We brought him barbecue from Shorty's last night for dinner and he wasn't quite in the mood for food until he smelled it, and then he wolfed down most of the brisket sandwich and fries.  He was hoping for french dip and salad but R&T's, where we get them, I forgot, closes at 3:30 every day, and we missed the mark by a couple hours.  But it worked out.  We ate dinner with him and our lovely, sainted neighbor Yvi kept Kris's keys so she could check Chloe and walk her before she came home, and she's going to check on her throughout the day today once I let her know that we've headed for the hospital so that we don't have to worry about coming home to check on her.  This morning I have a little more time to spend with her as Toodie's attending the 11:00 am church service so by the time we come home this evening she should be a better adjusted doggie for the day.  Zych wants Kris to have a 72-hour antibiotic drip so tomorrow he'll be free to come home, which he's going to be happy to do.  Toodie's been helping us run errands and bought us a better bed with a much better mattress, memory foam cover and mattress pad, so that Kris will have a much more comfortable bed to heal on.  He's supposed to be off work for a good week and then go back, and we stopped by Friday while Kris was in surgery to drop a couple things off for him and his boss told us that if we needed anything at all, he'd be happy to help, and to let him know when Kris was out of surgery and how everything went.  We've got a good support system here, so I think we'll be just fine.  
Off for now...I finally got a good amount of sleep last night and should really get up and eat more than toast for breakfast before we head off for the day.  But we're all, Kris included, are absolutely thrilled that the surgery went so well.  It's a good weekend, hospital stay notwithstanding.  
Happy Health!
Enjoy,

Allie H.