Monday, November 30, 2009

It's Gone.

Long time, no blog.
Not for lack of crafting. Not for lack of wanting. BUT, for lack of motivation. Lack of inspiration.

I wonder where my creativity would be if not for other blogs. I'm feeling unoriginal. I'm feeling so sad that my photography sucks. I recently looked at photos from two years ago and got excited. They are pretty and unique. I felt good about myself when I took them. But now, now, not so much.

I don't even feel like an artist anymore. I feel like one of the crafty sheep. Following along with the crafty masses. Knitting, sewing, blah, blah, blah. Anymore, I feel like the stuff I make isn't an extension of myself. I felt like that for awhile. And it made me feel good.

I have a need to create. I really do. But, my soul aches when there's something inside that needs to get out, but it can't make its way to the surface. I've had this feeling most of my life. Except for that brief period a couple years ago.

Needless to say, I'm a bit sad. What if my most creative time has passed? Then what? What do I have to aspire to? What will I become?

Monday, November 23, 2009

Etsy.

For the life of me, I cannot figure out how to get the etsy widget in my blog. It's kind of irritating me, actually.

Anyhow, check out my shop. Yeah, I'm selling some prints, but it's mainly vintage goodies!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Canned!

We went grocery shopping yesterday. I don't know why, but I tossed a box of pectin in my cart. Last year I was intrigued by canning, but was discouraged by the possibility of murdering my friends and family with improperly sterilized jars.

This year, I'm back on the kick. I've been doing some reading and asking advice on facebook. I found a recipe I want to make. Of course, now I realize that I purchased liquid pectin and this recipe calls for dry.

Food in Jars is awesome for tips. And, she's teaching a class which I'm considering, but half-assed-ly, because it doesn't fit into my "one car- crappy part time job hours- husband in school- what to do with the kiddo" schedule.

I think I'll buy one of these books. Any suggestions?

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Jim Thorpe and Centralia Critique: Part III.

So, we headed to Centralia. The website and even the flickr stream have pictures from just last year that show abandoned homes. I was very excited to see them and photograph them.

If we weren't looking (hard) for it, we would've driven right past it. It is completely disappointing. Where homes once stood are fields. The roads that were blocked due to cracked asphalt are now repaired and car-ready.

People tend to use the area for exercise purposes: bike riding, walking, running.

I mean, sure, it's good for the few remaining residents, but it sucks because we really wanted to see ruins. Completely and totally disappointing.

I did, however, get one picture.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Jim Thorpe and Centralia Critique: Part II.

After the crappy dinner/dessert, we walked the main strip and the train station in the dark.
We then went back to our room and watched "Mad Men" and commented on how we were both hungry.

Even though the inn has a continental breakfast (I went down to get some coffee) we didn't partake. We needed to compensate for last night's atrocity. We looked through Jim Thorpe restaurants (thank the gods for free wi-fi!!!) and decided on The Albright Mansion for breakfast. It was very quaint and charming. And the food was delicious!!! WHEW! Joe got crepes with apples, walnuts, raisins and cinnamon. I decided to get something I wouldn't ordinarily get. I got an omelet with spinach, mushrooms & american cheese. Very tasty! The home fries were crispy, flavorful perfection. The whole wheat toast was a great little bite after a forkful of omelet. The coffee was fresh, delicious, and non-stop.

We walked through the town, this time in daylight. We only went in 1 shop to get Abby a little something. We were greeted by an older man who was probably hiding his white hood in the backroom. *sigh* I would've loved to go into the other shops, but Joe's back was hurting and I know he doesn't like those kind of places. SO, if anyone of my friends/family would like to go to Jim Thorpe, let's plan it!

At this point, we got into the car and took a long (not really, maybe an hour, but it seemed a lot longer because there was nothing to look at!) ride to Centralia...

...to be continued...

Jim Thorpe and Centralia Critique: Part I.

We arrived at Jim Thorpe pretty quickly. In only about an hour. We stayed at the Jim Thorpe Inn and got upgraded to a suite for the same price. SUITE! (SWEET!) duh. The only bummer about this place was that the balcony was closed for repairs and I really wanted to go up there for photo-taking purposes.

We got settled in the suite and walked to Cafe Origins. There was one other party there. And only two people working in the restaurant (the chef/owner and the waitress.) We selected this restaurant based on its vegetarian options.


I got the Syrian Spinach Pie. Joe got a bean & cheese quesadilla. Mine, which had about 5 pieces of spinach and 2 strips of onion, was OK. Joe's was mediocre; nothing on the plate to even attempt to make it look appealing.


For dessert we decided on a "slice" of banana pie. Nothing was really appealing and we just chose this totally laughable item and so not worthy of a photograph. The "pie" was 1 smashed graham cracker, topped with 1 sliced banana and about 2 tablespoons of fig jam. Those items were then completely drowned in reddi-whip. Nothing about this resembled a pie. And seriously, $7 for something my almost-four-year-old daughter could concoct was ridiculous. EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTING. On the plus side, the atmosphere was nice.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Jim Thorpe, PA.

Here for an overnight stay.
Ate dinner here last night. It was blah.

(poor internet connection and therefore taking forever to upload pics; and, that was the sole purpose of this post.) Ce la vie.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Hi.

I was finally gearing up to write a monster blog filled with the Halloween goodies we made: green witch finger cookies, popcorn balls, and my chai with honey ginger cream birthday cake. I was going to show pictures of the Cinderella costume that was worth all the blood, sweat & tears.

I then realized that my photo editing software isn't installed on the laptop. (We had a very nasty virus on the thing that took it down for a few days.)

Oh well. Hopefully soon.

I had a very nice birthday filled with my awesome family and friends. I got a lot of gifts. Very thoughtful gifts too. I'm very lucky.