Photo Challenge…I haven’t given up on you!

I know, I’ve been distracted with sketching and…cooking. But I haven’t given up on completing the photo challenge! I’m rather enjoying it, in fact!

Pretty Pattern: This is my ripple-a-long blanket that I am making with Holly on Ravelry. No, I’m not any further than this. Why? Because it’s summer and…..yeah. That’s my story.

What I read: A Dance with Dragons! I drug this book out as LONG as I could…because I didn’t want it to be over, knowing there will now be a wait for the next installment. It was worth every single drawn out moment. I adored it…even though it was highly critiqued for not moving the story along further. I loved it. I’m frightened for Jon Snow and Dany Targaryen. I’m oddly rooting for Cersei Lannister…that she’s NOT as beaten down as she seems. I’m pondering Varys’ motives…I’m sad it’s over! (Oh by the way…My Kindle…AWESOME!)

Trees: This tree is on the side of my building, right next to the wall and has grown HUGELY wild, considering the proximity of it to the building. I don’t mind it, but down the line it’s roots are bound to cause some havoc to the support of the building. It’s beautiful though!

Sunflare: More of my wild tree and Good morning Sun!

A smile: My mother has the most beautiful of smiles. So does my Grandmother, but she smiles so rarely.

Something Old: I’m using this for a “journal”. Or..I want to. the pages are slick coated with a protective covering so the paint is doing interesting things, like..sliding! The book is beautiful by itself though, really. Maybe I can use the cover for something…

And this photo is completely random:

My neighbor is adorable! He’s about my age. He’s got a tiny little potted garden going on our shared back patio. The trouble is, he’s gone a lot! I don’t know where he goes, but he is gone for days at a time it seems. Thus his little garden is sad! This is one of the beautiful cucumbers he’s grown, a bit overgrown as you can see, for the variety. I snuck out to snap a picture of it and heard him hocking up something in his kitchen through the window. Hahahahaha…I wonder if he thought  I was stealing it? Nope..it was just to cute not to notice!

Sketch magic

She’s just to cute to mess with!

“Remind me how I forgot to be brave….”

~Shipwreck by Chris Pureka

Ah, how I love Chris Pureka….her lyrics haunt me. Today in particular this song makes me thing about how I often cower in my own little world, hiding from the outer world at large. It’s easy to do. I work at home so my contact with coworkers is limited to email and phone calls. A lot of my ‘friendships’ are online. Even my longstanding, 8 year romance has been carried out online….I live far to much in a virtual world and not enough in the real world. I think I struggle with agoraphobia as part of my depression/anxiety, but no doctor has ever confirmed that. I can go out of my house right? I just..prefer not to. Ah well. I’m not really in a bad mood today, that song had just come on through itunes shuffle and made me pensive.

So here are my doodles from yesterday and today:

Favorite animal: I don’t know if an owl if my favorite but I am, of late, fascinated with them. I love that old 70’s/80’s style owls are making a comeback. They are fantastic predatory animals, full of symbolism and mystery and Magick….

I did this very simply, sticking to the “Doodle” idea in an effort not to overcomplicate things. It’s pen, pencil and crayola crayon. He’s rather dashing, isn’t he?

Favorite food: Is coffee a food group? It should be. Just saying. More crayon and pencil. Quick. Fun. Simple.

Doodle/drawing challenge Day #1 and reflections

 

This is more the me I’d like to be than actually…me. But I do love the way she came out!

So, my grandparents left Saturday for home. It was deeply bittersweet. I grew up being fairly close to them and having them so far away..hurts. I was struck by it last night when we were having supper, how quiet it was without them. I’m glad we had a wonderful visit though and I hope to see them again SOON.

More challenge fun…and a new challenge!

 

Today’s challenge pic..yes! I’m caught up!

Where I slept: you can see that during the day my bed is taken over by furred beings. The bed REALLY belongs to them….they just let me borrow it at night.

 

This has nothing to do with anything but I thought it was amazing! I found this at a thrift shop in Bellefonte. PA. The colors are amazing and fit with my semi-retro kitchen theme…(not really. My kitchen is…ecclectic.)

But I love this! I do! What to do with it? Any ideas?

So my Girlfriend and I decided to try to do a doodle drawing challenge that I found randomly on the web. I apologize for not knowing the original source of this challenge, but I found it here: Kitty Pink Star. I think it will be fun! A way to play around with drawing more! So…here’s to another challenge!

More photo challenge fun:

 

Flowers:

These bags were made by my mom’s friend at Sew a Fine Seam. She’s an AMAZING seamstress. These bags are better than any you’ll find in the store!

My shoes:

99 cent slippers from Walmart (I have a love hate relationship with that store…) They are to big but oh so comfortable. I wear them a lot aorund the house. And check out the AWESOME skirtage!

On the Shelf: I couldn’t decide so you’re getting three pics for this one. This is what should be a video cassette shelf…I had other ideas. Tolkien, Amber, De Lint….ah.

Candles, knick knacks and a vase of knitting needles. Not to mention some Whyte and Cornwall.

Arthur Arthur Arthur….

Okay..moving on. What I ate: a whole grain, 100cal english muffin…slathered in Nutella. Yum.

In my bag: my wallet, my pills, my keys, some Airborne defense for germs…usually also in here are my kindle, my LuLu(ipod touch), some yarn, some pencils and pens…lots of coins….some needles…

Thanks for viewing!

Something Fun

Nephews are a LOT of fun! You get to love on them…then hand them back!

Or not….

More Photo challenge catch up!

Something new: My Lipton’s Tea mug , purchased at Good Will in State College for a whopping 29 cents. Holds the perfect amount of coffee and I love the colors!

From a Distance: The Demolition Derby at the Huntingdon County fair. Definitely a perfect outing for an 11 year old boy! Mom enjoyed it too though….I was most impressed by a ‘78 volkswagon rabbit that lasted the entire time!

 

Close up: My grandfather. He’s 75 year old and I love him dearly. He was my first boss at my first job and always a good friend. I hated it when they moved away from us. I wish their visits lasted longer.

Childhood memory: This isn’t MY childhood memory…but hopefully it will be one for Simon. Spending time with Grandpa (papa) and great-grandpa (Grandpa) at the fair. Being together. Being happy. Knowing he’s so well loved….

Something I made: My hand bound “better than moleskine” journal. Is it better? Probably not. But I certainly enjoy it more! The covers were once the stiff cardboard back of a sketch pad, decorated with scrapbook papers. The pages are a mix of typing paper, sketch paper, acrylic paper and watercolor paper.

Faceless self portrait: “There was a crooked woman and she had a crooked back…” my back problems start from the feet up. See that there? That’s some serious flat foot/fallen arches mess going on. Add to that scoliosis. I’m a curvy gal!

“The first to hold the lone coyote…”

I know...I posted already today. But I rediscovered this song and wanted to share. I'm so in love with Amy Ray and have been since...I was 18! Oh baby!

Photo Challenge

More catching up to do! I’m having fun with this though!

Clouds: 

Favorite Color(s):

(Purple and Teal and Purple and Purple…..)

Something new:

Yoga! I’m just starting, in an effort to help my crooked back heal.

Valkyrie says “I’ll do it with you!”

Domesticated Jen

Yesterday while I worked, I went on a serious domestic spree. I put bread in the bread machine, soup on the pot and some cheesy zucchini in the oven. The results were wonderful!

The soup is one of my mom’s standbys. Super easy and very yummy. I made some adaptions and I’ll post that recipe here.

Chicken and Rice Soup, adapted for a small family:

Three frozen chicken thighs

4 cups water

3 carrots

3 green onions

1/2 cup brown rice (mom uses white, I went with brown for more fiber)

1 1/4 cup more water OR chicken stock if you have it on hand

1 bullion cube or a glop of “Better than broth” chicken broth concentrate. We always use the kind that is MSG free.

salt and pepper to taste

Put the frozen chicken in the water and bring it up to a boil. Boil it until done then skim the fat and foam off the water, pick the chicken off the bones and throw away the bones and skin. Put the chicken back into the pot.

Add to the pot the carrots diced up and the onions along with the brown rice, additional water and bouillon cube. Let this all simmer until the rice is tender, the carrots are done. Salt and pepper to taste. This makes enough for two people to have two big bowls.

The trick to the soup is that the rice will continue to get softer..soaking up more and more of the water so you really don’t want to many left overs! if you do end up with them…it will be a chicken and rice…thing. With no broth. Yummy but not the same!

For the bread I used this recipe: Honey of an Oatmeal Bread

I used one commenters suggestion and went with 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 bread flour. Yum. I’ve made this bread before with all plain white flour though and I do think I like it better….but the wheat is definitely tasty and dense. Made awesome breakfast toast this morning with strawberry jam!

The cheesy zucchini bake….okay. I couldn’t find ANY zucchini at my local grocery. How horrible is that? HELLO! It’s zucchini season! And the summer squash I did find was…less than stellar to say the least. But I went ahead with it anyway using the recipe I posted in my last post. It was tasty but very…very….VERY cheesy. I ate one helping of it and the rest is in the fridge I’ll have some for lunch. (With left over rice/no longer soup).

oh so yellow yellow squash….

And since I’m way off on the 30 day photo challenge, I’m going to post haphazardly until I can get caught up!

Somebody I love:

(This is an older picture but I don’t have my camera back yet!)

Technology:

vs.

(My work station)

30 day photo challenge: Day #1 Self Portrait

Day #2 What I Wore:

Recipes

I have a heaping ton of photos to share! Of course…I left my camera at my folk’s house when snapping pictures of my nephews and grandparents. Alas…I’ll have to share another day!

So here’s my plan for this week. I need to get some groceries, so I have two recipes I’d like to try. The first is this one: Easy Cheesy Zucchini Bake. It’s low carb and it looks so good! I love zucchini…so the second recipe I’d like to try is this: Cream of Zucchini Soup. ummm….YUMMY!

A challenge!

My friend Holly thought this challenge might be fun. I agree! I’ve been in such a photo mood lately, that I’m totally into it! Here is the original post:

30 day photo challenge and here is the fun!

I have a few days catching up to do so I’ll snap some shots and put them up later! Fun to be had!

Breakfast

 

I’ve not been feeling very wordy lately, I know. I struggle with what to write. Sometimes I’m to revealing, other times…I can’t bring myself to reveal anything. What is the balance, blogland?

This is this morning’s breakfast: Two boiled eggs and two little pieces of brie. I’m going back to the low-carb world. Not completely this time though. I’m going for “slow carbs” I think. At any rate…wish me luck!

My idea of a good time

Making a royal mess on my TV tray!

Cheap, easy and good for you?

What more can you ask for?

Tonight's dinner is all of the above. It took me twenty minutes, including cooking the rice (White…usually I use brown though). Add to this some spinach and dinner is DONE. Yum.

Camp, Grandparents and needing more sleep

Something has been seriously making me TIRED a lot lately. All I want to do is sleep, a lot. More than is normal. I’m not sure what this is about but I find myself needing a nap desperately many days of the week. Any thoughts?

So my kiddo came home from camp and he had a HORRIBLE experience. I’d sent him to a camp for kids with mild autism/ADHD with the hope that it would be specialized….well supervised and fun! It wasn’t. He was picked on a good bit by other children, hit, made fun of and generally was miserable the whole time. I feel awful, I really do. NO MORE SPECIAL CAMPS. Next year….he can go to a regular camp.

My grandparents are in town for the next three weeks and while I’m happy to see them…it’s hard. It’s very emotional for me and for my mother, so it makes their visit exhausting. I love them, I wish for all the world they were closer though, but they’re not. That just serves to amplify the emotions by a thousand. So if I’m slow posting here, bear with me! I’m around, really I am!