Hug in a mug

Something about the spiciness of warm chai comforts me. I frequently buy myself chai lattes, usually from Starbucks. I also make myself chai lattes at home.

In mid October I bought a few pie pumpkins and made my own pumpkin puree. I made a loaf of pumpkin bread, a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving dessert, and the other day I made some pumpkin spice syrup from a recipe over at A Teaspoon and A Pinch.

Now I am armed to make myself a real hug in a mug.

Steep two bags of chai in a mug, leave room for milk. 

Add in a few tablespoons of pumpkin spice syrup.

Mix in some warm milk of choice, I used canned coconut milk for extra creaminess.

Enjoy a warm and comforting mug of tea. 

Craft, crafty, crating

I haven't been blogging with much, uh, frequency but I haven't stopped doing blog worthy crafty things. Here are some pictures of things I have made/done.

My fairly successful attempt at ring making. I should probably buy myself some jewelry making pliers because using my old rusty needle nose pliers resulted in my scraping off the black on the wire and revealing the copper color, which doesn't look awful but isn't what I was going for. I also need a ring thing.....you know the cone thing that you can wrap the wire around to get the right size, because I used chapstick tubes for this and the sizing is pretty awful. 

Simple chain earrings. Wore these all day when my mom got married but they are slightly heavy, after this day I took off 2 of the chains (went from 5 strands to 3) and they look just as good and pull less on my ears.  

I love Halloween time and the fabrics that show up. Bought myself this lovely black and silver spider print and made myself a new small purse. Lined it with a lovely purple and gold print and put a decorative skull button on the front. All it took for this bag was 2 fat quarters and it was rather simple to sew together. 

Bag pattern/instructions here. 

 Another simple funky looking necklace. I added a few more safety pins to the lowest chain (had to buy more). Saw this over at Trinkets in Bloom, she has some great things on her blog.

Don't think I posted this already but I may have. This was a lunch bag I made for my mom for her birthday I think. She had asked me to make her one. 

With the extra material I made a headband. 

Skirts! Making skirts is fun and pretty easy!  

I wore the red one to my moms wedding and the day walking around Balboa Park.

This one is sheer and I used an old tshirt of my husbands as a lining. 

(Me and my mom!)

Snake skin print is channeling my inner 80's personality!

From skirt making I moved onto dress making. This one took a few days and I love the way it turned out. These are some pretty crappy pictures of it, the flow and pattern are much nicer in person. 

 A few bracelets I made. 

 I took an old pair of heels that had stretched  a bit and I couldn't really wear anymore, painted the heels silver and added sliver laces too. 

Look at what I finally did, chalkboard paint and storage jars! My cabinet is still full of re-purposed jars but now they have chalkboard paint labels! Woohoo! It only took me years to accomplish this!

That's pretty much how I have been occupying my time this year. I am currently working on ideas for Halloween or Christmas cards, thinking I might skip Halloween cards this year but not sure. I enjoy Halloween much more than Christmas but I think people want/expect Christmas cards from me more than Halloween. Don't have any great ideas for either at this point. Need some inspiration. 

Anyone have any cool/fun things they have done or are planning on doing?

Nail Polish

I think I am done with nail polish again.
When I was young I was an avid nail polish fan like a lot of girls are. I ALWAYS had my nails painted all sorts of colors. They were constantly painted from probably a pre teen age until I was 19. At 19 I had a job at a place that only allowed natural colors, there was no point for me to paint my nails a natural color. I did still paint them on occasion and then forget to take it off, mostly because I ended up sleeping not at home and not having nail polish remover. I would get written up and so I just stopped painting them. Then I got a job with animals and used my hands A LOT and if I did wear nail polish it just got worn off very quickly. At this point I pretty much gave up painting them regularly. On occasion I would but then I got all concerned about the chemicals in nail polish and completely stopped for quite a few years. In the last few years I found some less chemically nail polish and now I am back to using whatever. I like doing designs and things and using funky colors, like always. I took off my bright blue nail polish a few days ago and my nails are stained bluish, only in the center because the bottoms and tips had worn off, I still have that job with animals. They are also quite yellow from being stained from other dark colors I have used.

I think I am going to stop with the nail polish for a while, at least stop with it constantly and only put it on for special occasions, or holidays, I am thinking candy corn looking nails for Halloween and I will probably do the Christmas lights polish again in December. Also nail polish is expensive and I can't find cheap (even overly chemical laden) crazy colors as easy as I used to and me and online shopping is a bad idea so I don't like to go there. I will miss having painted nails for sure but I have always been bad with up keep and am often walking around with barely painted nails, this will probably be a good look for me anyway. Now to resist, I think I will go put my box of nail polish in the back corner under the sink in the bathroom now.

Standards

Saw this post Workplace Image Standards about should men be held to the same image standards as women?

I don't work in a standard industry, I work by myself, I control pretty much everything with my work. So are you telling me men are not held to the same standards? The posts slant is on getting a job and on makeup making you look your best, personally I do not see makeup as a necessity in that, for men or women. Do places, conventional non model type jobs, actually require women to wear makeup? That is what I am reading into this post because I have no idea how those jobs work. If I had one of these jobs I would assume I would have to dress appropriately and that would be laid out for me. Would I be required to wear makeup? I don't have one of these types of jobs for very very many reasons and I am wondering if I have one more reason to never look into one.

I just don't know how things like this, if true, are the norm. It just seems so wrong to me. Why do people go along with these things? Yes I get that they need the job, money, etc etc but people stop caving! Stand up for yourself! I'm not saying do anything dramatic but if everyone keeps going along with every little thing we'll become nothing more than drones doing what we are told. Yes I am being dramatic and WAY over doing it but this is how I feel. I've always been like this but recently things have really really really been bothering me. I cannot wrap my head around it all.

Don't waste your lotion.

No one likes knowingly waste things but what are you unknowingly wasting or even knowingly wasting? You've heard it before, there is still lotion left in the container when you have squeezed/pumped all you can out. Do you cut open your containers to get that last little bit out? Most likely no, even though you've probably know there is more in there. Just how much is left in there? Is it really worth the trouble? There is probably more than you think in there and depending on the kind of container your lotion (or whatever really) is in it's pretty easy. Yes you can't just squeeze the tube or push the pump but are you always so busy and need this stuff instantly that you can't grab a pair of scissors or blade of some sort and do a little cutting and scooping? If you run out of your lotion during the week or a time when you are busy like needing to use it right after your morning shower quickly before work (I'm told this showering thing is daily and a morning routine even for some, I have no experience with this though) then just set it aside and grab a new one. When you have time cut into your old one and use it or if you don't have a need for it when you have the time put it into a large mouth container for later use. Here are some visuals from my latest lotion tube opening. I was quite shocked at how much was left in, enough for my whole body minus my back.

I probably could have squeezed out a tad bit more but then it would get all crumpled and since this is a metal tube the crevices are harder to get the lotion out of so I cut into it at this point.

I unfolded the empty part and used a pair of scissors to cut all the way across. Opened up the bottom part that would have lotion left in it and carefully reached in and took lotion out with a finger and put it on my leg for later use (so I could take a photo and show you how much I got out).

At this point I got a q-tip and used it to get the smaller quantities in all the nook and crannies. 

I even opened up top portion and found enough in there to use on one arm.

So how much does this actually get you? As I said above, enough for my whole body minus my back and I was suffering from quite dry skin this day and this is a thick and very rich moisturizer that doesn't go a long way like a thinner one might. 

This is what I got out. (please ignore my insanely pale leg).

So quit being lazy and open up those empties and really get your moneys worth. I have heard people say that companies know consumers can't get every last drop out so you aren't actually wasting money. 1 I do not believe that and will not even if I hear it from the CEO, it's is always about the money. 2 If that is true guess what FREE LOTION!!! 3 Again even if that is true why toss out perfectly good product? Really why? What good reason could there be for tossing it out?

My new boredom cure

This was just a tutorial I watched and is actually very simple if you have the length for it

I saw this on Bo from the series Lost Girl and gave it a try. Not perfect but worked out pretty well for just trying it after seeing it on the tv.

I hadn't fishtail braided in years and needed to relearn how to do it and this is what I ended with.

A style inspired by Sansa from Game of Thrones. I don't watch the show but a friend does so I did this to make her jealous, I'm such a nice friend.

Well I was just REALLY bored and wanted my hair off my face and neck and back and just up and away. I did not leave the house like this. 

This I did from a tutorial inspired by Arwen's hair during the battle at Helm's Deep (Lord of the Rings for you non-dorks) Took me a bit over an hour.

I have a go to youtube for hair tutorials TorrinPaige. I just added another one (and where I got Arwen's braids) Loepsie. 

Edamame Hummus

I love edamame (soy beans). I haven't eaten much outside of sushi restaurants recently because I bought a bag of frozen shelled edamame and well they were gross. I bought 2 bags, a two for deal, the second bag has been sitting in my freezer for way too long. I saw a recipe recently for edamame hummus, YUM I thought, I read the recipe and peas were in the ingredients, YUCK. (If that is something that appeals to you here is that recipe: at Yum Sugar.) If there is one vegetable I loathe it is peas, so much so I pick every single one of them out my fried rice. I absolutely loathe peas. Instead of peas I used garbanzos, you know what your run of the mill hummus is made from. It's pretty tasty if you ask me, even though this particular edamame is sub par by itself.

Absolutely horrible and unappetizing picture, what you get is greenish hummus with a good edamame taste added.

I don't really follow a recipe when I make hummus, for this I used a cup of cooked garbanzos and a bag of frozen shelled edamame, it was a pretty big bag, at least 2 cups, I steamed them and added them, the garbanzos, some cooking liquid, and some tahini to a food processor. Blended until it was a consistency I like and added some season salt, cumin, and pepper to taste.

I ate half of it with slices of toasted garlic sourdough, my brother is coming by Saturday to try it and bringing some pita chips. (I LOVE PITA CHIPS) My brother is kinda like Mikey, he likes everything, that's why I am not waiting to post this until after I get his opinion.

If you are an edamame and hummus lover like me, make yourself some of this and enjoy it!!

I've got a bug

A crafting bug. Which is made ten times worse by pinterest. (Here's my pinterest if you wanna follow my boards) I saw these paper clip earrings on pinterest and had to make a pair for myself.

I used some yarn left over from a sweater my grandma knit me when I was 10 or so. I love the color and knew I had to use some of it to make something some day and I saw these and knew I had to use the yarn. The tutorial suggests using a liquid stitch or something like that but I had no problems using hot glue. I can see how it can get kinda gloopy but it was pretty easy to work around that and I love being able to make things out of stuff I have lying around the house.

I've been de-cluttering, organizing, and of course cleaning as I go. I've completed the bedroom (but not the master bath yet, point a marital contention, it'll get done eventually, I think). I will post what I've done there at some point, don't have any before pictures, it's too hard to take before pictures. I am currently working on the bulk of the apartment, the living/dining areas. The hardest part is the de-cluttering, I am a bit of a pack rat. So much stuff. In the process I've been making things, like the can I made last night, see previous post. Today I made a charger corral of sorts.

It is made from the cardboard of a Tofuky pack of Italian sausages, which are really tasty by the way. I opened it up on it's seam and glued it back together backwards, so all the product stuff was on the inside and it was plain cardboard on the outside. To make it more decorative I took a picture from an old calendar and glued it to the outside.

This is also something that can be done with toilet paper rolls. I made one like that years ago for my husbands head phones. I used an add for some beach get-a-way or something like that if memory serves. It's just a pretty serene picture.

Make it Monday

Started with this

And end with this

 Super simple and can be used for all sorts of things. This was originally a can of coconut milk and is now a pen holder. 

Sunday Confession Jan 15

First on the last confession. I made a plastic bag holder so it looks a lot more put together and not as WTF I have way too many plastic bags.

I realize it still is the same amount of bags and something I need to work on but it looks prettier. It was super easy to sew together and if you have even the basic of sewing skills it is totally a diy you could do. It has a elastic opening on the top to stuff in the bags and one on the bottom to pull bags out one by one. I googled plastic bag holder tutorial to get ideas and quickly sewed one up. We use plastic bags for cat litter and as a trash can liner in one bathroom and the kitchen. In our apartment lease agreement it is stated that we have to do this. Especially for the cat litter. Garbage must be in plastic bags. I doubt we would have any issues with taking unlined cans out to the dumpster, we don't create a lot of garbage,  maybe 1 grocery store sized bag a week, and it is all pretty much dry garbage since I compost. Maybe at some point if I get our garbage production down even more I will think about not using liners.


Onto a new confession: When we eat out at the cheap fast yet fresh wok Chinese food I often get the noodles on the side. The problem, I am vegan, and I while I haven't asked I am pretty sure they are egg noodles (and even possibly made with chicken broth)!!!

I am sorry I just have no self control with these noodles. I haven't found good vegan Lo Mein noodles close to home or even at the store to make myself. I think I will try using bean threads as a traditional Lo Mein noodle substitute. I really love bean threads and I make them in a soup all the time. 

If anyone has an easy yummy and vegan (perhaps besides the noodles) Lo Mein recipe, send  it my way please, mostly the sauce/flavor they get on the noodles, I would greatly appreciate that. Mmmm now I am getting hungry again but that is a whole other confession, maybe for a different Sunday.

As last time, feel free to confess anything on your mind. It feels good to share and commiserate or even better talk about this stuff with other people.

Sunday Confession

Let's try something shall we. A weekly (or less if needed) confessional of things that we do that we aren't exactly happy about. Little things, big things, whatever kind of things you wanna get off your chest. I'll lead the confessional.

So here is my first one. I am a very eco-conscious person and do and try many things to make small and big changes. One of the easiest things by far is reusable bags, I have a good number in my car and I use them all the time but some how under my sink still looks like this:

And I have another stash in my extra closet. I forget now and then, forget to ask paper. Most are from stops at non grocery stores, Target, the liquor store, places where bringing your own bag is still somewhere you get looks for doing it. I really need to get past this. Under my sink could be used for much better things than this.

Have anything you want to share as a confession?