Chronicles of the Singularly Ordinary

OLW February Blog Hop

2012-03-01T08:35:00.002-08:00

Welcome to the February Blog Hop! I hope everyone has had as good a February as I have. It's been a crazy busy month and I've neglected this blog, but I'm hoping things have settled down to a reasonable pace now. I just barely got my prompt done in time. I'm finishing it up on February 29. It's a good thing it's leap year, or I'd be late!!!

I thought at the beginning of the month how easy this prompt was going to be with this word and that I'd get it done in no time, so I ended up not doing it until the end, for the most part. It's a good thing that it was an easy prompt for this word. The pictures are of things that I am thankful for and of things that I am doing or hope/plan to do to get more grace. Starting from the upper left corner the pictures are: 1. Henbit (a weed that grows here in abundance and is really so pretty. It seemed like a grace because we really don't do anything to get it, it just comes up on its own. 2. Music/piano. I love music and I want to start practicing it more so I'll be more graceful with my piano playing. 3. Exercise. To be more graceful in general. 4. A page from my planner. I've started trying to write things down more and keep track of my days better. 5. You can't see it, but there's a picture of my family there, something I am very thankful for. 6. The Grace necklace my friend gave me for this year. It reminds me to have more grace. 7. More flowers coming up. In addition to the flowers being a grace, the fact that they are here in February is amazing and something I'm very thankful for. They're very early this year, but it's been so warm and wet here that they're growing. This summer it was so miserable and dry the plants all died, so this is especially a grace! 8. Doing things for others. I made the baby things laying there. 9. This one is for friends and for traveling, since I'm with a friend somewhere away from home. I'm thankful for both those things.

So that's my prompt. I had fun doing it. Grace is going well this month. I hope you have all had a lovely month and hopefully I'll be on here more in March.

The Blog Hop officially starts at 10 PST, so I think this is a tad early, but have fun hopping!

Margie http://xnomads.typepad.com
Melissa S http://blog.mshanhun.com
Sharyn http://LaVieEnChic.com
Kimberlee http://scrapsandsass.blogspot.com
Jill http://jillconyers.com/
Cheri http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com
Cindy www.cynthiacrysdale.com
Jenn www.studiojenn.blogspot.com
Monica http://scrapinspired.com/
Catherine http://myview-catherine.blogspot.com/
Naomi http://poeticaperture.com/
Jamie jmpgirl.blogspot.com
Coley www.coleybelle.blogspot.com
Melissa C www.smudgetime.com
Donna http://holimess.blogspot.com/
Monica B http://questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com/
Veronica www.veronicanorris.typepad.com
Heidi D http://mommy.heidimdavis.com/
Lisa http://backtoallen.com/category/one-little-word/
Nikki www.inkyart.com.au
Devon http://www.youhadmeatneurotic.com
Amanda http://scrappnbee.blogspot.com
Brooklyn www.everysnapshot.com
Kristina http://hrinspirationfromthe403.blogspot.com/
Jen R http://jenritchie.com
Kara http://iwannabemewhenigrowup.blogspot.com
Eydie www.whatwecreate.net
Ruth http://suburbansahm.blogspot.com
Missus W http://www.mrswookieswanderings.blogspot.com/
Marilee http://rose-brier.blogspot.com
Cindy http://seriousplay.typepad.com
Kaylea http://www.myscrappylife.com
Dawn G www.sunshineandcreativity.com
Rebekah http://istampscrapcraft.blogspot.com/
Becky www.becky-handforth.blogspot.com
Orange Gearle orangegearle.blogspot.com
Katrina www.katrinasimeck.com
Jo http://www.mrsbeee.blogspot.com
Nicky Www.seejanebake.blogspot.com
Beth www.thesingularlyordinary.blogspot.com <---You are Here
Kelly http://mindingmynest.com <-----You go Here
Tere http://terecontodomicorazon.blogspot.com/

Spring???

2012-02-29T12:04:00.001-08:00

It certainly seems like spring here! Hard to believe it's only the end of February! I planted this little flower garden last week. We were at the store to get some humus to prepare a bed for when it's actually time plant things and were so tempted by the annuals! It really is lovely out, so we brought them home and made a little flower bed by our front walk. Most of these flowers have a beautiful scent, in addition to looking pretty, so it's lovely to walk by the bed everyday. I'm sure it will freeze again before Easter, but the beauty of the little bed here, is that it will be so simple to cover them and hopefully they'll live through the freeze and on into the real spring. :-) Right now there's no hint of a freeze at all. I love it!

scrapbook

2012-02-09T19:35:00.000-08:00

So this is my first real scrapbook -- the first one of an event. I'm on my second One Little Word album, but that's a different sort of thing. I love seeing other people's scrapbooks and always think that I'd like to have scrapbooks of my things, but it seemed overwhelming to try. Then I signed up for this class on Big Picture Classes. Finish Line Scrapbooking by Stacy Julian. You just sort of throw it all together, in a good way, and it makes a great album! Here's a couple of my pages:

This is out visiting my friend walking on a lake! I live where it never gets cold enough to freeze a lake enough to walk on it. There were actually cars further out on the ice. Crazy stuff!

There are ways to make the album prettier, but I wanted to get mine done fast. And I did! I got it done in a day. (And I didn't spend all day doing it.) I am quite happy with it and I enjoyed it enough to look forward to doing another one.

January OLW Blog Hop

2012-02-01T07:09:00.000-08:00

This is my first blog hop and I've very excited to be participating. I hope everyone is enjoying it!

So this is what I did for our January project for OLW.

We were supposed to use an 8x11 page and so everything would be rectangular instead of square. I like rectangles, but I have a strong aversion to 8x11, so this year is 8x8 and square. :-) I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. We were supposed to define our word and write a little of why we chose this word and what we hope to get out of it.
So far I've worked on dressing Gracefully, which included getting rid of my two favorite skirts because they really are too worn out to gracefully wear them in public! Sad, sad day.
Grace has so many different definitions and meanings. I almost chose gratitude for my word this year, but I went with grace, so I thought it was fun on the online dictionary I used that they had a little paragraph about how the word "grace" comes from the same word as "gracias" and "grazie" and all those lovely words that mean "thanks" in other languages, so I'm counting Thanks with the rest of the definitions and trying to be more thankful this year. I've gotten a bit distracted from my word as the month has gone on. It's been a busy month and I'm sure I could have used more grace for it all, but maybe February will be better!
Thank you for stopping by and I'd love a comment! Be sure to visit the next blog on the hop.

Margie http://xnomads.typepad.com

Sharyn www.lavieenchic.com
Jill http://jillconyers.com
Lynn www.crafty-creativity.blogspot.com
Jenn www.studiojenn.blogspot.com
Carmen http://www.carmenpaulsorthner.com
Marilee http://rose-brier.blogspot.com
Kristina http://hrinspirationfromthe403.blogspot.com/
Cindy C http://www.cynthiacrysdale.com
Kelly http://mindingmynest.com
Cheri http://cheriandrews.blogspot.com
Amanda http://scrappnbee.blogspot.com
Cindy http://seriousplay.typepad.com
Brooke www.everysnapshot.com
Naomi www.poeticaperture.com
Melissa http://www.smudgetime.com
Karen http://breathenowsmile.blogspot.com
Melissa S http://blog.mshanhun.com
Devon http://www.youhadmeatneurotic.com
Donna http://holimess.blogspot.com/
Dawn sunshineandcreativity.com
Katrina www.katrinasimeck.com
Sam http://learncreatedo.wordpress.com
Monica http://scrapinspired.com
Kimberlee http://scrapsandsass.blogspot.com
Missus W http://mrswookieswanderings.blogspot.com/
Kaylea http://www.myscrappylife.com
Nikki Www.inkyart.com.au
Erin http://erinsparkes.typepad.com/optimstic-fascination/
Jo www.curlyscrapbooker.blogspot.com
Coley http://coleybelle.blogspot.com/2012/01/focus-word-for-2012.html
Beth www.thesingularlyordinary.blogspot.com <----------You are Here

Veronica www.veronicanorris.typepad.com <----------You go Here

Jamie http://jmpgirl.blogspot.com/
Monica B http://questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com/
Lisa http://backtoallen.com/writers_blog
Rebekah http://istampscrapcraft.blogspot.com/
Jan http://mysimplelittlelife.typepad.com
Veronica http://www.veronicanorris.typepad.com
Cate www.lifebehindthepurpledoor.com
Stephanie www.scrapworthylives.com
Orange Gearle http://orangegearle.blogspot.com
Tere http://terecontodomicorazon.blogspot.com/
Junelle http://yesandamenblog.blogspot.com/
Ruth http://suburbansahm.blogspot.com
Becky www.becky-handforth.blogspot.com

Notebooks

2012-01-13T09:56:00.000-08:00

I guess we've neglected to say Happy New Year to everyone. So, I hope you're all having a great 2012 so far! I feel like we're a lot further into the year already, so it's always a surprise when I see the date. And I don't feel bad for not having accomplished more already. I don't need to get a month's worth of stuff done in 12 days!
Anyway, on to the project. These are some notebooks I made in December. I thought they turned out very nicely, if I do say so myself, and thought they'd be fun on the blog. :-)

I've always thought it would be fun to make a notebook, but somehow overwhelming to think about. But my friend sent me a link to a handmade one a few months ago and after a while I finally decided to try it out. I had all these notebooks that I bought for piano lessons, but can't use because after a couple of weeks, the pages start falling out. -- if you buy 5 cent notebooks at Walmart, be sure they're spiral bound. It makes all the difference -- We had planned to donate them, but hadn't gotten to it yet when I decided they'd be perfect. I could just cut them down to the size I wanted. So I got out our trusty paper cutter and went to work. In case you're wondering what great paper cutter I had that would cut all that paper together, I don't. I'm not sure, but it might be older than me and won't do more than a few pieces at a time. But it works. I added decorative scrapbooking paper, which is what really makes these fun. I just cut a bunch to the right size and randomly stuck them into the notebook paper. I'm not good with random, but I worked hard at it. :-)

The covers I made out of cardboard. It was hard to get the holes into the cardboard with the hole punch, but with help, they all got punched. I covered them with scrapbook paper and stickers on some of them. Some of them I thought looked nice just plain. I joined it all together with scrapbook rings and there you have a notebook. :-)

I wanted to make a cover for them. The cover is actually how all this got started. I was looking through a magazine and found these cute book covers, but I wanted these for a gift and I didn't know what book to cover and give, so eventually I came up with the notebooks. I ended up using some wide eyelet (my brilliant mother's idea), I folded it over and right sides together, I sewed up the bottom and two sides. I sewed a button to one side and a loop of ribbon to the other and there's a very nice cover. Very simple.

in which The Distracted Dame wields a crow-bar to great effect

2012-01-11T13:29:00.000-08:00

Well, friends. After a long haitus from both blogging and working on my camper, afore-mentioned-in-many-words, I was tempted outside by a genuinely beautiful Christmas break Saturday and put in another installment of working on my camper. I thought I would share a few photos from the Day of Demo....

How things looked in the calm before the storm...

My darling brother tearing out one of the cabinets

The cabinet used to be over that wheelwell

The "kitchen" cabinet, in process

Nasty insulation under the cabinet

Cabinet, dinette and table GONE!

All of the trim, screws and hardware I could pry off and unscrew in an afternoon...

Cute and classy!

It took part of another afternoon to rip out the couch/bed from the other end of the camper. I am now pretty much down to the nitty-gritty work of pulling apart the walls and skin. I uncovered a lot of holes in the floor during all that demolition.... And I must admit, I am wondering if I'll have to reskin the whole thing as well as replace the wood. Sounds like I'll have to bring under real cover before I do much more!

One Little Word

2012-01-06T14:20:00.000-08:00

I just started my second year of One Little Word with Ali Edwards at Big Picture Classes. Last year was a lot of fun and I'm really looking forward to another year of it. If you've never heard of One Little Word, it is a sort of online scrapbook class where you choose one word to think about for the year and each month you get a new prompt for your scrapbook. I don't know that I explain it that well. If you are interested, go to Big Picture Classes and search for One Little Word. My friend who lives around 1,000 miles away got me started and it's a fun thing that we do together that makes 1,000 miles seem not so far away.
Here is my PreClass prompt (we got this one before the year started).

As you (I hope) can see, my word is Grace this year. And so I will try to be more Graceful over the year. We can all hope, anyway!

Fabric Flowers

2011-12-16T15:45:00.000-08:00

My mom and I have been admiring these fabric flowers for quite some time now. So yesterday my mom found out how to make them! What fun! They don't take long at all and in a way they aren't difficult. In a way, they are. But here's what we have so far!

Hazy Shade of Winter

2011-12-04T12:27:00.000-08:00

It has been a crazy weekend and through it all it has been dark and rainy. Usually I'm sick of it and wishing for sunshine after a day or two, but after the very long summer, I notice none of us are complaining. Funny what a little perspective will do for you...

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T16:05:00.000-08:00

Now that Thanksgiving is waning... we've already feasted and napped and started pondering whether or not anything which will be on sale after midnight tonight will be worth getting out of bed for... I offer wishes for your happy Thanksgiving, hoping that you have enjoyed the love of your family and friends. Happy Turkey Day, friends!

And, since Miss CQ posted such a lovely photo with her post, I feel compelled to photo-enhance mine. Hence, I give you.... My Brother's Thanksgiving Plate:

(Note the artistically positioned carrot and celery.)

We are blessed beyond measure, and the food we celebrate with on this day is but one small example.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T14:42:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope it's a great one!!

Butternut Squash Soup

2011-11-19T10:19:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd share the soup recipe that I made yesterday for our lunch. It was butternut squash soup. It is sooo good! It isn't quite as sweet as pumpkin pie, but it really reminds me of it. I've made it twice now and it was great both times! I got the recipe from Allrecipes.com, which is my favorite online recipe site.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 pounds peeled and seeded butternut squash , cut into 1-inch chunks

1 large onion, cut into large dice

1 tablespoon butter

1 pinch sugar

3 large garlic cloves, thickly sliced

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

3 cups chicken broth, homemade or from a carton or can

1 1/2 cups half-and-half (or whole milk)

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Garnish: store-bought apple chips

Directions

Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large, deep saute pan until shimmering.

Add butternut squash, then onion; saute, stirring very little at first, then more frequently, until squash start to turn golden brown, 7 to 8 minutes.

Reduce heat to low and add butter, sugar and garlic; continue cooking until all vegetables are a rich spotty caramel color, about 10 minutes longer.

Add cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and cayenne pepper; continue to saute until fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 minute longer.

Add broth; bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, partially covered, until squash is tender, about 10 minutes.

Using an immersion blender or traditional blender, puree until very smooth, 30 seconds to 1 minute. (If using a traditional blender, vent it either by removing the lid's pop-out center or by lifting one edge of the lid. Drape the blender canister with a kitchen towel. To 'clean' the canister, pour in a little half-and-half, blend briefly, then add to the soup.)

Return to pan (or a soup pot); add enough half-and-half so the mixture is souplike, yet thick enough to float garnish. Taste, and add salt and pepper if needed. Heat through, ladle into bowls, garnish and serve.

I used probably twice as much squash as the recipe called for and I baked the squash for 45 minutes at 400 degrees so it would be easier to peel. It's really soft at that point and I just scoop it out. It doesn't brown that way like it does in the recipe, but if you'll cook it for the same amount of time it comes out great. :-) Watch out with the liquids, though. I only used two cups of broth and then just enough milk to get the consistency I wanted.
I garnished with a cinnamon stick instead of apple chips. We didn't eat the sticks, but they looked nice. I meant to take a picture, but I forgot once I dished it out, but it's such a pretty soup. A nice dark orange. Serves about 6.

lunch with friends

2011-11-18T19:47:00.000-08:00

Rosy tablecloth, rosy plates, rosy roses, yummy lunch and delightful company. Very nice afternoon!

What is it???

2011-11-16T14:13:00.000-08:00

Great day at the thrift store. Found some very good things at very good prices! And then there's this:

Does anyone know what it is? The little black things are flexible and rubbery. One of my favorite things about thrift stores is the odd things that we just really don't know what they are... It's fun to guess and try to imagine what anyone could do with some of these things. So, any guesses? We couldn't figure this one out at all! --Oh, and I didn't bring it home with me, just in case anyone wondered. Someone let me know if it is a highly useful thing that I can't live without, okay?

the camper story, part 1

2011-11-08T20:54:00.000-08:00

So, my boss, you see, had a tiny, old, beat-up, ugly camper. It used to sit behind the barn. Then it sat out front of the house, with a sign in one of its little window advertising its availability. This sign managed to attract the attention of exactly one interested party, but in the end, no one was interested enough to fork over cash and haul the thing away. So it moved back to the barn, and sat, forlornly baking in the sun and leaking in the rain.

Then I had a bright idea.

When one day I tucked into the conversation something about me possibly buying the camper, my boss hemmed and hawed just a little bit, then informed me that I could have it for free if I really wanted it. But it would need work, he assured me, to get it water-tight and livable. In fact, at every subsequent mention of the camper, my boss would try to assure me that I really wouldn't want it once I looked inside. I persisted. And finally, on my way home from the office one day, I stopped by the barn and took a look inside the camper.

The prevalent water damage, previous make-do fixes, and general age-related degeneration did not deter me. I knew that behind, around, or through all those issues, a delightful little mobile living space is hiding. And the more I surf Pinterest, the National Serro Scotty Organization website, and the web in general for rebuild photos and other inspiration, the more excited I get. Who cares if I've never built anything in my life! Who cares if I don't own one power tool! Who cares if I have no real idea how to upholster, wire, plumb, or panel! I have always been one to enthuse about learning when I have a purpose for it.

My Serro Scotty Sportsman Gaucho, which I finally measured today at 10 miniscule feet in length, is now sitting in my parents' sideyard. Realistically, the more I investigate, the more convinced I am that this is going to be a complete re-build project. As in, from the frame up. I don't anticipate a religious adherence to the original design, at least not in specifics. But thankfully, should I need to cut new walls and build new fixtures, I should be able to use the current (if rotted) pieces as a guide. I am a long way from picking out paint or even configuring storage space, but those are the fun things to consider. Life in sixty square feet... what an adventure!
Consider this the "before" before post. Here are some photos of the Scotty in its current state. Expect in-process pictures to follow... although it may be several months before I am able to make that happen.

What has happened to me? In a matter of days I have developed an addiction to web-surfing for camper rebuild stories, which keeps me up into the night. I anticipate scouring online listings for cheap replacement parts, creeping construction sites for free building supplies, and learning to man a table saw. I even decided today that I probably ought to at least buy my own drill.

I repeat: What has happened to me? If you figure it out, please let me know.

2011-11-07T21:40:00.000-08:00

So, on Sunday, I made the hour's trek across town and country and had a nice visit with Miss C. Q. and her family. We even had a photo session, in the dark, complete with props and ~~family members~~ photographers obliging us by perching perilously upon chairs for proper camera angles. We obtained at least two blog-worthy photographs (of feet, of course). We also have documented, for all time, our mutual attachment to the Denim Skirt.

Yep. That's us. :)

2011-11-05T12:57:00.000-07:00

My most recent project:

Favors for the piano recital I'm having in a week. A friend of mine gave me the idea and another friend gave me the Lifesavers.

I wrapped Lifesavers rolls in sheet music. I really like it since they look like scrolls of music. And when you open them, the Lifesavers look like whole notes. All very musical, you see.

It was really easy too, which is very nice. I just cut some sheet music in to 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" squares and used a glue stick to glue the paper over the labels. Then a tied a ribbon around them, which looks pretty and helps hold the paper while the glue dries.

Happy November!

2011-11-01T18:51:00.000-07:00

A slight chill in the air. Soft, damp grass beneath my feet. A light breeze rustles the leaves in the tops of the trees. The first day of November. Lovely.

Welcome!

2011-10-28T21:37:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! I'm so glad you're here!
I'm very excited to be doing this blog with my very dear friend, The Distracted Dame. We thought we should introduce ourselves, so here I go!
First of all, I think everyone should know, I am not good at introducing myself.
I'm Contentedly Quirky. The Distracted Dame gave me this name and I am loving it. I'm looking forward to living up to it! We'll see how it goes. I love music and the outdoors and working with my hands and I expect those things to make up the bulk of my posts.
That's me up there in the picture, in my tall shoes. Unlike most high heel shoes, these shoes actually make people believe that I am tall, even though they previously thought otherwise. So don't be fooled from this picture. I really am not tall.
I'm so glad ya'll are here and I hope you'll come back again soon!

Good Day!

2011-10-28T20:14:00.000-07:00

Greetings and welcome, friends; may I introduce myself? For the purposes of this blog, you may call me the Distracted Dame. I get brain block whenever people ask me to talk about myself, so we'll keep this short and sweet. I am a reader and a thinker trying to become more of a doer. Currently I work part-time doing something I am horrible at anywhere else-- namely, managing and organizing-- for a small business. I am also a college student. I could fill a book with my aspirations and interests... we could start with midwifery, maternal care in developing nations, foreign languages... but I'll leave those for another time.

I love conversations, so please do come back again, and let's get acquainted! Miss Contentedly Quirky and I can keep the conversation going for a while, but we want to include you too.