First Batch of Scented Salt Dough

This is my first batch of souped up salt dough.  It's the first I've cooked, colored, and scented.  The kidlet loved it.  I loved the peppermint scent as she mashed and blended and occasionally made a puppy or cthulu.

The cooked version is only a little more complicated than the raw version AND is way more betterer.

(It lasts longer without drying out at room temp, and it's smoother.  I must confess that I haven't baked this version so I can't rate its permanent ornamentness).

It's a classic recipe that I've just never had a reason to use.

MIX:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

1 cup water

1 Tablespoon oil (cheapest in your cupboard)

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

Cook on low heat until it holds together. Let cool.  Take outta the pan and knead in 5 drops up to 1tsp of peppermint essential oil.  I used Aura Cacia brand, in case you care.  Any kind besides VitaCost - that shit is crap. AuraCacia is good and not overpriced.

Divide into 8 equallish balls.  With regular boring old food coloring, ROY G BIV up 7 of the dough balls.  Leave one of them plain. Stick them in airtight containers. 

Try not to get the sads when your toddler mixes them all into a purplish mass. It will happen.  Gives us a reason to make more...

XOXO

Eggs and end of summer veggies

Melt butter on medium hot.  Throw in a few chopped garlic cloves, a block of tofu cut into 2 inch blocks.  Um add a little olive oil because you didn't add enough butter at the intro. Add a handful of roughly chopped tomatoes. Mine are Black Krim, small but mighty.  Add one summer squash thinly sliced.  Add salt, pepper, a little bit of ground cumin, and a little bit of some kind of smoky chili powder and cook until the squash is all tenderlike.  Add a couple eggs and slightly scramble in the middle of the mess. Eat. Verdict from kid: not too bad.

THE LEAGUE

Oh fuck how I have missed you and your terrible characters.
P.S. Bears all the way?  :/

Tiny Tornado

Inspired by a couple of parents that accept their kid.  I hope to do the same.

Eating Nasturtium

I do not like nasturtium in my mouth.  I've tried the flowers.  I've tried the leaves.  I've tried the seedpods.  I've tried these all straight off the vine.

However, nasturtium seedpods when picked green and soaked in pickle juice for two weeks are pretty good.

I may yet try the trick of cream cheese stuffed nasturtium flowers. 

Finally, a poppy flower.

Small human visitors had picked the fuzzy buds before they got to bloom last month.  I am so glad this one got to this stage.

Totoro

Stitching.

naptime

a thing of the past.

Garden Entry / Grow Write Guild

I think this is one of those bandwagon things I can get behind.  I like it, and it seems relatively doable in a noncommittal way. 

The first prompt, in a total cut and paste form to 1)prompt me, 2)share what I'm talking about 3)indulge my laziness so I don't have to click back and forth.  I have a lot of tabs open... :

Grow Write Guild Prompt #1: Write about your first plant.

Use the following questions to help spark memories and different approaches to this prompt. Read each question, one at a time, and jot down the very first thought that comes to mind. Try not to hesitate. No one is going to read these notes but you, so don’t be afraid to let your mind wander. Ignore the questions if you don’t need them.

Further Questions:
• How old were you when you grew this plant?
• Where did you grow it (city, country, someone’s house, your own home, in a pot, in a garden)?
• How did you come by the plant? (Did you buy it as a mature plant? Grow it from seed? Was it a gift? Did you steal it?)
• What drew you to the plant? (Aesthetic: color, shape, form? Did it look tasty? Smell nice? Have an appealing texture?)
• Did you know anything about this plant before you decided to grow it?
• Did you have an emotional attachment or memory around this particular plant or type of plant before you decided to grow it? If yes, what was it?
• Did you enjoy growing the plant or was it a negative experience?
• Where is the plant now (alive; long dead; you ate it; it died, but spawned progeny that lives on)?

I had a spider plant growing in a yellow pot in a macrame holder.  But MY first plant, it wasn't mine, but the one that filled me with wonder and responsibility, was a bunch of plants.  Boysenberries.  Dappled shadows danced with dark sweet berries.  They taught me to value waiting for the ripe moment.  They taught me to treat plants with respect.  My grandmother taught me to select the right plant for the situation, later, as she related that the boysenberry was less thorny than other berry vines. 

I know now that they're canes, and that it was a whole row full of plants.

And I want to grow some for my daughter.

Ugh

The internet.  And people.

Heteronormativity.

I just read a post about how mothers should treat their daughter(s); every "tip" was either an obvious thing, or an annoying platitude.  Many of the tips assumed that there was a dad (not dead or a female partner, both perhaps equally too depressing to include for this glazed saccharine mehness) and siblings.

I should probably just get off the internet.

No link for you.

I found it through pinterest.  HAHAHHA! 

Yule Ornament List List

Hi!

I have a bunch of stuff for our Yule tree.  I don't think I need more.  But it's still fun to make little ornaments, and I have a ton of felt.  The first link is a link to a list of 50 felt christmas ornaments.
http://www.shelterness.com/50-diy-felt-christmas-tree-ornaments/

P.S. I am so sick of bacon on things.

Yarn ball ornaments BALLS!.  Because Mr. Malarkey is not at all sick of yarn on things.  All the things.

Crocheted Snowflakes.  It's a more incognito version of yarn ball ornaments...  http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/directory/snowflakes.php


Also, I'm currently watching old Threadbanger videos.  Check them out: Is this thing on? Should go to the playlist "DIY the holidays.

P.S. If you're not crafting for the winter season now, you're obviously a rookie.  Or have a small child.  Or are a small child.  Or lost your job because Romney bought a sweatshop in China.  Or are enjoying THIS moment for all of its glory.  Obviously, the last one's not true because you're reading this stupid blog and there's not much glory in the moment.

Anyway, I'll post stuff eventually that's not just a bunch of fan girl stuff about the rest of the internet.  It's an annoying trend, and apparently really easy to do, because that's what I did for you today.

Song of the Day

Katie Steelmanis' Join Us.

SONG OF THE DAY FOR A BOMB ASS GIRL

I am in love.

Podcast and Song Mashup

I organized my old magazines into months.  So instead of giving in to the rare urge to buy a new magazine, I grab one of the dozen that I've collected the last several years.  And I'm really boring and/or focused.  I have Busts, I have Mother Earth News, I have a rare women's mag (Marie Claire etc), and some home-fix-it kind of mags.  So, if you catch me waxing nostalgic for Jay McCarroll's Project Runway championship, that is why.

So, I'm reading the old magazines, and deciding if I actually need to keep them.  I'm on Bust Feb/March 2012.  I started listening to How Was Your Week, a pop culture focused podcast, and I skipped back to the one with the Carrie Brownstein interview.  It's kinda funny, but also, I zoned out a little and got bored.  I don't think this is my thing.  Haven't gotten to the interview/discussion.  To the rescue was this video of Pretty Good Dance Moves' I Wonder Why.  Hearing Julie Klausner's observations over the music made it all better.  I'm going to listen to more of their music, and yell at myself for not checking them out in Feb/March 2012.  I really need to listen to more new music.  Anyway, play them at the same time.

So.  Podcasts.  I like them, but also feel like I'm listening to someone's private notes mashed up with a cassette of 8 year old me singing horribly off key and incredibly loud for everyone to hear.  Even if it's clever and funny and has lots of references to things I like.

Maybe I'm a luddite.

A luddite with a blog.

*sigh*

ETA (like 7 minutes later): OK I'M FURTHER ALONG THE PODCAST AND I LIKE IT NOW.  Maybe because we're to the conversations now.  Cool.  Thank you, Julie Klausner.  Sorry I was a douchebag earlier!

Pork chops

We have a butcher near our house.  Well, not a butcher, a sausage kitchen.  Anyway, they sell meat.  Pork chops so thick that one probably would've been used to feed my whole family during parts of growing up.

So I'm lucky.  And I know bitching about finding a decent marinated porkchop recipe is really dumb, because making a soak of some sort is easy.  Really, maybe I'm just hooked on looking things up on the internet.

So I'm going to take these fancy porkchops, and soak them in beer and garlic.  Then tomorrow I will cook them until they are done, and eat half of one, pause, and guiltily eat the other half while wondering how many people have no pork chops.  I am pretty sure this makes me some kind of dickbag.

Multiplying house plants

 
Roots like it dark. 
These are just cuttings from a prayer plant that seemed like it wanted to be divided.
Making more plants with cutting is super easy. You just take a cutting, strip off any leaves from the lower two thirds or so, stick the bottom inch in some water, and wait.  Change the water every couple of days.  You can use rooting hormone if you want, but make sure you follow the warnings on the label.  You can also use a willow tree tisane.  (Is it a tisane if you don't drink it?)  I usually don't use either, but some of the harder to root plants might need it.  Prayer plant doesn't seem to be one of those difficult plants.  Neither is mint: mint is craaazy easy.  I'm propagating some in soil right now, and I've got a rosemary that seems to be doing well in soil.  It just put out buds, but I'm not sure if that's good or bad.

Anyway, yay plants!

Yule Presents 2013

Hey.

I'm trying to decide what to make for family and friends for Yule and birthdays throughout the year.

Lipbalms?  Here's a supplier of the stuff I need (it's brambleberry.com)

Hats?  I've already been told no more hats by one sister, and I haven't made hats for her husband in three years, and haven't made one for her in ... well, this year at least.  My mom and my grandma don't seem to be too fond of most hats either.  Definitely not hats.  Or scarfs. 

Bags?  What kind?

Seeds?

Wall art?  I haven't done this in years.  Since high school!  Maybe...

Of course, I'll do things specific to the person too.  I've just decided that it's nice to make a lot of one thing, and include them in everyone's boxes.

Bookmarks.  My people need to read more.

Sigh.

I'm kind of cranky.  The hat thing made me sad, the banishment of hats that haven't been given in years.  And my toddler thought it was a good idea to dump cereal on the ground repeatedly.   She was a very contrary beast this afternoon.

I really had to remind myself that toddlers are unreasonable.  It's their job to explore and test, and it's my job to not freak out.  It was challenging to maintain my cool.

We painted some plastic and clay animals we found at a thrift store today.   I need to make the kidlet some kind of art smock.  It was good to do something crafty together.

Man I am Sore

I am in my mid thirties, and my back and my shoulder are ... well, I need them to feel better than I do.  Maybe I'll go see a doctor :/

Seeds, a list or two

Who doesn't love lists?   This is me being organized.

These are the ones I have, most being packed for 2011 or 2012.  Most earlier seeds I've marked with the year.

Nasturtiums, Empress of India and Black Velvet
Nasturtiums (orange/blood brick): saved from my yard
Sunflowers: Sunzilla + mamoth (saved)
Beans: blue lake pole (not a lot, will use them all), Hestia (a "bush runner bean"), Violet Podded Stringless
Beets: merlin
Broccoli: purple sprouting, and Breaking Physics (which may actually be a cauliflower, and I have to find the package)
Carrot: dragon
Chives: garlic
Corn: Quicky, Precocious, and a blue/black corn for meal
kale: redbor hybrid, improved dwarf siberian
Lavender: from my garden
Leek: Blue Solaize
Lettuce: merveille de Quatro Saisons
Lovage, 2008
Luffa: Lofty!
Mustard: Ruby Streaks, and I thought there was another...
Onions: flat of Italy 2010, Talon
Orach: Magenta
Peas: avalanche (snow pea)
Peppers: purple beauty 2008
Pumpkin: Jack O' Lantern and Ghosterella (what I'm calling the white fairytale one I saved seeds from)
Radish: purple plum
Spinach: Bordeaux Hybrid, and I thought I had another...
Squash: golden zukes, Cube of Butter hybrid
TOMATOESSSSSSSS::::: gold nugget, black plum



Proposed Territorial Seed order:
Flowers: Moon Shadow (sunflower)
Beans: painted lady runners, yin yang bush (Mr. Malarkey's request)
Carrot: purple sun and romance
Cukes: lemon
lettuce: valmaine romaine, victoria butterhead, italienischer (all Mr. Malarkey's request)
Peas: cascadia snap
Peppers: mini red bells
Radish: red head
Tomatoes: taxi and momotaro (BTW, I am starting tomatoes, and should have lots of plants of the 4 varieties I plan to have to share).
Covers: favas (haven't decided about large seeded or small), and clovers.

Freebird

So my kid dumped a half a cup of 1/2 water, 1/2 juice on our bed.  Right after coming home from a party, and right before her dad got home.  Then my phone rang, and I couldn't find the damn thing.  Then my partner said, "You look stressed," then basically told me to go have free time.

Yay.  My husband is a good one, and I've recently realized that sometimes I do need to just chill the fuck out.  I went out and had a pork sandwich, and it was good.  I picked up food for the fam too.  The time away just to have some quiet space to think was nice.

Gotta get the house in order, people are going to see it tomorrow!

This post brought to you by:
the power of Bar Carlo's pork sandwich and hot chocolate
and
Knits for Nerds / Charmed Knits which I read during my free time
and
cheap but sturdy and soft Vanna White yarn in stone gray
and
dpns from Knittn' Kitten
and
my incredible partner
and
the number sleep
zzzzzzzzzzzz
just kidding.  too early for sleeps.

Mama Malarkey's First Post

Hey.  I've been blogging on hybridhopes for years.  I wanted to start fresh.
Welcome to our voyage.
Our first post.
Maybe my voyage, my first post.  My ideas, although I'm part of something.  I'm a whole, but part of something. 
Aren't we all.

Anyway, I got tired of thinking my blogging should be filled with beautiful or cute pics illustrating each step of diy tutes.  I never really did a good job of that anyway, ever.

This blog will definitely have dirt under its nails, and piss and vinegar in its veins.  Occasional righteous anger, and probably not so righteous.

About me, or why you should keep reading:
I'm hopeful, I'm human, I'm into a lot of things, I'm stressed, I try not to be a douchebag and I try to "reduce my footprint" and make things better than when I came. 

I am currently watching HGTV's International House Hunters, and these fancies are buying a vacation home, and I am mad.  Is it because I'm a hater?  Maybe.  I'd love to move to Canada, or Finland, so my kid could have a good education.  We're getting by.  I work hard, and I make a lot of money, I think, definitely more than my mom did when she was supporting us herself.  It pisses me off that there are a lot of people making less than me that barely get by, that incur debt for necessities.  Then people like Mitt Romney who get their "entitlements" and feed off the government while criticizing folks like my mom who works and works and works and still isn't living the dream.  And by living the dream, I mean, being able to eat healthy food, pay her rent in a nice 1-2 bedroom place, visit her out of town kids once a year, and have decent solid transportation.

Anyway, this is more ranting than I meant to do for my first post.  I still want to have tutorials and other useful shit, and I want to give praise to things that I like (like the Multnomah library system). 

Peace out,
Mama Malarkey