What I've Been Up To

I've been busy, but mostly spinning my wheels kind of way. Which, on the one hand, is OK because at least there's movement (even if progress is slower in coming).

This past week has been a bad one, cosmically speaking. Almost every one I talked to was having some sort of negative experience. I tried to stay positive and keep my chin up, which was easier said than done (especially after running over a stop sign in the school parking lot, after being told, right before I left work for the day, that I was beig written up for being late too many times).

So I laid low for the weekend and focused on the home front. The Trolls opted not to go to their dad's and I had a full house, so we lazed around the house and didn't do much of anything this weekend.

Until today. Yesterday, I picked up some resin so I could try my hand at making my own pendants. Oh em gee do I love this! Super easy and super cool. I haven't decided if I'm going to leave these as stand alone product or if I'm going to add it to my jewelry, but either way, these kick ass.

I still need to really sit down & get some more inventory made and get it up on etsy, and get a little less distracted by other stuff, like my day job or making dinner. Speaking of dinner, it's burning. I should probably go check on that.

Time keeps on ticking... Ticking...ticking... Into the futuuuuure

Name that tune!

So I forgot which blog I saw this idea on, but the chiquita banana had some kick ass ideas, including turning a book into a clock. I dug it so much that I decided to try my hand at it.

Time is an interesting concept and has fascinated me for years. Increments of time, days on the calendar, are all arbitrary. We've assigned names and given important to something, in an effort to measure this faceless thing & have some control over it, but we ended up enslaved to it.

I am a night owl by nature. I am at my most creative and functional in the wee hours of the night, but the life that I have to live to pay the bills forces me to struggle against my genetic hardwiring & be productive when I'd rather be asleep. The consequence is that I am always running late.

Thus, the cycle continues...

But I am determined to get back on track. And I will. Because, dammit, I want My time back!

Magic Light

SOOC, this is exactly the color of outside right now. Ethereal, magical... A little spooky...

Resting, relishing, relinquishing

The Trolls are gome from their extended stay in Massachusetts. I missed them terribly, but I think we all needed a spell away from each other. Now that they're home, even with The Monkey's mouth in full-on puberty mode, I can't remember WHY I needed the break.

Routines have gone all wonky. The habits The Boyfriend and I were carefully cultivating over the past few weeks no longer apply. Well, that's not true; the habits are still applicable, they're just on hold while we relish the energy The Trolls brought home.

...Well, I'm relishing it. The Boyfriend is readjusting to it.

In the mean time, my gung-ho get my creative biz off the ground energy has waned, due in large part to energy levels being completely sapped (sparing the gory details, it's because my moon cycle is kicking my butt this month). I'm choosing to look at it as a natural process, rather than something to be frustrated over. This is a resting period and I must honor my body's needs, so I have more to give later. It's the ebb and flow of the wave that brings us to our ultimate goal - the successful realization of the two year plan.

While I'm in a waning period, I'm spending time absorbing my boys - all of them - and soaking up the family energy. The closeness and bond that was solidified in Massachusetts is still very much present, and in that energy, My mind floats forward, visualizing us in our new home, snuggling together in the winter, or planning camping trips in the summer.

Among it all is love - and lots of it - and it is good.

Fearlessly Phobic Recipes -- Yummy Delicious Chili Tacos

It's time for another installment of Fearlessly Phobic Cooking! Today, I bring you the yummy deliciousness of Chili Tacos.

First, you need some chili. This particular recipe of mine is called "Never the Same Way Twice Chili" because, well, my chili never comes out the same way twice... even when I use identical ingredients. I'm good like that.

For the tacos:

Yellow rice
Sour Cream
Soft tortilla shells

Never the Same Way Twice Chili Recipe:

Gather your ingredients -- ground meat (buffalo, turkey, beef) or tofu crumbles. In this version, I used beef (though buffalo is WAY less fatty, but still maintains that beef-flavor goodness).
Peppers -- green, red, chili, jalapenos... whatever floats your boat. These just happen to be what I have in my garden.
Onions -- the more the better, in my opinion
Garlic -- have I mentioned how much I love garlic
Beans, beans, the magical fruit -- red, black, light red kidney beans
Tomatoes -- canned or fresh
Tomato Paste -- trust me, you'll need this.
Spices -- you can use the pre-packaged chili mix, or any combination of paprika, cilantro, chili powder, etc.

And you'll need a big ole kitchen knife

Grab a big ole, non-reactive soup pot. My ex-mother-in-law gave me mine, and I have been forever grateful for it, since. This is also why, when The Ex and I split, I insisted that I got to keep his mother.

Combine all of your canned ingredients into the pot, over VERY low heat. You don't want to overcook the beans. If you're using fresh tomatoes, toss those in now, too:

Forgive the yellow tinge to the pictures. That's what you get for being all hipstamatic with your food photos.

 Commence with the dicing of your veggies:

Watch out for the seeds. Those oils will getcha every time!

As you're chopping the veggies, brown the meat according to package instructions. I don't know why they call it "browning," when cooking meat usually turns it gray:

My stove has not gotten any less gross. Sorry about that.

Turn up the heat under your pot of beans to, say, about medium low. Add your diced veggies to the mix and stir the whole mess:

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble....

Let the beans and veggies simmer while you get your yellow rice ready. Why yellow rice? Because you're going to use it in the tacos:

After I added the yellow rice. No judgment.

Finish browning the meat and add it to your chili. Let it simmer for however long it floats your boat, or until the rice is ready. Remember, the longer you let the chili simmer the hotter (as in spice factor, not temperature) it will be.

If you're like me, and like a more watery chili, add about a can full of water here. Add more as it simmers off. If you're not like me, and like a thicker more stew-like chili, don't add the water. But make sure you stir that chili often, otherwise it'll stick to the bottom of the pot. This is why  you want a non-reactive pot... less stickage.

Once the rice is finished, and the chili has cooked to your particular hot-preference, grab yourself some sour cream and tortilla shells and assemble your taco:

Yellow rice layer
Chili layer
Sour Cream layer

You can't see it,  but there is a tortilla shell under that hot mess.

Bon apetit!

Samandsady.etsy.com

I've been busy! Here is just a small sampling of the wearable fabric art that I've been creating over the last couple of days.

And even though I haven't officially posted anything for sale at etsy, I have the shop up!

I'm proud of myself for accomplishing this. I'm proud that I'm willing to put my art out there, at the risk of rejection, and make a go of it! I've always been my biggest critic, thinking that I'm just not good enough, or lack enough formal training, or whatever other self-defeatist thought I let prevent me from doing this.

But my dream, my goal, is to make a living from my art. WHEN we move to Mass, I want to be able to channel the ever present artistic soul of my beloved valley and create all the time. I want art to be my day job. So, at the end of the day, I have fed my heart and soul, so that I can nurture my beloveds the way they deserve to be nurtured.

I have no doubt that this will involve a lot of hard work, but the most rewardig things in life often do.

So... Why is my shop name "Sam and Sady" you might be wondering. Sam was my nickname when I was a wee thing, and my mom was letting me color on the walls. Sady is a combination of my first and middle initials, my last name, and is a nickname for Sarah, my given name. It's how I sign my canvases today. Sady is my artistic alterego. She's the one that demands that I create.

Sam and Sady are the beginning and present incarnations of me, and my love of art.

Besides, it's gotta a folksy, artistic ring to it. LOL!

I'm going to abuse my newly erected white box, so I can get some photos up on etsy. Keep checking my store for my latest creations...and thank you! Thank you for all the love and support and positive energy. I am immensely grateful!

Here's a better picture of my crafty goodness

Also, I love the Daily Show. Jon Stewart taking on Fox News.... Priceless!!! Cuz, y'know, Jon Stewart is a comedian and stuff and Fox News is, well, it's not news... Though it thinks it is.

OK...so I didn't do the dishes, but I was productive...ish

The Boyfriend and I were supposed to have date night tonight, but he came home with a raging headache and I REALLY need to shave my legs, so we rain checked. As he zoned in front of the TV, I seized the opportunity t have some bonding time with my sewing machine.

I gotta tell you, my lovelies, I am completely enamored with this whole cloth bracelet thing. This picture doesn't do them justice, but I am made a couple more ultra cool, feminine-with-an-edge bracelets. The corsage looking one has a little skull button in the middle, which makes me giggle to no end, since the fabric used is more appropriate for an easter dress than being emblazoned with a jolly roger.

The other bracelet has a wicked awesome Alice In Wonderland bead attached, which makes it feel more like a watch. The D rings make it adjustable for different wrist sizes, so I'm thinking more of these are in order fir the etsy shop.

The only real problem with this kind of fashion is that it really is a one-off or, at best, a really limited edition run, simply because the beads and buttons aren't widely available. I'm almost OK with the one of a kind concept though.

Because The Boyfriend was Captain McSleepy Pants, and it was still fairly early, I tried my hand at some fabric rosebud rings tonight, too. Yeah, loving these like a fat kid loves cake!

All in all, I'm really excites about these! I'm gonna bang out a few more, get them photographed and start that etsy shop... Hopefully before someone else discovers the awesomeness of fabric jewelry!

The kitchen is still a mess, I can practically braid my leg hair, and I'm probably going to be late to work again, but it was totally worth it. I feel like I accomplished something tonight; something that brought me a step closer toward achieving The Two Year Plan.

Go me!!

And go YOU!! Your love and positivity Is flowing and I am riding high on that wave. I am immensely grateful for it, too. Keep it coming, please!

Happy 5th of July!

It's Tuesday. It's a quarter past 11 on a Tuesday. I live in suburbia. Yup, there are fireworks lighting up the night sky.

To be honest, I don't mind. I rather like the abandon with which these revelers are living. I like that they're either drunk enough, or young enough, or don't-give-a-shit enough to keep blowing up fireworks on a Tuesday night.

...it helps that they're a couple streets away. I probably wouldn't be so agreeable with the pops and cracks if it were next door. But from this distance, on my front porch, I can quietly cheer them on.

And in Two Year Plan news, it's still going strong! There was a bit of a...let's call it resistance... Last week, while The Boyfriend seemed to be going through a pre-menstrual spell, but he got over it, and his moodiness just reinforced my resolve to keep on keepin' on.

It's weird though. I seem most rarin' to go at the beginning of the week; moreso than, say, On a Saturday afternoon which seems to be the day I most want to stay in bed. But Mondays and Tuesdays, I'm a cleaning, organizing fool! Heck, I even managed to post eleven items up on eBay tonight... From my phone (which is no small feat, given that it's a PHONE)... I finished a painting, got lunch ready for tomorrow, cooked supper, and squeezed in a blog post.

Damn! I feel productive! Now if I can just manage to channel this energy into the rest of the week...

Keep the love and energy flowing, my loves. I need all the positivity I can get. On the agenda this week is to produce enough product to get an etsy store started, post a new recipe blog, and dig out some more items for eBay!

I'll keep you posted. :)

My latest obsession

I have this mild obsession with bracelets. I love them. I live the way my hands move when I wear them. I love the funky way they overlap and sit on the wrist. But I'm very picky about bracelets... Mostly because of the oddly shaped nature of my arms and hands (or what I consider to be oddly shaped nature).

Side note: I have a mild hand fetish. For a while in my life, hands alone could make or break a potential relationship. If I didn't like a person's hands, I couldn't date them.

So the other day, as I was looking at my scrapa of fabric and copious amounts of beads, I got it in my head that I wanted to make fabric bracelets. I wanted something funky, and just this side of steampunk meets shabby chic. My five minutes woelrth of Google searchig didn't yield a plethora of sites dealing in this type of fabric bracelets or tutorials on the matter, so I was left to my own devices.

This is what I came up with, so far, depending on the number of beads, they're pretty simple and quick to make. With my ultimate plan to open up an Etsy shop still rolling througb ny head, I may add these to my inventory.

The shop, BTW, is part of the Two Year Plan (and my plan to never work a day job again).

Hopefully, I'll find some more time to bang out a few more. And I may dip into savings to pick up some more steampunk-esque beads. I'm digging these a LOT though.

Happy fourth, to my American friends. May this day serve as a reminder of the quintessential American dream - to be independant from those who would keep us in shackles.