Yeah, Write

Something New for the Kitchen

Behold, my first-ever applique project. I can't say the word "applique" without thinking of apples, but I don't think that's why I opted for the fruit theme. It's because fruits are usually easier to draw than vegetables. In any case, I've been wanting to give my old kitchen canvases a makeover for some time now, and since I was in desperate need of a creative outlet last weekend, I finally gave in. I headed to my local fabric store and picked up a handful of fat quarters in coordinating patterns, 1.25 yards of lovely blue fabric, a yard of enormous ric-rac, a few oversize buttons (how could I resist?), and some fusible web. (What comes to mind when you hear the phrase "fat quarters"? Go ahead, let your imagination wander. If I didn't know it meant a square yard of fabric cut into quarters and sold piece-rate, I'm not sure what I'd think.)

First, I trimmed three sections of blue fabric so they were large enough to wrap around my 16 x 20 art canvases. I sketched the apple shape and the cherry leaves on paper and trimmed them out for use as templates.

I then trimmed a square of fabric just a bit larger than each fruit shape, ironed fusible web onto the fabric's reverse side (leaving the paper liner intact), and trimmed the fruit shape out of the fabric. For the grapes and the cherries, I used my magnetic circle cutter to get perfect circles. It didn't cut all the way through the paper liner and the fabric together, so I had to go over it with my fabric scissors as well.

I arranged the fruit shapes on the blue fabric and ironed them in place. Then I stitched around each shape with my poor neglected sewing machine, added buttons and ric-rac, and wrapped the finished pieces around my canvases. I taped them in place with masking tape before stapling them securely with a staple gun.

The Before Shot
And here's what the canvases looked like before. After I complained years ago that I couldn't afford "real" art for my walls, an interior designer friend of mine said, "Just paint an abstract shape on a canvas. It'll look fine." I'm a bit too literal to do abstract shapes, so I ended up free-hand painting these flowers. They were, eh, okay. But I like the new look much better.

Something New for the Soul

In other news, my scrappy friend Monica McNeil is raising money for the North Texas Food Bank. A very small amount of money goes a very long way to help feed hungry children right here in our own backyards. (Well, Texas is actually quite far from my backyard, but you get the idea.) I'm so impressed with her efforts and the lessons she's teaching her son through hands-on service. I love to see people taking up causes that are close to their hearts.

Here's what Monica says:
"I ask you my sweet friends to please help me give love. I know that the economy is rough right now & many of you may be affected by job loss or other hardships. However, there are many of us that have been lucky so far. If you are able to skip the Starbucks run or, for me, the Chinese takeout, and give $10 instead to the North Texas Food Bank, it would really make a huge difference in a child's life."

My donation helped provide 116 meals, and helped get Monica closer to her goal of helping to provide 2,000 meals before the end of the week. Click here to support her!

Yes, I Still Exist

For the last week, I've been buried up to my eyeballs in html, xhtml, and css code. I've been adding dozens of pages to the Ella Publishing Co. website (which you can't see quite yet, but next week you will, my pretties!). I've been sitting like a zombie in front of my computer for about 10 hours per day. No one tells you that when you're starting an online business, you have to turn into an amateur programmer. And I've spent my nights dreaming about img src and divs. I cannot WAIT until we're in maintenance phase on this puppy. (Puppy = website.)

So, after all that time staring at the computer, I could not bring myself to finish a blog post. Oh, I started several, but I didn't quite finish.

There's the one about my favorite punctuation marks...

And the one about how I organize my journal files on my computer...

And the one about how excited I am to see Jim Gaffigan live on Sept. 25 and The Killers in concert on Sept. 26...

Oh, and a great one showing off the fabulous new fabric wall hangings I created for my kitchen...

You see, after immersing myself in all this tech stuff, I have to take breaks by doing something that's the polar opposite. So in between computer sessions, I've been blanching and freezing green beans from the garden, sewing pretty fabrics together while watching World War II dramas, baking loaf after loaf of zucchini bread (also from the garden), walking my dog, and reading 18th-century novels. Yet somehow, I haven't been able to make time for dishes or laundry or blogging. At least I've been showering. It's all about priorities, right?

A Vegetable Gun and a Singing Dog

Five reasons to be happy:

#1
Even though Jeremy, age 15, is turning into a man in so many ways, when he looks at a crookneck squash, he still thinks "futuristic laser gun" and pretends to shoot Ruby with it. She merely acts bored.

#2
As I look out my office window, I see hummingbirds buzzing around my hanging flower pots.

#3
I found a juice packet cell phone on the kitchen counter, created by two ingenious teenagers. (Credit for this one goes to Jeremy's friend, Nick Ruffy.)

Supplies: one empty juice pouch, one Sharpie marker.

#4
My pumpkin plants are going crazy and taking over the dirt patch behind the garage.

#5
My dog and my stepson make beautiful duets. Ruby on vocals; Jeremy on piano. (He's really a guitarist, but he plays around on the piano a little bit as well.) It reminds me of that line from Ghostbusters, "My, you must have a lovely singing voice."

Out of the Darkness

It occurred to me this week that, although we're approaching fall, it feels more like spring in my heart. This is not to say that all my worries and cares have disappeared or that everything I yearn for has magically fallen into place. Far from it. But this week, I suddenly noticed the absence of a heavy load that I've been carrying for quite some time. The burdens started building up very gradually last fall, they weighed me down for many months, and lately they have been slowly dissipating until I can barely feel them there.

There are times when we all float through life easily, no big crises or trials in our paths. But it seems that trouble attracts trouble, and when one thing goes wrong, the problems just start piling on. Mine started last October. I almost didn't want to answer the phone because every phone call brought more bad news.

• My brother's young, beautiful wife was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 29 and had to undergo a double mastectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation.
• Another brother lost his source of income and ruptured his Achilles tendon shortly thereafter, which compromised his ability to find work. He had to move his family twice in six months.
• Another close family member experienced a very trying and emotional miscarriage.
• My mom struggled with a mysterious illness that no one could diagnose or treat.
• My stepson was rushed to the emergency room twice for a spontaneously collapsing lung, and he spent four days in Primary Children's Hospital.
• And as for me, the magazine I had poured my heart and soul into for five years was closed unexpectedly. And the book I sacrificed a year of my life to write (including my Christmas vacation) went down with it. These two things had sustained me and given me purpose through another trial I've been dealing with for four years. And for a moment, I felt that my hands were utterly empty.

As a family, we spent a lot of time on our knees, praying for comfort, strength, and help. And now, 10 months later, our outlook couldn't be more different. No, life is not perfect. But better. So much better.

• Becky is finished with chemo and radiation. Her lovely blond hair is growing back. She has further surgeries to face, but her attitude is incredibly positive and inspiring.
• My brother's family dealt with his job loss admirably. They realized they could manage just fine (and be happy) on much less.  This month he had three job offers at once.
• The family that experienced the miscarriage has another baby due in February.
• My mom was finally diagnosed, and while her condition is irreversible, the effects should gradually subside and she'll be able to cope better and better all the time. She is an incredible example of perseverance.
• Jeremy is  back to his old self, and we know the signs to watch for if any future lung problems arise.
• And as for me, I have a new venture to pour my heart and soul into. And the pieces are coming together so well that it just feels right. Ella Publishing Co. is nearly off the ground, and while it has been stressful and all-consuming, it has also been a rewarding and energizing journey.

This whole experience has reminded me of a favorite quote:
“Please subdue the anguish of your soul. Nobody is destined only to happiness or to pain. The wheel of life takes one up and down by turn.”
~Kalidasa

Or how about this one:
“Sometimes things can go right only by first going very wrong.”
~Edward Tenner

This new outlook of mine is probably responsible for the fact that a recent string of mini-malfunctions didn't even register in my mind. Trav said, "Man, it sure seems that everything has been going wrong lately." "What do you mean?" I said. And then I realized. We lost 1/3 of our Ella Publishing Co. mailing list that we worked so hard to accrue. The swine flu knocked us out for two straight weeks. Our dog has made three expensive visits to the vet in the last three weeks, and she's still not better. Our truck had a freakish malfunction in the desert this week and we may have to replace the entire bed. Well, you know what? I can take it. Bring. It. On.

I'll leave you with a quote that I heard on Sunday that inspired this entire train of thought in the first place:
"If there were no night, we would not appreciate the day, nor could we see the stars and the vastness of the heavens. We must partake of the bitter with the sweet. There is a divine purpose in the adversities we encounter every day. They prepare, they purge, they purify, and thus they bless."
~James E. Faust

Have YOU Seen This Email?

Apparently, in certain isolated cases, it has gone missing. And I thought elephants never forgot!

Sign up, sign up, sign up!
If you already signed up for our email list at ellapublishing.com and you have NOT yet received the above email in your inbox, then please sign up again! Just click here. And here's the link one more time: ellapublishing.com. There, have I made it sufficiently easy for you to click and enter your email address?

You could WIN something!
If your email address makes it onto our list by August 30, then you'll be entered into a drawing to win one FREE eBook every month for an entire year! Now that's what I call an incentive. (If you got the above email today, then you are already on the list and you are already automatically entered into the drawing.)

Do you demand an explanation?
Due to a freakish technical issue that couldn't possibly happen again even if we wanted to, but which we have successfully vanquished so it will never ever happen again in our lifetimes, a small percentage of our collected email addresses have disappeared. Vanished. Poof!

So think about it. Are you among the unluckier people you know? If so, chances are good that your address was among those that jumped ship. So, just to be safe, please sign up again. (Don't worry, our super smart email program automatically dumps duplicates, so if you accidentally sign up twice, you'll still only be entered once.)

In conclusion, may I share the immortal words of Eminem:
May I have your attention please? Will the real slim shady please sign up? I repeat. Will the real slim shady please sign up? Even if you're NOT the real slim shady, please also sign up. Thank you.

Growing Vegetables in the Dirt

It's surprisingly satisfying. Trav and I go out and visit our garden almost every evening. "Hey, have you seen how big the butternut squash grew overnight? Look at our cute little tomatoes!"

My parents, who are master gardeners, pop over any time they're in the area to "see how the garden is doing." It's almost like they're visiting a whole host of multi-colored, inert grandchildren. They're so proud.

I have more green onions than I'll ever be able to eat, and you should have seen the explosion of beans that happened while I was in Orlando contracting the swine flu—I've harvested twice since then! I plan to blanch and freeze these piles of beans so we can enjoy them all winter long.

And just wait until you see my pumpkins. They're quite green still, but they're growing larger every day.

In the meantime, we produced our very first eggplant, and it's so pretty I just want to hug and caress it. But does anyone have any idea how to cook one of these? I tried once and failed miserably. If you've had better luck with eggplant, please share your recipe!

Now for a quote:
"Weather means more when you have a garden.  There's nothing like listening to a shower and thinking how it is soaking in around your green beans."
~Marcelene Cox

In the Top Ten!

It sure is nice to be the best at something, or at least in the top 10 out of hundreds, don't you think? That's always cause to celebrate.

This is Ruby. And we just found out that she is in the top 10! She is one of the top ten most frequent patients at Alta Veterinary Hospital. We're so proud.

And lest you think that we're overprotective and we just rush her there every time her breath stinks, think again. She goes to the vet for all kinds of interesting and exotic illnesses. Behold:
1. Giardia just after being spayed. Who knows how she picked up giardia? Possibly from eating her own excrement when she was a puppy.
2. Gastric torsion. While on a hike in the nearby Dimple Dell canyon, she collapsed on the trail. We had to haul her 115-pound frame down the trail on a large beach towel. It turns out her stomach had flipped upside down and pinched off at both ends. Major abdominal surgery ensued.
3. Enlarged spleen. During her major abdominal surgery, the doctor discovered a spleen that was three times the size of a normal dog's spleen. No more spleen for Ruby.
4. Tunnel foot. That's the nickname Jeremy gave her a couple of summers ago when a little foxtail weed burrowed between her toes and traveled through her leg, causing a pronounced limp for several weeks. The weed eventually popped out just above her ankle. I'm not kidding.
5. Abscess and swollen face. This is her latest trick. On Saturday, the right side of her face swelled up, her tongue turned blue, she drooled incessantly out of one side of her face, and she stopped eating or drinking. She's now on pain meds, an anti-inflammatory drug, and an antibiotic because of a large abscess. It's probably a little weed or a piece of bone that got lodged in her right tonsil. Seriously.
6. Hypochondria. Sometimes she just fakes sick so she can go visit her friends at the vet. She did this thing for a whole day where her back legs would collapse whenever she tried to walk up the stairs. When we arrived at the vet, she started chasing cats and doing calisthenics for the vet tech. "We swear she was acting sick at home!" we say before dragging her home.
7. through 10. Add to this list the frequent visits for her chronic ear infections, occasional yeast infections between her toes, and the one-time staph infection in her skin that caused her fur to fall out in patches, and you have one attention-seeking canine.

She's so adorable that we gladly put up with it. But what's next? Aliens sprouting from her stomach and tap-dancing on the counter? 

Ruby photos by Mr. Travis Lucas. Check out more of his stuff on his flickr gallery.

This Is Sexy?

I'm sitting in my local pharmacy waiting room for the third time this week, but at least this time I'm not tempted to dive into the nearby dairy freezer for desperate relief from a 103-degree fever. No, I feel halfway normal now. This RX is for Trav, who is now enjoying the exotic flu I brought home from Florida. I always get him the best souvenirs.

Speaking of exotic things, I've picked up the same book (see inset shots below) from the waiting room bookshelf three times now, and I still can't figure out how anyone could find this even remotely titillating.

I personally think it's quite frightening. Kind of Manimals(tm) meets Cats the Musical meets that weird dude who spent his entire life savings on plastic surgery to turn him into The Lizardman.

"What they desired was more dangerous than animal instinct...and it burned twice as hot."

 
Sexy? Or scary?

What I picked up in Orlando

I am sprawled on my couch with my laptop, wondering what strange bug I picked up in Orlando or in the flying germ machine that took me to and fro. Trav pops in every hour or two to top off my ice water or take my temperature. He's also tending to Ruby, our poor sick pooch. It seems she has an abscess of some kind, but as usual, she only gets sick on weekends when the vet is closed. I'm pretty sure we're both going to survive, but barely. If we get any worse, I'll have to insist that Trav sit between us and mop our brows with cool washcloths. (You see that all the time in the movies, but have you ever done it in real life?)

But I digress. Though in my weakened state, I feel compelled to share the small handful of pictures I took at CHA. I saw lots of beautiful and inspiring products, but with all the mints and business cards to hand out, I failed to pull my camera out as often as I would've liked. Enjoy the show.

New Thickers from American Crafts. I was also quite fond of their Valentine's line. Incidentally, both American Crafts and BasicGrey went a bit more seasonal than their typical abstract offerings.

Mini kits from Making Memories. Perfect for creating little embellishment clusters, artist trading cards and more. 

Adorable chipboard shapes from Crate Paper.

The new organization line from Doodlebug. These are a bit pricey, but they're very sturdy, high quality, and infinitely customizable.

Another home run from October Afternoon.

Monster paper from Sassafrass Lass, with matching letter stickers...

...that feature little monster stickers inside the letters.

But the coolest thing of all was the do-it-yourself letterpress machine from Lifestylecraft.com (a new division of QuicKutz). Imagine the possibilities!

And now for a quick photo op: Ashley Harris, Noel Culbertson, and Lain Ehmann at Tu Tu Tango, a happening tapas restaurant near the convention center. I can't count how many times people thought we were saying "topless" rather than "tapas." "Yeah, we're going to this cool topless place just around the corner."

Katie Scott, me, Tammy Morrison, and Emilie Ahern also at Tu Tu Tango. To help clear up the tapas/topless confusion, our waiter laughed at our story and said, "No, it's 'tapas': T-A-P-A-S-T." Hmmm. In his defence, the word "tapas" is not printed on the menu anywhere except in very small print.

Please do not judge any typos or erros in this post, my little fever has hit 100.9, and I may not be thinking clearly. One thing I'm 100 percent certain of, however, is that not one of us was topless at any point during dinner.