Love's Madness Mandala to color

I had the idea a while back to do a music mandala, and then it was "Well, random notes or actual song notes?" and with Valentine's Day coming up, decided to do a short set of notes from one of my favorite songs. Since the song is about a crazy little thing called love, and I wasn't sure what to put in the center- I looked for a quote that fit.

The madness of love is the greatest of heaven's blessings. - Plato

Well, that seems appropriate. I hope you enjoy coloring this in as much as I enjoyed drawing it.

Click on the image for a larger version, print, color.

Small JPG version:

Large PNG version:

Things I'm Loving Right Now

The Illustrated Hassle-Free Make Your Own Clothes Book  -I love this book, and it's currently 1.99 in Kindle format. Don't be fooled by the cover, with it's clean cut young lady from the late 60s- early 70s sewing. This is a non-fussy, completely groovy, peace, love, happiness and a pair of scissors hippie sewing book. It's instructions on how to make caftan patterns and tells you that you can sew yourself outfits completely by hand. The text reminds me a lot of my mother and her friends sitting on big floor pillows, with incense burning and a mix of fondue pots. My daughter loves this book as well. For 1.99, it's worth the risk to see if you'd like a physical copy.

Marian Call's Something Fierce- I woke up this morning with one of the songs from this album stuck in my head. The name of the song is Dear Mr. Darcy, over 1000 words long, it's the song which inspired the title of the album. "If you peel back the polite, there might be something fierce inside." - Marian's music has cross-generational appeal, it's a bit of coffee house, a bit of jazz, a bit of folk, and always intelligent. At times it's laugh out loud funny. She's a favorite singer of my family, and we go to as many all ages shows as we can. Check her website to see if she'll be in your area, she tours extensively.

Jerry Lawson and the Talk of the Town- The Persuasions were part of the soundtrack of my youth, but to be completely honest, I think I like the Talk of the Town better. This is another one of those groups that my whole family likes, a Capella with a  strong gospel influence.
(all of the above are Amazon.com affiliate links)


Garden planning! We are .5 inch away from the snowiest winter on record since Alaska became a state. But it's starting to thaw, and things are showing back up in my yard which gives me hope. I'm planning to put in more perennial herbs that are zone 3 hardy this year. Any suggestions?

Mod Podge!

Apple green with the shade of pink I use for so much of this site. I'm currently making a friendship bracelet using those colors.

Hair toys! The peacock feathers were a gift from a friend. She's considering making more for sale, and I'll let you know if she does. The colored shells on hemp I made, and they click and clack against each other.

AND.. last but not least-
Monday Peeps will be on sale for roasting to make Peep S'mores, and so will Easter egg dye for coloring your natural fibers and feathers.

Some new favorite things

Recently, I complained on Facebook about the effect the cold weather + regular water aerobics in a salt water pool was having on my skin. Deb Keller of Thistlewood Manor sent me a couple of lotion bars. It's amazing how much difference they are making. The issue with lotions was they were evaporating too fast so they needed constant reapplication. The lotion bars, straight after showing off the salt water, are wonderful. They are made of good things like olive oil (my Uncle Lamar swore by olive oil for cold weather skin care), coconut oil and beeswax, they are the right size/shape for a lot of travel soap containers, they don't spill or get messy in my gym bag and I'm not all over itchy anymore. Check out her blog (linked above) for a great eggroll recipe, and her shop (hopefully she'll add a couple lotion bars!) on Etsy. I also love her shampoo bars for the gym.

soleRebels shoes- I don't actually own a pair YET. Hopefully soon. They were spotlighted on France24's Green is the New Black. Founder Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu runs an amazing company. The shoes are made ethically using fair trade, artisan materials like hand-loomed organic cotton and small farm- free range leather, the soles are cut by hand from used truck tires. The company employs it's workers at 3 times the normal wage in that area AND pays for schooling for the children of employees. They are shipped in cinch sacks, also made of hand-loomed cotton so they aren't paying for shipping a lot of air in boxes. Since the sacks are re-usable, they don't contribute to waste with cardboard shoe boxes and really, the more I find out about this company, the more I like it. They are also willing to customize colors since the accents are loomed by hand.

Marian Call's song Good Morning Moon. This cheerful track off her most recent album is one of the happiest songs I've ever heard, it's catchy, hopeful and just wonderful. It's refrain includes the phrase "Who's to say we're falling if we miss the ground?". I want to cross stitch that on something.

North Pole Coffee - The Black Gold. Wow. Really, this is one of the best coffees I've ever had. Picked up a bag at the grocery store last week, and I'm savoring it and hoarding it like it was gold. It's low acid, and dark roasted to nearly black, the beans are oily and the coffee tastes *better* that most coffee smells.

Not affiliated! These are all just things that are making me very happy right now.

My husband quit his job a couple of weeks ago, and is currently looking for a new job. So we are budgeting carefully in the meantime. He's been getting more and more burnt out on the hospitality industry and with the added stress of what's been going on in our personal lives (losing my best friend and my uncle, plus before that, a lady he worked with had been killed on the job), he needed a change. So I'm thinking this could be the start of a wonderful new chapter in our lives and in his life professionally.

Marian Call concert last night + a drawing!

I've mentioned before how much I love Marian Call. She's a local singer who tours, and performs at coffee shops, bars, house parties and comic book shops around the US.
Every so often we are lucky enough to get her back home for a few shows. Every so often we are lucky enough that she's doing all ages shows so my kids, who adore her music as well can see her play. Last night was one such night. The owner of Bosco's Comics heard her talking on the radio about shows she did on her 50 state tour, and heard her mention performing at comic book shops. He thought that was a fantastic idea. And so Bosco's hosted it's very first concert. They did a really good job. The owner, John, provided snacks and treat bags for people who donated a minimum to see the show. The treat bags had candy, a Fables comic book (Marian loves Fables!), incense, dice, trading cards and Magic cards in them.
If you live in the Anchorage area, you know about Bosco's. Maybe you've only been in there to look for special geeky presents for your son or daughter, or maybe you're like my family and spend entirely too much money there. They carry all sorts of geeky delights, comic books, games, trading cards, dice and everything you need to go with your geekdom. It's the perfect match for Marian's music.
The concert was great. One of the songs she does is about Jayne from Firefly, and she said to a crowd of comic book fans "Does everyone here know who Jayne is?" and Mike said loud enough to make people laugh "If you don't, you should leave now with your head hung in shame." Her Jayne song is usually done as a sing-a-long.
Her equipment failed, but the venue was small enough that the show went on anyway. A snug, cozy acoustic show and her voice carried beautifully.
You see, she's a geek. She did a song all about it and everything.

Her first album, Vanilla, was given to me as a Christmas present by my husband when it came out. Her style is a bit folk, a bit jazzy. The lyrics are her own, so is the honesty and humor in them.
Her second album was a commissioned project by Quantum Mechanix Inc. and it's the delight of a couple fandoms. Songs inspired by Battlestar Galactica and Firefly. The name of the album is Got to Fly.
I have both albums, which are available at all the usual places like iTunes, Amazon and her website. Instant purchase, instant download. But last night at her concert I purchased ONE digital code for a download of Got to Fly. The code comes on a plantable card. The winner of this drawing can choose between having me mail them the card so they can plant it after they download the album or just having me email them the code so they can get the album and I'll plant the card in spring (greenest option, no envelope/mail).
Winners will be drawn by random.org from the comments left on this entry. I have the comments numbered.
This contest is completely my own. Neither Bosco's or Marian Call are sponsoring it, it's just because I really love her music and will take any chance I have to promote it.
How to win:
Leave a comment on this entry. (1 entry)
Go to Marian Call's website and listen to some of the songs on there. Leave a comment with the name of your favorite song on this entry (1 entry)
Tweet this giveaway with a link back to this page. (1 entry) #mariancall - leave a comment on this entry with a link to your tweet (click on the time at the bottom of your tweet for the direct link to the tweet)

The time to enter ends on March 19, 2011. EDIT: extended to March 25, 2011! I'll do the random numbers on March 20th, and announce the winner on this entry. If you win, you can email me your email address if you don't want to leave it in the comments.

Duplicate stitch patterns- tattoos

Who didn't absolutely love the sock monkey tattoo on the Kia commercial? Duplicate stitch sock monkey tattoo was the win of the Superbowl commercials.
I've been meaning to graph out some duplicate stitch charts for adding duplicate stitch to your favorite thrift store sweater, or maybe even a sweater you buy from a thrift store just to put a duplicate stitch tattoo on it. I finally did a couple, but I'll absolutely be making more charts.
The sock monkey tattoo was duplicate stitch with a backstitch outline, so I graphed something like that.
There are blank banner versions and an alphabet, so you should be able to chart a very short word or maybe just initials in one of these. Click on the images for the full sized version. For how to do duplicate stitch, I love this tutorial by the purl bee.

 

  

  

 

Publishing in Kindle format- Formatting tutorial

I wrote a very basic beginners tutorial to formatting an e-book for the Kindle you can find here. For the tutorial I put together a short collection of some of my daughter's favorite recipes. You can buy that here if you're interested.

I also have an e-book for making brick stitch earrings and one that really needs reformatting for baking yeast breads.
I'm also posting reviews of some of my favorite filk music that's available on Amazon. If you don't know what filk is, it's the music of fandom. Sci-fi and fantasy inspired music that can be hilarious, touching and thought provoking.
Favorite filkers I've reviewed so far
Tom Smith's And They Say I've Got Talent
Escape Key's Shadowbeast
Vixy and Tony's ThirteenEscape Key's Michelle Dockrey new group.
Blake Hodgett's Blindsight
Marian Call's Got to Fly
These artists cover Star Wars, Star Trek, Serenity, Alice in Wonderland, Battlestar Galactica, Illuminati and sing about dragons, aliens and mermaids. I'm not done by a long shot reviewing all my favorite filk. But I think this makes a good start. If you find any of the reviews helpful, please click on the yes under the review.

Favorite Things- 2009

Favorite Books-
Palimpsest by Catherynne Valente. This gorgeous story about people finding a place they belong was hands down my favorite fiction out of the 400 or so books I've read in the last year. It stands out strongly. I really envy anyone who hasn't read it because they will get the chance to read it for the first time and I never will again.

Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey. A definite change from the Kushiel books, this book is about a young girl who is the child of a genetically altered soldier, she was born utterly without fear in a "safe zone" town between the US and Mexico. It's got a somewhat comic book feel to it and is very well written. As much as I like the new Naamah series, this was my favorite book by her this year.

The Illustrated Hassle-Free Make Your Own Clothes Book, don't be fooled by the clean cut girl on the cover. This is a re-release of an old hippie how to make your own clothes book. It's non-technical very easy to make simple clothing and just a lot of fun.

Cookin' With Coolio, a book I'm actually surprised made the list, but it's laugh out loud funny with some great easy recipes including some good vegetarian ones. I'm thinking of buying a copy of this for my sister.

Favorite new albums-
Marian Call's Got to Fly- Marian Call is a local singer I really love in a big nearly fangirl way. Our whole family enjoys going to her live shows. Last year for Christmas Mike got me a copy of Vanilla and I was hooked. Got to Fly is her Browncoat inspired album. I'll Still Be A Geek After Nobody Thinks It's Chic could be a geek anthem and it's lovely to listen to, It Was Good For You Too is her Saffron song and my best friend's favorite song on the album. Mike's favorite song is It's Good To Have Jayne On Your Side. Vera Flew the Coop is an imagined back story for the woman the gun is named for. I love the whole album.
Street Sweeper Social Club Boots Riley from political hip hop group The Coup (also very worth checking out) and Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave released this album earlier this year. It's "music for the revolution". Tom wrote the music, Boots wrote the lyrics. Very political, very anti-establishment sung by Boots to Tom's driving hard rocking music. I love this album.  Two of the songs were previously released in the NIN/JA tour download if you got that when they went on tour.
Who Killed Amanda Palmer? alternate release. I don't know if this still available or not, but the original album is for sure. Hey, it's Amanda F****** Palmer working with Ben Folds. Favorite songs off the album- Ampersand and Blake Says, but the whole album is wonderful. If the alternate release is still available, there was a song on that was co-written with her boyfriend. I love his songs. I have the LaM songs he wrote and they are constantly on my playlists. Hopefully he'll write more songs with Amanda.
S.J. Tucker's Quartered- Songs of Palimpsest, the album stands alone I think, but if you've read the book.. favorite songs- The Girl With the Lion's Tail, We Are Shangri-La and November.

E's favorite new artists- Auriplane. She puts everything up for free, and E loves her music. E's favorite is Dancing Mad, and Marian Call.
William's favorites for the year are Voltaire, Street Sweeper Social Club and Tom Smith. Tom Smith's albums are on sale until the 3rd. Tom Smith is a filker who sings about all sorts of geekdoms William is a fan of.

Tom Smith, S.J. Tucker, Amanda Palmer and Auriplane links are to their sites. All other links are Amazon.com.

Vegetables, kids and UFO Phil

Yesterday, when I asked E what she wanted for dinner, she wasn't sure. So I gave her a list of options and she decided on homemade mac and cheese.
Now, here's the thing, like most kids, it used to be that anything other then the stuff that comes in boxes with either a packet of cheese powder or a foil packet of cheese paste was disgusting to her. I wanted to give her mac and cheese that actually.. you know, had cheese in it. So I found clone recipe for the boxed stuff with the cheese paste, and made that. Every time I make mac and cheese, I change one more thing until I can make mac and cheese like mom used to make, well.. sort of. In as much as I follow any recipe.
Last night was the first time I tried baking it so it go all nice and crusty on top. IIRC, mom used to use Ritz cracker crumbs and french fried onions on top. I used a mix of sharp cheddar and seasoned cereal crumbs. I use seasoned cereal crumbs instead of panko for most panko uses. They bake up nice and crispy, usually are fortified with vitamins that don't completely cook out, and they keep as long as need them once I crush up the cereal and season it.
I also let her try a piece of the turkey I was cutting up to mix into Mike's and my mac and cheese and asked if she wanted some. She said yes, so I mixed in some turkey. It was a hit. I'm getting closer step by step.
She still thinks cooked veggies are nasty, so I made two separate casserole dishes with mac and cheese in them. The bigger one for Mike and I had frozen peas in it, and she just ate raw carrots with hers.
I was talking to a friend about how to get kids to eat veggies recently. Her son dislikes them intensely. So I started thinking.. see.. getting my kids to eat veggies has never been a problem because it's never been optional. They have to at least try everything, but if they don't like it, I have raw alternatives on hand. This is because when I was a kid, my parents tried to force me to eat brussel sprouts. I *hate* brussel sprouts. I'd coat them with cheese, make loud gagging noises and complain bitterly up until the time I decided I just wasn't going to eat them. My parents told me I couldn't leave the table until I finished them. When mom woke me up at the table the next morning for school, she gave up and never tried to force me to eat something I hated again.
There it is.. my kids have always HAD to eat veggies, but I don't force feed them veggies they don't like. I give them alternatives. That helps somewhat. Another thing that helps since E has been old enough is making soups with her active participation from shopping for them on up. She will eat a lot of things she wouldn't usually if she chooses to put them in soups and she likes brightly colored soups. So it's one way to get her to eat things like tomatoes.
William loves food. He doesn't like some fermented foods, but other then that, I haven't found much he won't eat. So the veggie battle with him was convincing him "Yes, if you eat 2 lbs of carrots every day for as long as you like, you WILL turn orange so please don't."
I've camouflaged veggies for children I've babysat. Shredding spinach into meatloaf and that sort of thing, but I really prefer not to. It does work though. Spinach goes well into meatloaf and hamburgers and I still cook my pot roasts in vegetable juice. Veggie juice is one of the easiest ways I've ever found to get kids to eat their veggies. With the right seasoning, it makes a quick marinara like sauce for ramen noodles, a virgin mary made with vegetable juice and zapped for a minute makes a quick tomato soup to dunk cheese sandwiches in.
Another great way is gardening. Let kids grow their own veggies or take them to a U pick it farm and kids will generally eat stuff they harvest with pride and happiness.
A bag of frozen peas and carrots that's seasoned and then dehydrated enough to be crispy but not super hard makes a snack food that both my kids will eat happily. Get some sesame crackers and nuts and make your own trail mix with veggies mixed in.
Spaghetti squash is a LOT of fun for kids to shred, with E, she will happily eat spaghetti sauce on spaghetti squash if she got to shred it after I cooked it. I will never bake one again though. Mike wouldn't eat it baked. It got a bit slimy in parts. Piercing it and simmering it works best for us.
Mashed cauliflower instead of potatoes is pretty much the standard in my family now. I have a recipe for mashed cauliflower in free mini cookbook
I'm not really sure what do with a kid who's had the option not to eat veggies from the start. We aren't vegetarians because it's just easier to use to manage a balanced diet in our budget with meat, but we do eat a lot of veggies. So all my suggestions sort of count on a kid who grew up with vegetables in their meals.
Do you have any suggestions for getting kids to eat vegetables?
Well.. today I'm going to crochet myself a headband using some of Paton's silk/bamboo blend.
And try really hard to get rid of my current earworm. Mike's had What's New Pussycat? stuck in his head. I've had UFO Phil's Listening Coast to Coast and his Aliens Really Stink stuck in my head.