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Last week I satisfied my craving for peanut butter by buying Whole Foods Creamy Peanut Butter. My favorite peanut butter is Velvet, and I was about to write that Velvet, a Detroit peanut butter has been off the shelves for 15 years, and I've been substituting Reeses Peanut Butter ever since, except Reeses is gone from the shelves now although the Reeces website says it's supposed to be there, when I googled Velvet, and found that it's back! Apparently a native Detroiter has started manufacturing it and distributing it in Detroit markets during the past 8 months. I love Velvet Peanut Butter. I even have an original glass jar: 
Unlike other peanut butters, Velvet is fresh, pure and delicious. 
There is nothing like a spoonful of Velvet dipped in chocolate chips, spread on a banana and then passed through a bath of Sanders Hot Fudge Topping, or a Velvet Peanut Butter and Mrs. Owens Strawberry Jam on fresh Wonder Bread sandwich with Fritos. There hasn't been chocolate in my house for a couple of weeks, now, and the fast finally ended today at Walgreens where I purchased a bag of plain and a bag of peanut butter M&Ms. I came home, and got myself a nice spoonful of Whole Foods Peanut Butter 
(I won't bother showing you the really really boring label and plastic jar), and prepared a little custard cup of M&Ms 
with the blue ones removed (pre-eaten by me) because there is no excuse for blue M&Ms. How to ruin a good candy. And I dipped my spoonful of peanut butter into those M&Ms and satisfied the monster. Looks really good, huh?
Hey, Velvet Peanut Butter is back!
This is such a loaded topic for me. However, today is the first full day of school, and Steve is also not here, so I have the whole house to myself. This is a luxury for me. And it's already 2:00. I've got most of the ironing done, played a few rounds of Scrabble, talked on the phone to all my regulars and then some, and reposted all the expired Craigslist ads of things that haven't sold. I have a list of photos to take and re-take for more ads, and a dining room table that needs to be cleared off, including a return to Crate and Barrel. And I haven't read the paper yet. I did go through all Peter's 8th grade papers which were still in his binder this morning when he decided to empty it for this year.
I haven't done any of the sewing on my list. It's really beautiful outside, perfect for a beach walk. Maybe I'll call Nancy and see if I can get her over here. Everything else can wait for a gorgeous walk to the beach, right? That's not my picture, btw, but if I go I'll take one and replace it.
Yea! The phone just rang and someone is going to buy the marble raceway toy tomorrow. Maybe I'd better get more stuff on Craigs! Here goes.
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender - Who wouldn't want to read a book with this title? This is a story about a girl who discovers that she has a special ability. She learns how to deal with it, cope with it, live with it, but life is always different for her because of it. We accompany Rose and her family and friends from her 9 year old self to her young adulthood in a story about how emotions are revealed and not revealed.
After reading this book, which I highly recommend, you'll never again look at a card table chair the same way.
I've been playing Scrabble on Facebook nonstop, and I'm not ready to say this has got to stop. I've got 3 games going with my sister-in-law in CT and one game with a tough competitor I met at a garage sale last weekend. I'm holding my own, but words on signs are not rearranging themselves randomly everywhere I go like they did in Word Wars. I think the fact that I do the daily Jumble helped me to get up to speed quickly, after not playing for a long time. We're probably averaging 300 points per game, and I hope that we can all lift that to 400. I'll probably have to get out some word lists and start studying.
It's another perfect day outside, and it's only 10:15 in the morning, and my whole house is up for grabs. My plan is to complete an upstairs straighten and cleaning by noon. If I post before pictures, it will take too much time, so I'm just going to get going. Each time I complete a room, I'll allow myself a turn at Scrabble, providing my opponents have taken their turns. Here goes.......
After proofing this post, I've decided to take the Before pictures after all, but not post them until After. Maybe.
Orange is the New Black My Year in a Women's Prison by Piper Kerman - More than 10 years after she carried some drug money for her lover, Piper Kerman was incarcerated for 13 months in a Federal Women's Prison in Connecticut. Her past caught up with her, and she made the best of it, leaving no detail unexplained throughout the story. It's a good book....Piper's voice is open and approachable, and honest about the shortcomings of the prison system in America. It's probably better than the prison systems in other countries around the world, but there is much much room for improvement. I wish that she would write a follow up book about her fellow inmates, all of whom we get to know and like. I want to pull for these women who made big mistakes.
Today is bead group and I'm running late, and there is so much to do that I don't know where to start. Maybe I'll check my Scrabble boards with Joanie - when in doubt, avoid and escape!
How am I going to do it? I wish I could do nothing but sew for a week. Every day all day long. No calls, no kitchen, just sewing, a little computer (Scrabble as a treat every time I complete a little project), no going out, no cleaning other parts of the house, no reading the paper, no having to pick up or drop off from anywhere, just Sewing, Scrabble and selling stuff to people who will come and buy it from my Craigslist ads. Blogging would be OK to report on my progress, so maybe if I list all the sewing I want to do, it will help. All I'd then have to do is choose a week.
1) Alter White Cotton Capris
2) Mend Peter's favorite tee shirt
3) Final fit and pin black and white pique skirt for hemming at bead group
4) Alter Jeans so they're ready when the weather gets cold
5) Alter the second pair of jeans for the same reason
6) Make Yellow Organic Cotton Nightgown with lace trim
7) Make Pink Cotton Nightgown and trim differently or make a different pattern
8) Make Pajamas for Peter
9) Do Ironing
10) Mend Pink Polka Dot Nightgown that was my YiaYia's that she probably made, and that I used to wear when I spent the night at her house that is one of my most precious possessions even though it's falling apart. It's perfect for these hot nights and takes me back to similar hot nights in Detroit on Schoolcraft sleeping with her in her room, or in the pink room, and all that that means to me, because it's about how you can't ever get it back especially since the only pictures of it are in my mind.
11) Design and make a great creative valance for my bathroom using the linen type fabric and green stripe fabric I bought for the purpose a few years ago including the green stripe that I just found recently that matches
12) Design and make two great creative valances for Peter's room using the blue denim look fabric and sailing fabric that I bought for his room for something a couple of years ago.
13) Design and make a creative summer shift piecing together the piques that I bought for the purpose a couple of springs ago.
14) Design and make a coat/jacket to match the skirt that I completed last fall with the raw silk pink/peach Chanel like suiting I bought last year.
15) Fix up the felted sweater purse by working on the handle to strengthen it and improve its look
16) Finish sewing the black wool skirt with self trim that I cut out last winter
17) Make a ton (at least 50) of shoe bags for all my friends for Christmas gifts this year even though the two who read this blog now know what they might be getting.
18) Make some carryall bags with the heavy pink canvas and trim it prettily
19) Make a denim wallet and trim it with the stud trims and beadazzler and then use it
20) Make a plan for all the fleece and all the flannel that I bought ahead so that it gets sewn this year and clears a ton of shelf space for me
21) Pull out the Singer 301 Slant Shank Featherweight, set it up, take pictures of it and list it for sale on Craigslist to free up space and share a great machine with a sewer
22) Make myself a Scrabble nightgown with the Scrabble pants flannel
23) Make a cool scarf with the crushed velvet
24) Make Steve a pair of pajamas if any of the flannel is appropriate for a guy
25) I forgot to add up near the Peter valance project to make a duvet cover or box spring cover for Peter's bed that matches the valances because I have more than enough of that fabric, even though it will be a heavy duvet cover, so figure out some way to do it in a lighter way, like piece together the two fabrics for the top of the duvet, and use a sheet for the bottom.
If I could get even a fraction of these tasks finished, I'd be so happy. I love to sew and I want my guestroom back. If these sewing projects were completed, there would be practically nothing on that bed.
This is the first sign you see when you go to the beach down the street from my brother's house in Connecticut. I love the beach. Doesn't matter where it is, and as the years go by, it doesn't matter if it doesn't have perfect sand (although I'm so glad that our beach does). Any beach is good for a beach walk, any day. This Long Island Sound beach is very natural and messy. It's not the most comfortable barefoot beach in the world, but I've been to worse. Here it is:
On this day, when I got there, I noticed that there were these weird round things in the sand, three in a row...I decided they must be the bottoms of plastic liter bottles, and that someone must have used them to decorate a sand castle or something like that, but then didn't discard them. Next I saw some beautiful seaweed:
As I continued to stroll, I saw more and more of the plastic bottle things, and they were shimmery and had different colors in them. I went over to the two young lifeguards to ask them what those clear blobs on the beach were. 
They had no idea what I was talking about, so they followed me down to the water line (we were the only ones on the beach that morning besides a couple of moms with two little kids) to see what I was talking about. It turns out, they were jellyfish, and the boys had never seen so many at one time before. They were so cool. We touched their jelly like surface for a moment just because we could. And then we kept our distance. They were beautiful and scary and captivating. 
The Summer We Fell Apart by Robin Antalek - This is a book in the Glass Castle/Running With Scissors/Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius genre. Those were all memoirs, true life stories,though, while The Summer We Fell Apart is fictional. It moves forward through 5 different narrations, which means you'll meet all the characters at the beginning of the book when they are introduced by Amy, the youngest sister in a family of four siblings, then in the following chapters, George, Finn, Kate and Marilyn weigh in with their own chapters. There's something about this unusual family that's endearing, and I loved their voices. It really is about so much more than the summer they fell apart.
On the Friday that I bought the wicker table, I'd spotted an interesting little dresser in the bedroom at the same house. It was priced high. Too rich for my blood that day, and I really had to go home and measure anyway. I thought it might look good in my foyer, and that I would replace this dresser that's been next to the front door for awhile:
It's pretty, but I was tired of it. Tired of the curvy lines, tired of the basket of fruit, tired of the fact that it was a new piece that looked old, rather than a piece that was really old, or a new piece that looked new. Like something modern in black or silver. I came home and measured the wall, and pondered the price. I wanted to offer less than half, and settle at half or just under. It was missing a couple of trim pieces which were barely noticeable, and which were in the drawers so that it could be repaired.
On Saturday afternoon, I went back. Would the pretty little dresser still be there? Tons of people were going through that sale! On my way in, I saw someone loading small dresser drawers into a car. Oh, no, I'd waited too long. It was gone. But I went in, and turned toward the bedrooms, and there it was. The unattractive basket that had decorated it the day before was gone, and they'd moved it to a spot where you saw it the minute you turned into the hallway. I asked if there had been any offers, and the guy said no, but two people were returning to see it that afternoon. My heart was beating as I studied it to make sure it was exactly what I wanted. I looked in the drawers for those spare trim pieces, and they were gone! It turns out that one disappeared, and the other one was at the cashier's desk. I asked who was taking offers, and found out it was Jim. "Jim, that trim piece is missing. What are we going to do about this?" I followed Jim down the hall as he criticized the little dresser. "That old thing - it's not worth a cent - who would want it?" (he was doing my negotiating for me!) We got to the dresser, and he said "What's your unreasonable offer? Make your unreasonable offer and we'll see." So I thought fast and made my unreasonable offer (less than a third of asking). And he said.......
"OK" "but you have to carry it out of here". And I didn't because Jim and his crew are so nice that one of his helpers had the dresser out the door and waiting for me in the driveway when I backed my car in to pick it up. So here it is:
Except, Wait! My old mirror looks wrong with the dresser. It's too something, and too big and the wrong color. I decided that I want a round mirror over this dresser to balance the rectangularity of it. Or maybe a sunburst mirror! Even though I want to get away from gold decor, maybe a gold sunburst would look better than a silver one. I went Craigslisting for round mirrors last night, and then googling for sunburst mirrors, and it turns out that sunburst mirrors are all the rage right now. All the rage. There happened to be one at TJ's today, so I brought it home even though I wasn't in love with it to see how it looked scale-wise. And I can't decide. It's the wrong color, too heavy looking, and too something else. Here's how it looks:
What do you think? Maybe I need an oval....Something modernish. Hmmm..... Or a sunburst still, but one that's open and not so heavy. The search is on.
I had a great little weekend of saling. That's house and garage saling, not Lake Michigan sailing! On Friday I found a wicker table with glass top which I thought would look great on my sun porch.
Here's the BEFORE picture of the little green table...
And Here's the AFTER picture of the new and improved pedastal table....
The little green table matched the carpet, but not the chairs, and it was dense on the bottom with that shelf. The diameter was right, but the scale was somehow off. Maybe it was too small for the chairs. The new table is lighter on the bottom, matches the chair wicker, so it's lighter overall, yet it's a larger piece of furniture. The functionality of the new table is greater, since the two chairs can be rotated to eat or play games at the table. All in all a big improvement. Future plans for the porch include new cushion and pillow covers (I bought some black background with bright color parrots and matching plain bright color fabrics a couple of years ago, but I don't know. It might be too much. I never loved this red fabric, but it has a flowery companion fabric which is on pillows that are on the wicker sofa across from these chairs. It also looks great with the red shamrock plant.
Anyone for a game of Scrabble al fresco?
That got your attention, didn't it? I'm happy to say that I've discovered new chocolate. Last week Michelle and I stopped at Trader Joe's on the way home from bead group, and I bought a few of my TJ staples, Whole Wheat Couscous, California Unsulphured Blenheim Apricots, Raw Cashews, Fage Yoghurt, New Zealand Parmesian Cheese, etc. Did you notice there wasn't one bad thing in my basket so far? Until I got to the check out, and decided to check out the chocolate offerings. Although I love Valrhona, the Trader Joe selection only ever includes the really high percentages which make the chocolate pretty bitter. I was prepared to resist Valrhona on this day. Then I spotted a pretty new orange package of chocolate, and there went all the good intentions.
Except a square of chocolate a day keeps the Dr. away. And contributes to a clear brain, longevity, heart health, energy and happiness. We weren't even out the door of the store (they would have given me a sample had I requested it, but we'd already opened the apricots to make sure they were soft and chewy not shoe leather, so I didn't want to press my luck) and I had the package open so that Michelle and I could each have a square (sadly there had been no chocolate at group and we'd both noticed it!) Mmmmm. The chocolate is sweet but not sugary, and the hazelnuts lend the perfect crunch. One square satisfies. Trader Joe's Swiss Dark Chocolate with 30% Whole Hazelnuts is sublime. I'm hooked, and you can thank me later.
Everybody's Fine - We just finished watching this movie starring Robert De Niro as a recent widower who looks forward to his grown children coming home from different parts of the country for a family weekend. When they all cancel, he decides to travel around the country to surprise them with visits. As the travelling widower dad, he's the strong silent sort of friendly type, but in the few flashbacks we see, we find that he'd been a rather overbearing yet loving dad to his creative children. They were always more comfortable talking to their mom who would report to dad that "everybody's fine". It's a pretty good movie. I'm enjoying these tough guy actors in the aging everyman roles.
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery - Every once in a while I come across an existentialist story, and it always takes a minute to get into it. When I do get into it, though, it becomes a book that must be read no matter what. Existentialism is to me a very french concept, and this story appropriately takes place in Paris. It's about Renee, the concierge of an elegant private apartment building and also about one of the building's residents, 12 year old Paloma. Their lives are somehow parallel, and I grew to love each of them in a special way, especially once Kakuro Ozu enters the picture. And Kakuro is one of the most simply and beautifully written characters you'll ever meet.
Home by Marilynne Robinson - I liked the cover. Home is about the goodness of the bad boy. It takes place in the early 1950s (I love 20th century stories), and in the home of a retired minister. Two of his 8 or 10 grown children find their way home one summer to rest and regroup. Glory is the perpetual good girl, youngest child and serious and responsible. Jack is the prodigal son who disappeared for 20 years. It's kind of religious in a serious Christian way. Reads slow but steady. If they make a movie out of this, I'll probably fall asleep. There would be no way to give it energy. The realized goodness of the mysterious bad boy. Can you tell whether or not I liked this book? I can't, except for the fact that I wanted to finish it.
You really couldn't watch two different movies. Peter saw Hot Tub Time Machine with my brother Steve, and then watched it again the next night with me. We laughed and laughed. I saw The Blind Side a couple of nights ago with Michelle, and then watched it the next night with Peter and Steve. We cried and cried. (figuratively)
Hot Tub Time Machine - The whole thing is a farce and played for laughs. These guys go to the ski resort of their youth, twenty years later, and upon going in the hot tub, get transported back to 1986 as their present selves. Since they're there, they decide that the only way to get back to the future is to re-live everything they went through when they were there in the 80s. I thought it was hilarious, and then the ending is priceless.
The Blind Side - It took us too long to see this wonderful movie. It's a chance to go through all your emotions.....sad, happy, worried, anxious, angry, joyful. Sandra Bullock is fabulous as we knew she would be since she won best actress for the role. This is the true story of a woman who takes a poor teenager into her home and gives him a chance to succeed in life (and football). Tim McGraw plays her perfect husband (I want to know that guys that great are out there, although my friend says that in real life it could be different, that he's a Hollywood written husband). I hope some women are fortunate enough to be married to a personality so easy going, though. Yeah, that woman gets what she wants, she has a guy who never turns her down! But I digress. If you haven't seen this movie, see it, and enjoy watching it with your family, no matter how young.
I figured out how to download Scrabble to my Facebook last night, and am actively playing a game with my sister-in-law, Joan. This is so fun. If anyone else wants to play, I'm there. Joanie has gotten really good at Scrabble, but since my comedown by my second grade niece, Lola, I'm determined to learn how to spell and play words I don't know for high points. Yeah baby.
The Three Weissmanns of Westport by Cathleen Schine - Since we were traveling to Fairfield, I thought this would be a good geographical tie-in to our vacation, since Westport is a couple of towns away. Vacation is where a good book is as necessary as air. Important in the airport, on the plane, to get to sleep at night and to gently greet a new and unknown day. The Three Weissmanns is about a 75 year old woman and her two 48 and 52ish year old daughters who decide to share a cottage in Westport, Connecticut after the mom is gently, but essentially thrown out of her Central Park West Apartment after more than 50 years of marriage, because her husband has taken up with another woman. The writing is rather blunt, the characters somehow sweet - even the bad ones. If you want a mindless sort of beach read, then this may do the job for you, (and the cover is nice, right?) otherwise, I can't think of a reason to read this book, including the one I had.
OK, that was harsh, but the next book I read was so amazing, that I can't help myself. Apologies to those who will find this to be a deep and meaningful read.
Unlike other peanut butters, Velvet is fresh, pure and delicious. 
(I won't bother showing you the really really boring label and plastic jar), and prepared a little custard cup of M&Ms 
with the blue ones removed (pre-eaten by me) because there is no excuse for blue M&Ms. How to ruin a good candy. And I dipped my spoonful of peanut butter into those M&Ms and satisfied the monster. Looks really good, huh?
Hey, Velvet Peanut Butter is back!
