Because
I’m still having image transfer problems and I have a hell of a headache so I’m not even trying to fix it tonight.
Blaster says “hi”.
Except she doesn’t because of “low memory”. Stupid phone. I give up.
Blogkeeping
Technically, it’s a post
Okay
. Still have technical issues with phone posts, which is why no posts since Friday, as I was in Boston doing awesome things with the Docstar and then spent two days designing and sewing a Ponce de Leon costume. Like you do.
SO. Details on those things coming up. I’m going to play with my schedule to make sure I have time to actually blog from the computer, which will result in much more interesting blogs. And hopefully I will find a solution to the phone thing soon, because this is supah annoying. 🙁
Where’d You Come From?
Back in the dawn of the World Wide Web, I was a web designer. I haven’t been a professional web designer for a good long while now, but I still have cause to pull out the ol’ HTML toolbox every now and again. Like tonight, when I finally got around to setting up a redirect so that you (and I!) don’t have to type in the /blog part of the address anymore to get here. Woohoo!
(No picture tonight because I don’t have my phone handy and I’m tired and I considered just posting a screenshot of HTML but that’s like the still version of the typing montage from a hacking movie so no.)
Test Baby, Test Baby, 123!
A Blog About Blogging. And Counting.
So apparently my WordPress app has completely shit the bed. I’m working on it, but for now I’m going to cut myself a break on weekend posts. I’ll update again when/if that changes. I considered just doing some posts ahead of time and scheduling them to post on weekends — and I might do that for this weekend since I’ll be out of town — but there will also definitely be some weekend days were I actually do sit down in front of the computer so I don’t want to be locked in to pre-set posts for those days. Blogging is hard, Barbie!
Now I just have to decide if I am blogging (hopefully) every day over a period of 365 days, and thus will be ending this project on Feb. 7, 2018 OR if I’m posting 365 times and attempting to do it on as many consecutive days as possible, thus ending after the total number has been reached. I’m thinking the latter is easier to keep track of.
Cheater Mousse Pie
Some years ago (pre-kids so at least 11, but probably more), there was a recipe on the side of Jello pudding for “Five Minute Pie”. I was extremely skeptical. Oh, sure, I thought, they say “five minutes” but that probably only includes the time to put everything in the bowl or something. In my kitchen experience, nothing ever takes less than twice as much “prep time” as indicated by the recipe.
But…it did sound delicious. And easy. So what if it did take 10 or 15 minutes to throw it together? That’s still pretty quick, right? So I ga
thered everything up and started whisking. I’ll be damned if that pie wasn’t in its crust and ready to eat in 5 minutes, including package opening time.
The next one I made, I took to a party. Everyone was SUPER impressed. What a lovely chocolate mousse pie I had made! I absolutely must give them the recipe! Holy cannoli, this 5 minute pie thing was a huge hit! I started making it for everything. You can fancy it up by piping on the whipped cream or adding chocolate shavings. People will think you’ve spent hours on this thing. And it really is very tasty.
I lost the recipe a while back, but thanks to the interwebs have recently rediscovered this magical, mousse-ical pie.
I’ve been seeing a thing on food blogs lately where it’s a bajillion pictures of the same thing and you have to scroll forever to get to the actual recipe. So I won’t be doing that, ever. BUT, I thought I might try doing some step-outs in the recipe itself. I’m not sure I like it, but let me know what you think!
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 8 I mean, it's a pie. I could probably eat a whole one by myself, but if you want to share cut it into as many slices as you like. | 5 minutes (for real!) |
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Ingredients
- 2 boxes chocolate pudding The regular size, not family size.
- 1 container Cool Whip The regular size tub, not the giant one.
- 1 1/4 cups milk I use skim, because that's what we have on hand. Use what you have.
- 1 pre-made cookie crust I like the chocolate ones, but the Nilla wafer or graham cracker ones are fine, too. The Oreo ones are little too intense for this recipe.
- Mini chocolate chips optional -- for decor
Servings: I mean, it's a pie. I could probably eat a whole one by myself, but if you want to share cut it into as many slices as you like.
Instructions
- Whisk pudding and milk together until fully combined.
- Whisk in half of Cool Whip. Mixture will be very thick. Mousse-like, even.
- Spoon mixture into crust and spread evenly.
- Top with remaining Cool Whip.
- Add other toppings as desired
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365 Days of Lola
Well, hello there, my much neglected blog and that one reader I still have, maybe! This is going to be a little long and rambling (shocker, right?) but I promise, there is a point.
A few years ago, Craftsy launched. If you don’t know, they offer online video courses. You buy a course, you have access forever and can re-watch as much as you like. Plus, you can ask questions and communicate with the instructor and other students. The classes are professionally filmed in their studios. They were (and are!) magnificent at creating classes that are focused and well-taught. I like them a lot and have bought several classes.
However. Although I’ve bought several, I’ve only completed a couple of the ones I’ve bought. I’m still interested in the other ones — they look like really good classes. I just never seem to find make the time.
So when I came across Skillshare in January, I wasn’t immediately enthusiastic. Skillshare’s classes are not professionally filmed — they’re more like the vlogs you can find on various sites (though I have found them to be of reasonably high video/sound quality). But they have a tremendous variety of programming, far more than Craftsy with their focus on, well, craft. Plus, they were running a special to try the service for 99 cents for 3 months, with no obligation to continue after that. 33 cents a month! How could I say no? (Full disclosure — the link above is a referral link and if you sign up you’ll get the same 3-for-99 deal, and I’ll get a free month.)
I paid my (not quite a) dollar and enrolled in my first class, Sketchbook Practice: Grow In Your Art Everyday, with Ohn Mar Win. It was great! Plus, I could watch at 1.5x speed, which I find makes me much less antsy when there’s exposition happening (you can go up to 2x, but that just makes me feel like I’ve had too much coffee). I’ve since enrolled in a couple of classes that were duds for me, but I’ve also watched a couple more that I really enjoyed and felt I learned from.
One of those was How To Start (And Finish!) Your Very Own 365 Day Project, with Cynthia Koo. As I was watching, I was reminded of the Make’n’Tell, and how every time I’ve tried to revisit that, I’ve failed (and then not blogged for, like, months after). I really, really do want to start blogging again, though. There’s a lot of stuff I want to talk about! So I decided that I’m going to try a 365 Day blogging project.
This is going to be much more relaxed than Make’n’Tell. Basically, the only thing I have to accomplish is a blog post with a picture every day. Sometimes, it’ll be crafty or a recipe. Sometimes it’ll be about activism and/or something that’s going on in the world that is really pissing me off (or, rarely, making me believe in humanity again). Sometimes it’s just going to be a cat picture. I’m allowing myself to pre-write these, too. So if I don’t actually write a blog post every day, that’s okay. As long as something is going up.
Look, I made a pretty graphic and everything:
I’m going to let that count as today’s picture, but going forward the post is going to have that PLUS another picture. Maybe I’ll even put that in a sidebar…hmmmmmm. We’ll see. I have 364 days more days to get everything set up exactly the way I want it, right?
Make’n’Tell: Oops!
Er. I totally forgot I was doing this — I just got wrapped up in the past week and all the awesome stuff I was doing and clean forgot! To be fair, very little of it was crafty and on theme. I’m having a tooth taken out in a couple of days, which always does me in, so I think I’m going to scrap the rest of the month BUT! I will complete the Make’n’Tell during the first part of April (1-15). And I’m going to add an additional couple of rules:
- At least one project per week must be from my stack of projects I’ve already got laying around.
- At least one project per week must be from Pinterest (or another internet source).
There will be blog posting between now and then, but I’ll see you in April for more Make’n’Tell!
Feelin’ Good
Yesterday, I turned 43. It’s not a milestone birthday, but for some reason it feels like it’s going to be a big year. I made a lot of changes last year, and I’m feeling pretty good about where my life is headed. So, without further ado, here are my non-concrete goals for 43:
- Stay on track with conditioning & practice
- Be neater, at least in the house where it affects other people
- Eat healthier
- Cultivate creativity
- Nurture friendships
Now, I know that goals really need to be concrete to be meaningful and attainable, so I’m going to take those 5 things and try to break it down into doable, concrete chunks:
First, stay on track with conditioning. This is an easy one, but it’s super important because it directly affects my roller derby life. So, the concrete bits are:
- Exercise at least 4 mornings a week (I’m loving the Hero’s Journey right now, but when I’m done I’m going to start trying out some more of the workouts I have pinned.)
- Go to the gym at least 4 evenings a week: Two days of cardio, two days of trainer-designed routine
- Swim at least twice a week
- Practice skills on skates at least twice a week besides team practice (in the kitchen until the weather gets warmer, then outside somewhere)
- Keep up with nurse evaluations (quarterly) & free PT re-evals (6-8 weeks) at the gym
Next, be neater, at least in the house where it affects other people. Look, I’m a messy person. I just am. I constantly have piles of stuff around me. I’m a bit extremely mercurial, so I never know what I’m going to want to read/work on/deal with next, and so I try to keep it all around me so I can grab what I want at a moment’s notice. What this means in practical terms is that there is an entire section of our couch that is unusable because it is covered in my stuff. So I need to:
- Limit myself to a single project and single book/magazine on the couch at any one time
- Do quick things immediately (e.g., mending stuffed animals)
- Put away one project (or book/magazine) before getting out a new project if I want to change up what I’m working on
- Take tools and supplies back out to the Craft Mine when I’m done using them in the house (this is somewhat weather-dependent, but I think this year we’re going to try to put a little porch/deck out there for me, which means I won’t have to deal with trying to find/balance on wobbly concrete blocks in the snow/rain/dark and that will help tremendously)
- If I bring a project into the house and then don’t get to it (and won’t in the next day), take it back out to the Craft Mine until I’m actually ready for it
Third: Eat healthier. This one’s pretty easy, I just want to put it down in writing:
- Eat breakfast every day. Every. Day.
- No “dessert” on weekdays (candy/cake/hot chocolate/what have you)
- Eat at least one fruit AND one salad or veg soup every day
- Pack lunch at least 4 days a week
- Lean protein + brown rice for lunch before practice
- Drink at least one 32oz bottle of water every day
Cultivating creativity is up next, and I’ve already told you where I’m starting with that…Make’n’Tell starts tomorrow! (I’m not gonna lie — I forgot about Leap Year for a hot minute this morning and panicked because I hadn’t planned what to do for the day yet.) But there are some other things I want to do, too:
- Publish two patterns
- Blog at least twice a week
- Cook or bake something at least twice a week
- Sketch at least every other day
- Journal at least every other day
- Fully develop two classes and submit them to appropriate venues (and then go teach them if accepted, obviously)
- Spend at least two hours a week in the Craft Mine (weather permitting)
What I think is going to be the hardest for me is the last one, nurturing friendships. I’ve traditionally not been awesome at this, for a lot of reasons, but I’m going to do my best because I’ve managed to find myself surrounded by several extraordinary groups of people and I genuinely want to make sure I’m giving as much as I’m getting. I’m going to do little baby step concrete goals for this one:
- reach out to at least one friend every week, even if it’s just to say, “hi, how’re you doing?”
- wish people Happy Birthday on Facebook (as applicable)
Whew. Looking back at this, it seems like a lot. But I really do think it’s all small and concrete enough that I can do it. And I think this year is going to be the best one yet.
Make’n’Tell, This Time With Feeling
I’ve got a problem. (No, it isn’t that I haven’t been blogging. Shut up.) I have giant piles of “won’t this be awesome when I finally get to it” projects lying around. And also, yes, it’s a problem that I haven’t been blogging. Those of you who read my old blog may remember a few years ago I did what I called a “Make’n’Tell”, where I had to make something every day and blog about it. It occurred to me that a Make’n’Tell is just what I need to get those projects cleared out and jumpstart my blogging.
So, starting March 1 (because it’s the day after my birthday and what a great way to start a new year!), I’m going to be doing a Make’n’Tell. I encourage you to join me — if you don’t have a blog just share your stuff on Facebook or Twitter or Tumblr or heck, call your sister and tell her about it. Whatever gets you making and sharing your creativity. Here are my rules for this go-round — feel free to tweak them so they work for you and your life:
- Every day of March, I will make a thing, take a picture of what I’ve made, and post about it here on the blog.
- I may not complete the thing in one day, and that’s okay, but I still have to take a picture and blog about it.
- The Make can be in any medium, including but not limited to yarn, fabric, digital graphics, food, photography, drawing, painting, etc.
- The Make should be either a complete work OR consist of at least 30 minutes of work on an ongoing project. I do a lot of bigger projects, and I don’t want to stop doing them, but I don’t always have time or ability to do a big project in a single day. On the other hand, if I have a small project in mind and it only takes me 15 minutes to complete it, I’m okay with that. And some days I might only have time for that one little thing. So I think that should count, too.
- I may not use the same ongoing project any more often than once a week (last time I tried this it petered out because I was working on a big knitting project and blogging about working on the same thing all the time is bo-RING).
- The Make can be similar to a previously completed project. For instance, years ago I made several dresses for my daughter. I used an original pattern and modified it pretty much every time. Each instance of dressmaking would count as a Make.
This time around, I’m going to try to focus on those big piles of projects-in-waiting, so to prepare I’m going to start making lists of all of the things I want to get done. Then I’m going to make a list of any additional supplies I need AND procure them. Possibly I will make a tentative schedule of which projects to work on which days. That should use up most of the 11 days I have until this thing kicks off.
You guys, I’m so excited about this. It is going to be FABULOUS!