How to use this Page

So, um, a day after expressing my extreme thanks for being able to pay my mortgage/monthly bills in full and on time, the payroll gods at Joe's company decided to piss all over my gratitude. See, a couple of Joe's hours got filed incorrectly, so instead of contacting him or his manager to straighten out the situation, they just decided to deduct 80 hours worth of work from a check that was supposed to have retro pay for something else that was processed incorrectly back in JULY. On a day when I was expecting a decent-sized check that would give us a little bit of money for the holidays, we actually received a check that totalled $253. Which is significantly less than even his normal two-week, after-tax pay. Which pretty much sucks. And because it was a holiday, and Joe was one of the only people from his department working on Friday, the situation can't even get resolved until Tuesday or Wednesday. Super!

To compound things, yesterday we went to spend the day with Joe's grandmother and brother in Bethlehem. It's been a while since we'd gotten up that way, and we had a fantastic time. But when we went to leave, we discovered that my Beckett, the 1998 Saturn SL1 that I've adored and defended since I purchased it in 2001, was dead. Archie, Joe's brother, is a mechanical engineer, but after two hours of tinkering with various parts of the car, he still couldn't definitively say what was wrong with it. So we decided we'd have it towed to a shop. Only, guess who never opened her welcome packet from AAA? If I had opened it, when it arrived back in JULY, I would've noticed that they'd processed my membership as basic instead of plus. I'd wanted the plus membership because it entitles you to three tows a year up to 100 miles, and since we do visit Bethlehem fairly regularly, and since Bethlehem is 92 miles from our driveway, we figured it would be a good investment.

Instead of having the car towed back to DE, we opted to have it towed to Joe's family's trusted auto mechanic Bobby Stevens, whose shop is within the five free miles my crappy basic AAA membership entitles me to. This meant that Grammy had to race us to Lehigh International Airport at 10:40 p.m., so we could grab a rental before the Hertz kiosk closed at 11. This also means a return trip to Bethlehem on Thursday, to pick up my car, which should (hopefully) be repaired by then. Because of the rental fee, and because I don't know how much fixing Beckett is going to cost, and because of the ridiculous $253 paycheck, I'm pretty much out of the holiday shopping game for the next week or so. Possibly longer.

So much for Cyber Monday.

The upside? My "economy" rental is a fully loaded Chevy Cobalt that has power everything, a huge GPS monitor, and rides smoothly and quietly. Do I have to give it back? Every time I'm in a rental I realized just how far cars have come since 1998. Too bad it's going to be another decade before I can afford a new one.

Funniest moment of the evening: me kicking Beckett's tires and saying, "Eff you, Beckett! I've loved you and defended you for years! And this is how you repay me, you p.o.s. car?"

Sigh.

In less depressing news, all of us have been mightily amused by the situation going on in my mother's small, tucked away neighborhood. It's two circles, something like thirteen houses, and everyone loves how private the place is. Seriously, it's hard to even give people directions to my mom's house, because it's that tucked away. Anyway, a new family recently moved in, and apparently they were known in their old neighborhood for their over-the-top Christmas displays and music-choreographed light shows. My mom's been calling me with daily updates, telling me what new additions have been made and how the family keeps saying there's even more to come. Then Friday, when she's out walking the dogs, she sees they've put up a barber poll with a web address on one side and a radio station on the other. Not only had the family expanded their previous

Recently I've bought a few little handmade things, and they're so nice I thought I would share some links. The first is a lovely apple pincushion made by the talented Nicole from Craftapalooza. I was tempted by the kit, but then again I only really needed one, so I splurged and bought one ready made with adorable fabrics.

So in Nicole's new shop you can buy the pattern, kits that come with the fabric and other materials needed to make your own apple pincushion or one already made - even the same one pictured here.

My favourite part is the clever idea of a having the leaf on top for your needles. That way they don't get lost in the pincushion. I keep most of mine in a needle book, of course, but sometimes I like to just have a pincushion with a needle or two on hand.
The shelves in my studio are getting pretty crowded. Partly because I can't resist buying pretty ceramic planters whenever I see them! The new yellow fan shaped one is from the Sunday Market at St. Lawrence. I love it so much...

Here's a mini makeover that I think anyone could do in a day and create a pretty way to organize your ribbons in your craft room. I figure if things are handy (and easy to find) you're more likely to use them.
I found this spice rack at a local yard sale for 50 cents. The wood wasn't great, but I imagined it primed and painted white.

At first I wasn't sure what I would put on it, and when I tried some ribbon spools they looked like they would fall out. Then I realized, duh, that once the rack was on the wall it would prevent things from falling out the back. I placed the rack just above my thread rack, which is the next thing to get painted white. I don't want to be boring, but I just love how colours look against a white background.
I managed to fit almost all of my ribbon, except the yellow ones and my lace. I need another spice rack! As I've mentioned before (you can click on the "ribbons" label to see other posts on the subject) I usually wind the ribbons onto bits of cardboard rolls until I have a wooden spool free. It's a great way to use your old wooden spools once the thread is gone.

So I've taken to calling it my studio, but it's really a combination of crafts room and art studio. It feels like an incredible luxury to have my own workroom for sewing and painting. And it's pretty much done, I just need a new light fixture!

I bought a desk from craigslist to have a practical working surface. It's a really big heavy desk with lots of storage for only $20. Well it quickly became covered with a mish-mash of crafts supplies. You know how it is! So I decided I needed some open shelves.
Yesterday I finished making the shelves. There was lots of lumber left in our garage when we moved in and I asked Bradley to cut one big plank into three pieces. They were a bit rough, but after a quick sand to avoid the really splintery bits, I primed and painted and they were fine. The brackets are from IKEA.The shades for the window are also from IKEA. They're patterned panel curtains that I like for their lacy look. (inspired by Fieldguided's beautiful room with lace covered window) I had bought them for our old house bedroom but they didn't really work out there. So it was great to find the perfect spot in our new house.

So, the south wall has the desk and open shelves with a little bench under the window.The east wall has my two secretary desks. The desk on the right has crafts supplies and the one on the left has art supplies. It helps keep things organized so that I can actually find things.The north wall has my fabric cabinet with vintage tins on top with extra sewing notions.This room has a pretty decorative vent cover and lovely dark hardwood floors. So painting was the only thing I needed to do (again because of holes in the walls after electrical work). The walls are painted in CIL Wedding White, which I think is similar to Benjamin Moore's Swiss Coffee. It's a nice bright white. The shelves were painted to match the trim in Cloud White. Just for fun, I searched under "craft room" on Flickr and found lots of inspiring pictures. You can see my favourites here. I love the fact that I'm not the only one with boxes and baskets and jars and cabinets and shelves bursting with supplies. There's a comfortable solidarity in it.

Sunday, 11/23

Boarded an early flight to Atlanta, where I caught another flight to San Antonio, for the ALAN conference. Checked into my hotel around 1:30 p.m. local time, took a 15-minute stroll around the Riverwalk, and then back to my room for a hot shower, a little relaxing, and then some major primping. Met my speaking agent, Catherine Balkin of Balkin Buddies, for drinks in the hotel's lobby at 4 p.m. Then met up with the Random House crew and walked over to the Marriott for the ALAN cocktail reception. Spoke to two very nice, bubbly teachers from a Catholic school and discussed how to get an institution with a very strict moral doctrine to accept books into the curriculum that went against that doctrine. (My answer: if parents pay all of this money to go to a school that will instill strong moral values into them, then why do they thing reading a book that goes against those values will immediately strip said children of all morals?) Got to meet some friends I've known online for a while, like the lovely and fabulous Jennifer Lynn Barnes (aka jenlyn_b), as well as catch up briefly with old friends like David Lubar (aka davidlubar) and E. Lockhart (aka e_lockhart). Eventually was shuttled off with the Random House crew to a dinner in a wine cellar, where I got to meet with several spunky teachers and a newish RH editor who looks half my age but was so smart and fun and really made dinner a delight. Had to leave the dinner early due to a disagreement my stomach had with the salmon and ended up missing this kick-ass authors-only party. At hotel, tried to watch WILDCATS on TV but passed out at 10:30 p.m. Ah, the glamorous life!

Monday, 11/24

Woke up around 7 due to fiance calling and forgetting that I didn't have to be up until 8. Got a few more minutes of shut-eye before hauling self up and getting ready for the day's activities, which included speaking on a panel with David Levithan, Laura Ruby (aka lauraruby), and Tanya Lee Stone (aka tanyaleestone). The panel was called "I Feel Good: Positive Portrayals of Sex in YA Novels," and it was wonderful except for the fact that we all felt like we were preaching to the converted (we were a breakout session instead of a general session). The highlight of the panel: when David Levithan suggested we break the last tabu of sex in the YA novel - the orgy - and write the book as a "group project." I laughed so hard he thought he was giving me a heart attack. Oh, my goodness! Got to meet (and hug) Coe Booth (aka coebooth), spent 20 seconds telling Virginia Euwer Wolf how she inspired me at the beginning of my love affair with YA, and signed some books. Throughout the day I got to spend chunks of time with Jen and her good friend, Ally Carter, who's absolutely delightful. I also got to have a few short conversations with John Green, who I'd somehow never met in person, and was shocked to find out that he gets nervous before speaking in public. Jen, Ally, and I had all bonded over our collective fear of the cocktail party. Put me on a stage and I can talk like nobody's business, but stick me in a social setting and I want to blend into the walls. Got to hear maybe five minutes of John's speech before rushing out to meet my ride to the airport. Flew back on a direct flight and got home a full forty minutes before expected. Crashed hard.

Tuesday, 11/25

Decompressed from trip. Unpacked, did laundry, caught up on some DVR'd TV, rebonded with dog. Was fortunate to have finished 98% of all holiday cooking supplies prior to leaving, but that night had to hit two grocery stores to find suitable stuffing mushrooms and two liquor stores to find a small bottle of Frangelica (a vital ingredient in my mother's semi-famous pumpkin and sausage soup). Picked up Chinese takeout and then spent the rest of the evening just hanging with Joe.

Wednesday, 11/26
Was supposed to spend the whole day cooking, but spent most of the morning answering e-mail and catching up on online business. Worked on a freelance project and got the call that Joe was getting off at 3 p.m. This made me post-pone cooking even later, because we like to cook together, but I totally misjudged the time. On our list to prepare: sausage-stuffed mushrooms, the aforementioned pumpkin and sausage soup, coconut buttermilk pie, and Southern pecan pie. Stayed up until 2 a.m. cooking/baking/cooling pies. Joe crashed around 1 a.m. but I prevailed to the bitter end.

Thursday, 11/27 (aka Thanksgiving)

Up at 8 a.m. to shower, get the dog groomed/ready, pack the car, and drive to Bethlehem for Joe's family's Thanksgiving. Was nervous as meeting several new-to-me family members. Also nervous that pies looked over-baked or that the mushrooms (new recipe) would suck or that I'd somehow managed to screw up a soup we've made every Thanksgiving for the past seven years. Fortunately, the new-to-me family members were awesome, all of my dishes turned out perfectly and got major kudos, and I was introduced to Joe's family's tradition of watching NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION immediately after dinner (my family's traditional post-dinner viewing = RUDOLPH). Had an awesome time and drove home happy, happy, happy.

Friday, 11/28 (aka Thanksgiving Part Deux)

Joe worked from home while I prepped two more dishes for our second Thanksgiving dinner, this one with my parents. Made another batch of sausage-stuffed mushrooms and another coconut buttermilk pie. Scouty was in heaven, as he spent Thanksgiving with his boyfriend Terry and the next day with his aunt Daphne and uncle Jake. Dinner was awesome; my mom had made her sausage and cornbread stuffing, sweet potato casserole, and pumpkin and sausage soup - great because we didn't take any leftovers from Joe's family's dinner, but Mom loaded us up big time. Watched some of the Christmas classic cartoons, including SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN, before catching the tail end of BILL AND TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE on TV. Once again, I was exhausted and crashed by 10:30. I am getting old.

Saturday, 11/29

Worked on the craft room with Joe. This is the project we started August 2007. Now we're very close to completion. Most of the day was spent sanding trim, if you can believe it. At night, after we lost the natural light, we watched some more FREAKS & GEEKS on DVD. Another early night.

Sunday, 11/30

Second day of work on the craft room. My main job was brushing away sanding dust, tack clothing everything, taping off trim, and cutting in on the walls/trim. Joe repainted the ceiling and then finished up my trim work. Still need to put a final coat on the walls and repaint the trim, but the floor needs to be masked off because neither of us are precise or neat painters. Why do these jobs seem to go so quickly on TV? Are there secret crews they don't film who come in and do all of the work? Throughout the day we'd take quick breaks to watch more FREAKS & GEEKS. Only two episodes left; I've already added UNDECLARED to our Netflix queue.

Monday, 12/1

Today is the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day, and to commemmorate the occasion, Joe and I are attending a vigil tonight sponsored by AIDS Delaware, where my friend Ebbie works. Still reeling from the impossible feat of losing four pounds over Thanksgiving weekend. Who does that?

Tomorrow I'm starting a new feature on this blog: recipe of the week. This is in part a nod to THE SWEET LIFE OF STELLA MADISON, my next book for Random House, which comes out in July. There's a lot of food and cooking in that book, and since I like food and I like to cook, I thought I'd share some of my favorite recipes and cooking sites/blogs with you. First up: the recipe to my mom's pumpkin and sausage soup, which everyone should experience at least once.