New Year.. New Plan...

Happy New Year!  My plan is to finish what I start.  When you've stopped laughing.... because you can totally relate... I'll start typing again.  lol   I have actually had a taste of this for a few months after relocating to a different house, in a different part of the greater Sydney area.  However, I have noted the last several weeks have seen me get off track.  It was the holidays and there were all of a sudden so many errands I had to run to finish things up.  OOh oohhhh!  I was finishing what I had started, I think!  wooohoooo!  I just got waylaid from my bigger picture plan of getting the garage in order by finishing up the things inside of the house.. and in the garden.  Well... this blog is a productive thing already!    I do confess I still have a few small things inside to finish up.  I remember this every time I look at the bit of masking tape slowly falling off the edge of the wall that I need to do just a bit of trim on.  ;)    At this juncture I could post a photo... but I haven't figured out yet how to do that... seems it will take some HTML.. and that is tucked away far into my overcrowded and 'not wanting to go there' portion of my brain.  Whoops.. nope.. I just saw the little editing bar above.  How easy.. hmm.. now I don't know what photo to post.  So I will start that next time.  This time I really wanted to focus on baking.

Why?  Because I am a desert-a-holic.  I have been known to have an entire day's nutrition straight from a large pan of apple crisp.  Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and snacks.  It is my very favorite food of all time, mind you, and very easy to mind-manipulate yourself into thinking it is good for you.  I mean.. "an apple a day" and all that, and oatmeal.  It must be the perfect food combination for living a long, long life.  ;)

Every Christmas I sit and dream up this list of goodies I will/would bake.  And then I realize that I would have to nearly eat them all myself... well, of course my husband could also get fatter.. or my brother...  Get the picture?  But I don't have that huge circle of nearby family and friends that I could pack up a goodie bag for.  Last year I made several things for the Wolstenholme family lunch, but I don't think my tastes in desert are the same as the Aussies.  Maybe they ate it all after I had gone, but ...    Mike (husband) makes the trifle each year. Last year we.. oops.. 'he' made two and when we left there were oodles of it left.  This year we only made one.  It was over half gone when we left, so that is a much better outcome.  I made some chocolate cookies.

That is the real reason for this post, along with needing to get into the habit of posting on this blog.  That cookie recipe was the oddest and perhaps easiest one I have come across and that is why I made them, actually.  And they were superb!  I'm going to post that recipe at the end of the blog.

I can't tell you how many recipes I have saved in various online recipe boxes and on my computer.  And I am selective!  If I had a small bakery, confection shop, it would have to be called 'Sweetstufff this Week', because I would be baking something different every week and would not be able to do the same things every week.  lol  Folks would have to drop in to see what made it onto the shelves..  I guess I would really have to have a joint venture  - Sweetstuff this Week  - Goodies and Gifts.    I wouldn't be able to keep a stock of anything in the gift section either.  Part of the fun of making things is changing it up, right?  Sometimes you only want to make things once.  I know I have made a man's suit - once.   A great Three Musketeers type shirt out of a delicious blue satin - once.  I could go on..  I'm sure you get the picture though.  (Darn.. now I can't get this brown satin fabric out of my head and I can't remember what I made out of it!)

I think the most important thing when you get a 'big picture' idea, is to break it down into size-able, do-able portions.  I was just sitting here thinking.. shoppe.. sewing, baking.. clearing..  and my head went into that 'spin' and then started spiraling down down down... from the weight of all that is to be done.  but realizing where I was headed (back to bed, into a computer game, or internet world, or tv-land) to escape the weight of it all... I have just backed my mind off.    I know there is only one of me, and things have to be done one thing at a time.  So, after this holiday break is over... can't do a thing with Mike at home, quizzing and questioning... and opinionating (I'm not fussed that isn't a word, it is what he does) on things he knows not of...  I will work out an outline of  tasks needed to be completed.  It won't be that structured as it gets boring if you just do one thing all the time.  I'll move from one area to another so I can see some progress on all fronts. Plus I have to work in the regular every day, every week - I have to do stuff.

I can envision a day when I will have very few things to prepare and clean and organize and will just be doing a few daily chores and heading into the art room or outside art area or kitchen to just create things for my little part time shop.  There is a bonus to getting older..  your mind allows you such flights of fancy.  Oh yeah.. I can write that book, too.

Oh.. that recipe.  ;)  I got it from one of my recipe sites, but I'll just quote the original source.  If they are baked long enough they are delicately crunchy on the outside and like a delectable puff of chocoate inside with a little chewiness from the nuts.  If they are a little less cooked, they are a little gooey and chewy inside.  Both results are great.  It might take a few batches to decide what works in your oven re: time and temperature.  Don't worry, the mistakes are delicious.

Chocolate Meringue Smooches

Source: Paula Deen

Servings:         Makes 4 dozen

Prep time:       25 minutes

Cook time:      12 minutes per batch

Ingredients:

1 teas. vanilla extract
1/2 c. walnuts or pecans,chopped
1/2 c. crushed saltine crackers
3 egg whites,stiffly beaten
1 c. powdered sugar
6 oz. pkg. semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325^.
Using a large bowl,fold the powdered sugar a little at a time into the stiffly beaten egg whites. Add the crackers, nuts and vanilla, and fold in gently. Melt the chocolate in microwave at 30 second interval stirring after each 30 seconds until melted.Allow to cool slightly.Fold melted chocolate into the egg white mixture. Using a greased cookie sheet, drop the mixture by rounded half teaspoonfuls. Place in the oven and bake for 12 minutes. Remove cookies from oven and repeat until batter has been used up.

Well Here We Go!

I just read something in an online magazine about keeping a artistic journal.  I read several people's blogs on a semi-regular basis.  Today the two just combined in my head along with the project I am embarking on and - here I am.  I like to make things.  Art, crafts, sewing and baking.  I haven't been very dedicated to it in some time, mind you, but have kept a hand in.  I did more of it when my daughter was young.. the sewing part, anyway.  I only relatively recently began painting - in artist terms..  about 5 years ago.  I've always wanted to, but it just never happened until then.  I don't have any formal training.. just a self- floundering artist.  ;)  But I have a LOT of ideas!

I've been watching from afar thru my niece, Melissa's blog and posts on facebook of her journey into craftyworld and remembered just how much I love doing it.  I have also recently moved from a drab drab house into one full of light and outdoor space. I have a garden!  You know.. the "I can grow vegetables and stuff" kind, not just a few pots on the sidewalk or porch. I just picked peaches from my dwarf peach tree today.  I have lettuce coming out of my ears, and a lot of other things that are starting to take off.  I have my OWN art room!  I will also have a lovely garage to use as my  Art Gallery/Gift Shop..  as soon as I clear it out and have a garage sale, that is.  And I just bought a new sewing machine.  Man, did I have the most fantastic machine back in the day.. with the electronic embroidery and all.  This one is just a simple one.. but it is a start.

So all this cannot go to waste.  And to have a public record that will keep me motivated and on track, I have started this blog.

I have been in the house (a rental) for nearly 3 months now.  This time has been spent getting the garden/yard in order and working on the inside of the house.  We have painted the living areas and put up my art, I have the kitchen organized, the electronics hooked up, the bathroom organized.  I don't have my art room set up yet, nor the computer/exercise room finished yet.  As you can see I have the computer side of it done, but not the exercise part.  Therefore.. I have not done much baking as yet either.  No exercise, no goodies... well, not that I make anyway.

Most of my clothes are still packed up in the garage...  it is amazing how little clothing you can get by with if necessary.  There is a lot of stuff packed up in the garage.  It wouldn't have been this way, had the moving gone to plan.. but....  it was raining.. they were in a hurry (as men doing hard labor are).. so a lot of stuff just got chucked in the garage.  There are benefits to this though.   Out of sight, out of mind mean anything to you?  If you are partner to a hoarder.. oh yes it does.  Now the trick is to go through all the junk, sort it out and sell it off or donate it before he gets a good look.  Oh, and NO.. he will not be reading this blog, thank you very much.  LOL  The reward for me is a clean spacious garage for my Art Gallery/ Gift Shop.

That is my end goal.  Just a little something I can open on Saturdays when husband is off golfing, have a place to show and store and sell my creations and make a few dollars, perhaps.

So, that is the journey on which we embark.  Mostly me.. but you are welcome to come along.  I promise it won't be smooth sailing.. I've lived long enough to know that in advance. Maybe you can pick up a few ideas, or share a few with me.  I'll post some pictures next time.. as soon as I figure out how.  We'll do a before and after kind of thing.  Maybe I will also learn to stay on topic and have a better organized blog.  We can hope.

Okay.. I hear the man coming... gotta go!