365 days of drawing ~ day two

Today was a difficult day with only about an hour to myself.  I only used about 30 minutes to study and draw, I didn't get to finish and my perspective was off on the darker block.  Feels great to be back on a drawing schedule again though.  After thinking about it, I used to draw every day for four years for at least an hour a day, when I was in High School.  But really it was more like two or three hours a day, since I had several art classes in one day.

I happened to see the Hape Twist and Turnables that our youngest just got for Christmas this year.  I was thinking about how my children were clingy and whiny today, when I saw the twist and turnables, I giggled.  As the world turns....

365 days of drawing ~ day one

I have a lot of things to accomplish in 2014, getting back to drawing is one of them.  I am going to draw something each day, even if it's just a partial sketch.  I am sure I will have quite a few unfinished drawings, but better than none at all.  Being able to draw well comes with lots of practice.

Do or do not, there is no try  ~ Yoda

It is the start of a new year.  My youngest turned one yesterday and we are embarking on new frontiers with both girls.  We have a lot of hopes and dreams for 2014.  Family, friends, job hunting, camping, festivals, tie dye, music, drawing, more exercise, are all on the list.  I managed to sneak in a bit of drawing during nap time today.  This little fellow is one of the astronauts that came with The Early Learning Centre lift off rocket.  I thought, what better than to start off our year with the dreams of adventure....

Holiday shopping? Hah! Nope!

Braving oodles of traffic, weaving around lines of cars waiting to turn into the nearest shopping mall?  Nope.  Driving around a huge concrete jungle looking for a parking space, for hours?  Nope.  Shouldering through large crowds to move through the mall to the next store?  Nope.  Waiting in long lines to purchase a few pairs of boxer shorts?  Nope.  Passing by the mall Santa and hearing children having melt downs?  Nope.  Getting bumped, seeing people grab, witnessing arguments over material possessions, feeling sorry for the cashier getting an ear full from an angry customer?  Nope.  Nope. Nope and nope.  Watching people drive badly, cut each other off, curse and shake fists?  Nope.  This year I took the road less traveled.

Pennsylvania Dutch Sand Tart cookie recipe

Thin, crispy, buttery, sugar covered cookies....I fondly remember my Grandma making these treats every Christmas!  I don't have her old recipe, but I do have a recipe from a family friend.  Let me tell you, I made this recipe and they look and taste like I remember - SCORE!

Best baked bone-in chicken EVERRR !

Note the perfect match up - wheat beer!

I received some chicken thighs with the skin on and bone-in, truthfully, I had no idea what to do with them.  I feel so stupid, all those years cooking bone-less skin-less chicken for $3.99 lb or more (unless on sale, then I am grabbing them up like chocolate on sale, which never is by the way) and not realizing there is a cheaper, juicy and delicious cut of chicken out there....(shakes my head)  Really though, its not MY fault!  I had no one to teach me to cook, I learned some things in Home Economics class, from friends and even my husband taught me a lot of stuff.  So here we are, I think I found the mother of all recipes for skin-on, bone-in chicken - breasts, thighs, whatever - been using this recipe faithfully.  In fact, as I write this, I have this recipe baking away in my oven.....YUM.  (oh and I am a skin eater, in which case this recipe is PERFECT for skin eaters)

MOPS

I have been part of this exciting thing lately.  I say exciting because any amount of outside the home activities are considered excitement for me.  A family member mentioned this group called MOPS once, I was like mops?  What is that?  Mothers of Preschoolers she says.  I shrug it off and forget about it.  Then I start seeing a friend post on Facebook all this fun stuff she is doing with her MOPS friends.  Play dates, outings, picnics, meetings, fundraisers, so I start snooping around.  I first googled it and found their website here - http://www.mops.org/.  Then I watched this video:

House faery thefts

Since my husband and I were married, we have been plagued by a mischievous house faery.  Missing rings, lost pendants, money gone astray, disappearing paperwork.....of course WE would never misplace anything.  Nobody else to blame but the house faery!