Saturday 28 November 2009

Thanksgiving

Belated Happy Thanksgiving to all my American Friends and family. This blog post would have been done sooner if I hadn't have gotten so busy with the holiday, shopping, and a last minute trip to London on the weekend.

Thanksgiving turned out ok despite H being poorly with cold and needing me by his side every few minutes for cuddles, Wizard of Oz watching, and general entertainment. The entertainment being me playing Super Mario Galaxy while he ordered me about like a poorly little prince. (I friggan hate you Mario, Luigi, Bowser, and especially you Princess peach for not rescuing yourself. )

The Day before Thanksgiving I sent Matt shopping with the following items on the list.

pecans (for the pecan pie -I hate pumpkin pie)
turkey breasts or turkey crown (I never do a full turkey my oven isn't big enough)
cranberry sauce
cream
milk
brown sugar
eggs
stuffing mix (but not sage as I'm allergic *lame*)
sweet potatoes
vegtables
Half an hour after I sent him on his merry shopping way the phone rings and the following conversation took place.
me: hello?
Matt: they have no turkey.
me: What? its a store.. they always have turkey!
Matt: They have no turkey.
me: none at all? *incredulous*
Matt: Well they have minced turkey.. we could have turkey burgers...mmmm burgers
Me: anything else?
Matt: um there are some chunks of cheap turkey with veins, and bones, and gristle.
Me: uh no thanks...is there anything else?
Matt: a chicken?
Me: that will have to do...
so Turkey Day this year was replaced by chicken day, it was not the end of the world. To be truthful I'm not a huge turkey fan anyway. Poor H had about three bites of dinner then lay his head down on the table and nearly fell asleep. So I took him to his bed then settled down to watch a show and eat pecan pie.
What am I thankful for?
  • my family, even though we are very far apart I know I just need to call and my parents would do anything for us
  • for a wonderful husband who makes me laugh, even if he generates as much mess as H does.
  • an amazing son, who is funny, clever, a con artist, who never shuts up, and is a complete and utter drama king who probably needs stage school.
  • my mother in law who is just lovely and irons Matt's shirts so I won't burn them.
  • my friends both here, on the interwebs and in the States.
  • the blogsphere for being a wonderful place, full of inspiration and crafty camaraderie.
  • the few customers who have bought my little crafts and made it so I could afford to buy a few more craft supplies.
  • and thank you Word for letting my write my drabbles and only bitching about my bad spelling and terrible grammar and not telling me how bad my writing really is.


vintage postcards found on the interwebs ages ago, I don't know the source.

Monday 23 November 2009

Alice in Wonderland Swap ?

Who would be interested in joining an Alice in Wonderland Swap? The swap wouldn't be sent out till end of January/February so there would be plenty of time to get things crafted and sent well after Christmas (with all your new crafty pretties to play with). Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is out in theaters on March 5th 2010 so I thought it would be cool to do an Alice in Wonderland themed swap before the release date for the film.

I know its ages away but time flies and I wanted to get something written down before I forget to ask everyone to join in on the fun.

What do you think? If I get enough positive comments I'll do a write up and a questionnaire. I'm sure I have a lot of things to do, but I need a bit of inspiration to get crafting again and I thought this would be the perfect way.

Wednesday 18 November 2009

friendship meme

best friends, H and Frankie (taken last April)

1. What does “friendship” mean to you?

I think friendship means many different things, it means love, and trust, and can be shared in many different ways. My longest friendship is with Meg who I have known since high school, we talk at random intervals, online or on the phone, but when we do its like we were never apart and can still reminisce about smuggling Chinese food into the movie theater, or the silly (and horrendously complicated) MASH games we used to play.

I think you tailor your personality to mesh with whatever friend you are with at the time. That doesn't sound quite right but I'm sure you all have a shopping friend, a tv junky friend, all these different aspects of your own personality that you share with different friends who have that same aspect in common.

I also think that friendship equals family, I grew up with just my parents, far away from any blood relatives, and as such I think that your friends become your family. I have no siblings but I think the friends you are closest to become your sisters, your brothers, and you can rely on them as you would any blood relation. And friends can walk on 4 legs as well as two. *looks at Frankie and the Boy*

2. What are the qualities you look for in a good friend?
humor, truth, having something in common to talk about, obsess over, hate, somebody to fuss over my cooking doesn't hurt either. ;o)

3. When does an acquaintance become a “friend”?

When you have laughed together. I'm mostly a dour sort of person, or at least that's how I see myself most of the time and it


4. What makes a friendship become more or less significant to you?

Trust ... I think the more trust you have in a friendship the stronger the friendship is.


5. What aspects of yourself do you share with a friend that you do not share with others?

My inner thoughts, my slightly dark sense of humour, bad moods and dark days.

6. What aspects of yourself do you usually hold back in your friendships?

I'm a cautious person, and it takes awhile for me to open up and trust people. I live in my head and it often times takes a lot of effort to share the person in my mind with the outside world. I think often that I live in two different worlds, or perhaps I appear to be two different people, the person who tiptoes through the world and the person that I am in my writing, my art, and on the Internet. I think I am far more interesting as Meri than I am as Apryl, through they are obviously both me. The more I get to know you there more I am myself, or the diffrent aspects of myself aren't so closely guarded the more trust there is.

7. What do you expect from your friends?

Honesty, respect, inspiration, truth, and sarcasm, people to eat the cakes I bake, share books, and watch terrible movies with me, to listen to my whinging while I listen to theirs.


8. How does one’s willingness to be vulnerable impact friendship development?

If you can't open your heart to your friends then how can you be friends?

9. Where are your closest friends?

that all depends on your personal definition of close...

Frizbe is closest as she lives in the same town as me and is the friend I made in England (though I still maintain she felt sorry for me having to lay down in the middle of Parentcraft Class when I was pregnant and had hyperemisis and ridiculously low blood pressure.
Meg: in California (who I have know forever and she still likes me),
Jaci:who I knew in school but lost contact until the magic of the internet and the realization that both our sons are named H.
Selena:who I admire no end for her creativity, courage, and bright spirit
Gin: who says "Oh My Gosh" more than anyone I have ever known
Marina:who glees at crappy films and swaps Paranormal Romance novels with me
Ali: who makes me laugh and is an all around kind spirit,
Katy: who loves dark chocolate, is more stylish than I will ever be, is beautiful and thin (which I obviously hate her for ;o) ...) and promises to teach me to quilt)
Flame: who adores Supernatural, and borrows all my Urban Fantasy books, loves Joss Whedon, listens to me whinge and whine, and shared the misery of depression and Hyperemisis (if you haven't had it you won't understand) ...

There are so many more friends on the interwebs that I just haven't met yet but we email, we blog, we send handmade crafts, commiserate about demonic children, messy husbands, a love of crappy movies, tv shows, books, buttons, geeks, writing, crafting, baking, mullet rock, and Joss Whedon. Friends on Facebook, on Crafteroo, Mumsnet, and twitter too. People that inspire me to be a better me. I'm not listing all of your names( because I will forget someone as my coffee hasn't kicked in yet) but I hope you know who you are and think of me as your friend too.

There might be people who don't count these as friendships but I do, I can express more in my writing than I can say aloud. My best friend, my husband met me on the internet all those many years ago, and though I didn't fall in love with him until we were friends in real life he was still my friend online and in the X-Files fandom (yes we are geeks but I recon you knew that already)


10. How have you changed as a person through your friendships with others?

I have learned so many things from my friends. I am quite an introverted person but not all my friends share this somewhat debilitating state. I have learned how to laugh at myself, to share my depressions and sorrows, the things that I guard the most behind the locked doors and brick walls I have built in my mind. I would be like the shadow I was in high school, that haunted the halls and walk through life without making an impression on the world surrounding me if it wasn't for my friends.

11. Who is your Best Friend?

M is... he puts up with the most crap from me, and I really couldn't go on day to day with out him there to make me laugh, make me smile, and annoy the hell out of me. He geeks out with me at crappy horror movies, argues with me about music (we mostly have similar tastes but he does have a thing for whiny music and I'm more of a Metal Head that him) ... if we weren't friends than I don't think we would be married as long as we have.

12. Who is your newest Friend?

Amanda, she was my partner in the 80's Fantasy Movie Swap. We haven't met in person yet but we have a lot in common, we are both a little unbalanced (in the good kind of way..I think) both Ex- Pats(though she is probably more hard core than I as she lives in Scotland and I'm just in the Midlands), we both love True Blood, and adore geeks. She is fantastically funny, is amazingly talented and she has the most awesome photoshop skills...ever.

Friday 13 November 2009

proof of age


Skid Row- 18 and Life


I was 12 when this came out *calculates on fingers*
holy crap that means ...
I am officially old...
still an awesome song though...

Wednesday 11 November 2009

Dear Santa,

Dear Santa,

I have been awfully good this year I would like some of the following for Christmas:


Divine Misdemeanors by Laurell K Hamilton... what can I say I love Merry Gentry.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith, I saw this last time we were in the states months before it came out here and I can't believe I didn't add it to the huge pile of books I was already buying!


Notebooks: the ones pictured are Nkuku fair trade journals, the journal that lives in my handbag is one one these and it is fabulous but earlier while drooling..I mean wandering around Etsy I saw this Make Your Own Leather Journal Kit (OMG how fab is that?)
A Kitchenaid standing mixer, in red, grey, black or cream... I have wanted one of these for about 4 years, pretty please Santa I have been especially good this year.

Ascaso Dream Espresso Machine in grey, black, red, or chrome... but OMG are they not just the most beautiful thing ever? *coffee geek*


Also I would love Amy Karol's books
fabric, the drive to get things done
I want to take a Workshop at Rothley Craft Farm
I want to learn to quilt and really need to take a class (or annoy the hell out of Katy till she teaches me)
more books (because you can never have too many books)
a sewing machine that is bigger than an iron (which is about the size of my current one)
a bookcase (a wide one not a tall one in oak please I will ignore the sofa that is falling apart)
paint to decorate our bedroom


That's about all, you know except for my list of favourites on Etsy and the lovely stuff made by all my crafty blogger and twitter friends.

love,

Apryl

Tuesday 10 November 2009

today I...

....had a toffee nut latte at Starbucks in the Mall... I am a coffee snob ... and I don't normally go for fluffy coffees drowning in gobs of sugary syrup...something to do with overdosing on Carmel Macahiatos when I worked at Target in Santa Rosa, Ca back in my carefree youth. My poison of choice is a latte (not too hot, I cant stand scalded milk, one sugar) or an iced latte (my favourite)... but OMG the toffee nut latte, it's syrup-y goodness it tastes just the way that Target smells in autumn, which you won't understand unless you love Target, M just happens to love Target as well and he understood completely when he took a slurp of my Toffee Nut Latte, the sugar, the sweet nuttiness, the whipped cream and the sprinkles... pure bliss in a tall red cup.

red cup= happy

right I have some writing to do... a fairy tale that I keep ignoring and ignoring.. it will be done by the end of the month!

Sunday 1 November 2009

Sugar Skull Cookies

Align CenterSugar Skull Cookies for the Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead)


Ingredients
Makes 2 dozen
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions
Mix together flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl.

In a large bowl cream butter and sugar; add dry ingredients, and mix well

add egg, milk, and vanilla; mix well.

Separate the dough to incorporate different food colourings.

Transfer dough to a work surface. Shape into discs, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 180C (350 degrees F) Line baking sheets with greaseproof paper.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness and cut.

Transfer to prepared baking sheets, leaving an inch in between.

Leftover dough can be rolled and cut once more. It will need to be put back in the fridge to set if it has become too warm.

Bake for 10 minutes, until lightly golden.

Transfer to wire racks to cool. Once cooled decorate.



Cook's Notes: my cookie cutter worked! yay *runs around happily and is ignored*