Changing the Name of the Blog

While we were eating dinner over the weekend, I announced to my family that I was thinking of snazzing up the name of my blog.  Maybe not changing the name of the blog itself, but possibly the tag line underneath of my blog.  It currently reads: Rambles about my attempts to herd cats, make a house into a home, craft, and find the joy in everyday things.

"I am thinking about changing it to read "Thoughts on the art of being a Domestic Goddess."

There was a simultaneous snort of derision from around the table.

"What?" I demanded.  "I am the real deal!  I can cook, clean, do laundry, and raised 3 marvelous children.  I grocery shop, plan meals, hold down a job - I am the ninth wonder of the world."

"Right," said daughter.  "Did you forget the time you set my cake on fire two hours before my 13th birthday party?  We were expecting guests in 2 hours, it was the middle of January, and you had every single window in the house open, with fans blowing in each one trying to get the smoke out before anyone actually showed up at the door.  I'll never forget the sight of the flaming cake that you tossed out of the back door and into the pile of snow in the back yard.  Wow, did that sizzle and pop."

"That was a one time thing." I protested.

"Don't forget that when we were first married, you were on a first name basis with the fire captains of all three shifts of the local fire department because we set the smoke detectors in the apartment building off so many times."

"That's been over 20 years..."

"And do you remember the time when you made a peanut butter sauce to go over rice noodles.  The dog wouldn't even eat those."

"The sugar cookies that the ducks wouldn't touch."

"The bread that never rose because you forgot to proof your yeast."

"That time you tried to make Baked Alaska and the ice cream melted inside of the oven and not only smoked up the house, it rolled out of the oven door and all over the floor."

"The time you fixed the toilet and ended up with the parts all over the living room floor - because you couldn't figure out how to re-seat the tank."

"Now wait a minute, I would have gotten that tank back on if I'd had another half hour before you woke up from your naps."

"Oh, and let's not forget WHY we're eating dinner out tonight.  You were making dinner, and you managed to set the onions in the pan on fire instead of just browning them.  I mean really, Mom..."

"This is what I mean.  This takes TRUE talent.  Anyone can saute onions, but to set them on fire?  While cooking them over low heat?  THAT is a feat that can't be duplicated by many people.  I am a true Domestic Goddess.  Other people only pretend that they want to be housewives who can do it all.  Not only have I done it all, but I have FAILED more often than most, and I openly admit it.  How many other people have failed at these simple tasks?  Not many, I tell you.  I am a LEGEND in my own house.  I am truly a divine inspiration to those around me."

And I swear, I heard one of the kids mutter "A divine inspiration of what NOT to do...."

I tell you, it's hard to pull off this kind of fabulosity on a daily basis.  But I struggle through and fabulous on.  It's what I do!  

Musings on the art of being a Domestic Goddess.... It has a certain pretentiousness about it, doesn't it?

Can You Cook From Scratch? A Challenge...

This is actually a serious question.  Given a bag of rice, an onion, 1 pound of raw meat of your choice, and say, a carrot and a stalk of celery, can you make that into an edible meal that will feed several people?  Or just yourself for several nights?

Oldest child is in Graduate School right now.  He's a smart cookie, no doubt about it.  But what is he known for?  The fact that he can cook a meal from scratch.  Where some of his peers are spending $100 or more a week for easy to make stuff in boxes and bags, he's making his own food, and he's spending less than $30 a week on groceries.  He uses his slow cooker on Sunday to make food that feeds him for the rest of the week.  He will keep out one or two servings, and then he freezes the rest in single portion sizes.  He's got a very decent selection of dinners at this point in time that he pulls from every night.  When he was home for Thanksgiving, he told me that he frequently rounds out his dinner with a salad.

What kinds of food does he make?  Well, there's a good question.

He's made a Moroccan Chick Pea stew that comes from a recipe we found on Mother Earth Living.  He told me he usually doubles the recipe, and sets the garbanzo beans out the night before to soak, and then makes the rest of the recipe the next morning.  He's taken this to a couple of potluck meals this semester, and returned with an empty pot both times.

He makes pancakes from scratch.  Flour, sugar, eggs, etc.  He mixes a double batch, and freezes the leftovers for breakfast the next morning.

When he was home for Thanksgiving, he was the one who began stewing the leftover turkey carcass to make a turkey stock.  Since he was the one who made the stock, we let him take it back to school with him.  Instead of making broth cubes, he took back 2 big mason jars full of turkey stock.

So, back to my original question.  Given a bag of rice, an onion, a pound of raw meat of your choice, a carrot and a stalk of celery, can you make an edible meal?

Spices?  Use only what you have on hand in your cupboard.  No going out to get something extra!

What would you make?  I'm really curious.  Post your ideas below.  I'll post my ideas tomorrow.

Sewing Machines

My Mom's sewing machine.

My mom taught me how to sew using her sewing machine - a 1950's Singer that still works as well as it did the day she bought it.  Even though she no longer sews, twice a year, she still pulls out the oil and the brushes and cleans the mechanism of the machine.  I wish you could hear the hum of that motor when it gets going.  It almost purrs, it runs so smoothly.  It went with her when she married my Dad, and survived through the 14 moves they made while he was in the Air Force.

Stuff Bags for the House of Ruth

When I started college, I bought my own sewing machine.  I've had my sewing machine for 30 years now.  I bought it at Minnesota Fabrics in the Fair Oaks Mall when I was a college student for $70.  I've used it over and over again.  I've sewn clothes for myself.  I've sewn quilts.  I've sewn clothes for the children, and I've made quilts for Project Linus and purses and bags- some for myself, and some for House of Ruth.

My 1980 something sewing machine.

It's a very simple, no frills machine that works one stitch - straight.  It doesn't do a lot, but it meets my needs. And has met them well for 30 years.  It has moved with me from house to house, and city to city.  It's a portable machine, and I have hauled it to school, sewing classes, my Mom's house, and friends' houses.  I've taught my daughter how to sew with it, and she too, has made tote bags, back packs, and purses for school.

Middle Child's graduation quilt.

Alas, my machine is beginning to have issues.  It's having problems with the tension.  I've taken it in to be serviced, but the tension issue is a continuing one.  Now that I'm an empty nester, I've pulled out the machine and have some projects I want to work on.  Unfortunately, every time I begin to work on a project, that tension problem becomes an issue.  No matter how I adjust things, the back of the piece of fabric is a mess of loosely looped threads.





What's a woman to do?  I've taken the machine in to be fixed before, but I was told that the tension issue is going to cost more to fix than a new sewing machine.  I'll play with it some more, but I know what needs to be done.  I am going to have to pull out the brushes and the oil, and clean out the machine the way my mother taught me.  And, if all else fails, I'm going to have to take it to my Mom and ask her how to fix it.  She has forgotten more than most of us know.  I'm positive that she'll be able to talk me through fixing my machine even if she can't see it. You know, she grew up during the Depression, and that generation can fix just about anything, make anything from nothing, and find ways to stretch a meal ten ways to Sunday.

The problem is right down there - with the bobbin.

Just in case, though, I'm going to have to look for a new machine.  I'm looking for a 1980's machine - something simple that sews straight stitches and doesn't require a computer microchip to run.  Something that will last and last and last.  Wait - that's my machine.  If Mom can't tell me how to fix it, I might just have to suck it up and take it in to the shop and have them work their magic on it for me.

Why mess with a classic?