Well, I think you can put my accomplishments down as "incremental". I did manage to make the pickled green tomatoes and even took a picture to prove it to you. Do you know, though, that pickled green tomatoes don't really look all that nice? I used a cold pack (raw food put into sterilized jars) and at the start they were a brilliant emerald green. After processing they're more a greenish whitish tone and...not lovely. I'm sure I'll appreciate them in winter's martinis where I don't really have to look at their rather ickish color.

    With the rest of the green tomatoes, the non-cherry sized ones, I don't know. I had tossed around that tomato mincemeat idea but...I really don't want to end up with a bunch of jars of something that no one's going to eat. I only know one person (my dad) who enjoys mincemeat and he probably means the real thing when he says that. Does anyone actually make mincemeat anymore, or is it all this veggie and fruit business? The recipe is nothing more than a chutney, although a non-spicy one, and it just might be nice in little button-sized tarts at the gingerbread house party. See? I talk myself out of something and then talk myself right back into it again. No wonder I don't get much done. Too busy prevaricating.

    And worrying. I haven't yet finished the gift for my oldest sister because I've been so totally exhausted from a few nights in a row of worried awakeness. I come from a long line of overnight worriers. My people, they could have been clog dancers or ice wine makers or a political dynasty but no, their contribution to the world is worry. All night long for nights and months at a time. It is, literally and figuratively, tiresome.

    I won't tell you what I worry about - some of it totally legit scary stuff, some most of it ridiculous - as I don't want to set you worrying and don't wish to further imprint the list on myself, but here are some things I thought about in between bouts of breathless panic:

    1) Where I might have laid the lavender thread I bought to finish a pillow case for the Girl. The poor girl gets the most incredible knots in her hair from sleeping on cotton. Mom to the rescue (maybe) with lavender satin pillowcases with a bit of Daisy Kingdom fabric peeking out from inside. I could use white thread, sure, but where is the lavender?

    2) Would everyone like a bit of chocolate bread pudding this weekend? I haven't made any in a while and it's supposed to be kind of rainy and yucky, if unseasonably warm. Maybe I'd be better off waiting for a colder day.

    3) Whether or not I should start reading the Outlander series. I've been very keen lately to find books that won't feed this cycle of worry - I want nothing that Julia so aptly described as "depressing, depressing-but-redemptive, intensely thoughtful, or nonfiction unless it is funny". Where Outlander falls in these requirements I don't know, but people keep telling me I need to read it.

    4) Whether Jane Brocket's The Gentle Art of Domesticity is going to be made available here in the States.

    5) Why is it, do you think, that last year we had few apples on the apple trees but rather too an abundant a showing from the gingko but this year the reverse was true with lots of apples and mercifully few gingko berries. Those of you know understand what a highly fruiting gingko tree is all about also understand why we're so happy about the switcheroo and probably also get why we're trying to figure out what happened so we can encourage it to happen again next year and the year after and so on.
    6) Reading older books and memoirs of days gone by can be very helpful with the worrying stuff. It's very nice to know that despite a drought in France in '49 that convinced the country that the end times where near, coupled with crushing shortages and rationing of just about everything, did not stop Julia Child or anyone else there at the time from enjoying what there was to enjoy, no guilt involved. I also appreciated reading of Delia Lutes' belief that the Christmas celebrations she knew as a child in the 1880s were nothing at all like the "soul killing" consumption-oriented orgies of the "children of today" (Lutes wrote in the 1930s). And in The American Frugal Housewife, Lydia Marie Child bemoans the focus that mothers place on their children's clothing and activities - to the detriment of their useful educations, and that so many of her fellow citizens spend more than they earn trying to match the lifestyle of the wealthy and famous.

    In short, it is nice to know that the more things change...and with that in mind, perhaps tonight I will finish my sister's gift.

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    I started to put a little list of ongoing and outstanding projects on the sidebar. Perhaps it'll motivate me, I thought, to have a bit of public accountability for my window treatment making, cross stitching, chocolate saucing, candle pouring, wizard cape making self. As the list became longer and longer and longer (this is for projects for which I already have the materials, not the "stuff I wish I could learn to do" list) I didn't feel motivated or accountable so much as depressed. Even so, I don't feel like I have too much to do, just that I haven't organized things (by this I mean "my life") properly (I have to get things out and then put them away and then get them out and...resulting in a whole bunch of stuff that's partially completed. It occured to me last night that I can avoid the problem of having to clean up and then reaccess unfinished projects by actually finishing them. Stress will be further avoided by finishing things in the order in which they need to be delivered - things sent to Buffalo need to be done and wrapped by Thanksgiving, items for local recipients can be worked on through December, food processing trumps all of this. (You are probably as shocked as I that, for these brainstorms if nothing else, the Nobel Committe didn't award me a little something. Where are the awards for achievement in domestic arts and organization?)

    Tonight's goal is to complete the gift I'm planning on sending my oldest sister for Christmas. Given its current state, I shouldn't need more than an hour. After that...pickling the last of the green cherry tomatoes. That, too, will be quick, maybe 45 minutes total and not all of that hands-on. If I can stay awake long enough tonight, both of these projects should be well within hand.

    Here are some other brainstorms I've recently enjoyed:

    1) No matter how beautiful, sweet and delicious, homemade raspberry-infused vodka is, it is still vodka and should be treated as such.

    2) I am no longer young and fit enough to ignore #1, above, at anything other than extreme bodily peril.

    3) Numbers 1 and 2, above, very likely also apply to the ginger, pepper and mint infusions still bubbling away in the kitchen.

    4) If one doesn't, at the close of Christmas celebrations, pack the advent wreath candle holder in the box marked "Advent Wreath" one will not be able to find it for a preschool fundraising committee meeting the following October just by opening said box. Instead, profanity-filled excursions into the third floor storage area will be required and the candle holder will remain unlocated.

    5) When a colleague remarks that one lives one's life as if in "an English village in the '50s" it is probably not meant as a compliment. However, it may be the less career-limiting move to treat it as such.

    So ends the collected wisdom of Hot Water Bath for today.

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2 + and 1 -

    Okay...there are 2 things that made my day today...

    One, is meeting my lovely sis which for sure means having a good time...:)


    Two, is having this superlicious chocolate ice cream pie from Hershey's for Burger King....the taste was...superb!! :D


    The one thing that...well, it didn't ruin the day...but was just disappointing, was our choice for the movies...Intan and I watched The Invasion, which I think is (sorry to say) quite lame hehehhe..Nicole Kidman's acting was (undeniably) good though..."the pickle" was the story line huhuhuhu.... 2+ and 1- equals...still a happy day!! hahah...:D

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2 + and 1 -


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    The advent of fall weather found me matching capless acorns with acornless caps and hot gluing the pairs together. What nature won't provide, I am happy to create in a way that seems to me to be closely related to what my decision sciences professor explained as the brute force method.

    These are meant, along with the intended purchase of a couple dozen Jack B Little pumpkins, will comprise some sort of activity for the scout meeting we're hosting next week. It'll be too dark for a nature walk so I had the idea to bring a bit of nature inside and let the boys create little autumn dioramas. Really, what could be more natural than hot-glued acorns? With the nuts and pumpkins and perhaps some leaves, grasses and seed pods from elsewhere around the yard I think we'll be in good shape for a perfectly respectable scout activity.

    The entire family spent a good amount of time cleaning out the garden today, too. The kids were delighted to pick the remaining green cherry tomatoes and dried bean pods and take down the bamboo poles while their father mulched the plants with the mower and I did my best impression of a porcupine after falling butt-first into a totally new (to me) kind of burr-plant thing. Fun for all.

    The bean pods held more than enough seed for next year (to the Girl's amusement, "Mommy! It's food in here!") and there are enough green tomatoes (cherry and otherwise) that I am looking about for canning recipes to use them and which don't involve anything that could conceivably be though of as sweet-n-sour. Maybe a nice mincemeat? Not a clue what I'd do with it after making it, but it sure does sound intriguing, eh

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Cute for Shoes

    First of all, it's so cute to see Ashley and MK Olsen not in high heels..

    Secondly, it's cute as well to see these twins wearing the same shoes...

    Such adorable sisters...:)

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Cute for Shoes


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Easy D-I-Y for Slippers

    I love to wear slippers, flip flops, thongs (whatever you call em...) especially plain black colored ones as they just match with everything I wear on the top hehehhe...

    Here's a simple idea you can do to create a new look for your old thongs... add a small accessory and stick it on the intersect part...easy but cute enough to try...


    Inspired by Dini's Shoes (ElectricLadyLand.com)....

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Easy D-I-Y for Slippers


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Where Did You Go, Dr. Martens??

    When I was in the elementary school, Dr. Martens’ shoes was the bomb. Oooohhh I looove love loved them...not that I’m bragging about it, but I had quite a few pairs back then hehehhe…yellow, dark blue, floral prints…sigh…I miss wearing them...sadly they discontinued their sales in Indonesia due to the economy crisis we had back in 1998...hmmphh..

    Anyway, I don’t know why this brand popped in my mind today…probably cuz flats and jelly shoes seem to be the new craze lately that I just felt I want something different…so here I go, visiting DrMartens.com…found new pairs I wish I had…aarrgghh…


    I do agree though, that they shouldn't try to re-enter the Indonesian market as I think Indonesians wouldn't really go for these kind of shoes except for a small group of people...hhmm..I'm in that group heheh...

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Where Did You Go, Dr. Martens??


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Fall..in Love With....

    I realize that we Indonesians don’t come across Fall nor Winter...however, we are (right??) allowed to adapt the prepare-for-cold-weather fashion heheheh….I love these Fall must-haves I found on Style.com….and yes, they are wearable here in our lovely hot and sun-drenched Indonesia hihihi…

    (Intarsia Block Pattern Tops - Marc Jacobs, Hat - Marc Jacobs, Patent Leather Platform Pumps - Lanvin)


    (Downtown Tote - Yves Saint Laurent, Tricolor Bag - Balenciaga by Nicolas Ghesquiere)

    I hope I can find the cheaper version of these stuffs...hunting season starts ...yay..

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Fall..in Love With....


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