My Bucket List

Okay, one more thing crossed off of my Bucket List - picking cotton! I always wanted to see what a field of cotton looked like and how hard it was on your fingers to pick the seed pods. I might have some pretty weird things on my "to do" list, but that is what makes each person's Bucket List unique and exciting. We all want to do different things - I am pretty sure in all my years of scrapbooking, this one has never been on anyone else's list.

The field of cotton looked exactly how I expected it to - very, very big. If I was faced with the daunting task of working my way up and down those unending rows, I might just have stepped off a cliff and ended the misery! Even on this not-too-warm day, bending over and picking the pods was not an easy task! I wasn't even wearing a long dress that would get caught in the branches, and no overseer with a big whip was urging me on. I just had a shopping bag and an desire to try something new. Needless to say, it didn't take very long before I was bleeding and very glad that this was not my full time job!

After the cotton field, I strolled through a Mexican grocery store. What fun!!!! There were very few words that I could understand in that store, but some of the time I could figure out what I was looking at. I spent a lot of time in the spice section and picked up a few packages of dried chili peppers and some jars of ground spices. These might be a bit of an experiment as some of the jars are in Spanish! I guess that the people at the airport also had a good look at them - all of my grocery bags had been opened and the chili peppers had been removed from the bags, yet nothing was missing. I suppose that they had to be sure that they were safe to enter the country. Now, all I have to do is figure out what to do with them.

Now, on to the next thing on my list - a major league baseball game!

Spring!

Today, is the ultimate spring day - the birds are chirping, the air is fresh and spring like and I am experiencing the worst case of spring fever ever. I want to plant a garden, wash some windows, clean a layer of dust off the veranda and have a BBQ for supper. A little premature, I think, but I can tell that spring is not far off!
We had a Mexican Salad for lunch, and I promised to share the recipe for the dressing - it might be a little wonky, because I made it up and it is never the same twice in a row. Today's version went something like this:

In the bowl of a food processor, add:

three green onions, cut in half
zest of two to three limes
juice of three to four limes (a little less than 1/2 cup)
2 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp seasoning salt
1/2 tsp dried chili flakes
1/2 bunch of washed cilantro - stems and all

At this point, pulse a few times to break up the onions and the cilantro. With the motor running, add about 1/3 cup cooking oil. I don't generally use olive oil in this recipe, as I want the fresh taste of the limes and cilantro to come through and not the oil. Canola would be fine!

Taste the green dressing and adjust to your taste. Some like it sweeter, some like it more tart. Some like the heat and will add more chili flakes. I just really like to taste the lime! I have made this dressing for a long time and every once in a while, I will come across a cilantro hater. I have never had anyone object to the dressing once they have tasted it. It just is so fresh!!

I usually toss the greens before serving with the dressing and then set out an assortment of:

Tex Mex shredded cheese, Cajun chicken breast, black beans, chick peas, salsa and sour cream. diced jalapeno peppers, chopped red onion, sliced cucumber, diced yellow and red pepper and crushed corn chips ( a mix of blue corn and yellow corn). Serve extra dressing on the side and presto!!! Spring on a plate!

Enjoy!!

I Get To Use Pink!!!!

With the birth of Peyton, a whole new colour palette has opened up to me! PINK. I can not honestly recall the last time that I have ever used pink...it ceased to exist to me until April/2011. I could skip that whole isle at the scrapbook store, there was no pink, ruby, peach, or purple in my pages until almost a year ago.

I can not say that I am comfortable with it yet. But sometimes you have to step outside of your box and do something different. When was the last time that I was afraid of a scrapbooking challenge? Well, I hate to admit it, but most times when I sit down at my table, I am scared spitless. LOL. My spellcheck is objecting to my use of "spitless". I guess they don't have many farm girls using that word on their blogs. Too funny! And, I might point out, that by now they should recognize the word scrapbooking as ONE word!!! It is about time!!! There has to be a million girls out there, using that one!

Honestly, with the number of albums that I have completed, one would think that I could just sit down and pull a layout out of my ---. Not so. Almost every time, I sit down with a little apprehension and fear. The pressure is felt very acutely when I have to design a layout for the website. It came so naturally to Christy, it does not to me. I used to tease Christy that she was the "queen of ugly" - just give her the most mismatched, nonsensical assortment of papers and embellishments and she could whip off a beautiful layout. Evidence of that is clear when you see that she is the reigning champ of "Iron Scrapbooker".

I think that a lot of scrapbookers are like me. A little afraid, a little lost, when starting a design. Then, about halfway through, something clicks and you are on a roll. When creating this layout, above, I stared at the Victorian, purple and cream paper for quite a while before I started pleating, punching and inking. I found a few tools when we were moving into my new craft room that had been lost for quite a while. Again, I don't remember how long it has been since I pulled out flower punches, but now that they are hanging on the wall, it so easy to see things that can be put together.

After the initial shock of the pastel colours, I was very happy with the way that the page ended up. The black and white photos look amazing on the first page of Peyton's baby album. It is hard to believe that little stair climbing, into everything monkey is almost one year old! God, am I ever getting old! My goal is to have her book caught up before her first birthday. Only about ten months behind!

Channeling Spring

I am so ready for spring to come that I can hardly stand it...yes, I am aware that there could be many more weeks of winter weather, but I choose to believe that spring is in the air! Yesterday, I got to drop in on my all time favourite store in the world and pick up a few decorating supplies to make a new table center piece. I got the coolest wrought iron fence (about four inches tall, white washed, and sooooo cute!) I also picked up a few spring birds, some eggs and egg candles! Now all I need is some time to take down the fall decorations! LOL.

While we were at the store, I saw a sign that was very hilarious. It said, "Shopping with your husband is like hunting with the game warden". I nearly peed myself, I was laughing so hard. Isn't that the truth! I considered buying it and putting it in my store, as there are never any husbands that come scrapbook shopping with their wives. Way too true!

However, yesterday, my husband was along with me in my favourite store and he was really good about the purchases that I made. Maybe he is waiting for spring too! It made the trip to Calgary a little more tolerable than I originally thought it would be. What a way to spend a leap year day - going to doctor's appointments. The decorations made the day much more interesting! By far, the coolest thing that I got was a wall decoration made of black iron that has little black clips attached all over it. It looks like an old fashion wrought iron gate and you hang it on the wall and attach your favourite photos and memorabilia with the little clips. It is about four feet tall and can hold LOTS of photos, post cards, thank you cards etc. I can't wait to decorate it up! Mike has it up in his workshop right now, making a copy of it. I can't imagine any scrapbooker that would not love it!!! What a find.

Mike did however, pull the plug on stopping at Williams-Sonoma. He just couldn't take being drug through yet another kitchen store. Usually, he is up for it, but not this time! His leg was killing him after the appointments, so we decided to go home and let him put it up. We have to be back in the city next week for more appointments, so I will hit him up for a Williams-Sonoma pit stop then. These constant doctor's appointments leading up to his surgery are important but very time consuming. Only about a month to go...