Calamity Kim

Scattered, Smothered and Covered

I saw a woman at the grocery store yesterday wearing a beautiful scarf. It was knitted in tight stitches from aqua colored yarn and had 3 large buttons keeping it fashionably secure around her neck. It was gorgeous!
This weekend is the Sewing Expo in Tampa. Some of my friends are  there and Picasso's Moon has a booth. Maybe next year I will be able to attend.
I hope to have learned how to knit myself by then.
Has anyone read the book by Crazy Aunt Purl?
Is it funny? Should I read it?
She just got back from an accidental trip to Rome. It was cheap- only $600 round trip and though she has read Eat, Pray, Love she wasn't planning to go there but couldn't resist the low airfare.
I like to read her blog, she is very funny, and I am amazed at how just writing about your life can change it! Mine has certainly changed, with new opportunities presented to me that otherwise would not have been possible. Amazing!
Last night I checked the email and found a cool thing I want to share- you may already know about it- The Martha Stewart Website has a new feature.
They added more ways for everyone to enjoy their  site and interact with members. Now you can save, rate, and comment on recipes, articles, Good Things, and more. Amazing!
So, of course I signed up.
You make a page- fill out some stuff- bio stuff and then you can save your favorite projects and recipes and comment and it looks like a great way to manage the site.
Like my own folder in the Martha Files.
Nifty world we are living in. What really hooked me was the promise of an Easter Workshop.

There will be weekly newsletters with exclusive crafts and decorating tips, expert advice, and a special menu. The workshop begins February 25! How cool is that? The first thing I collected was the projects for St Patty's Shamrock pins and Boutonnières.
My sweet friend Vanessa at A Fanciful Twist has a great  free PDF of  a pattern for  a  glittery Shamrockin  Pin to wear on the 17th.
Here is the link to her blog and  after you download the shamrock pattern and lovely leprechaun postcards then click on her main Blog and read about her  sweet Mr Lovee 's  present to her! I love her merry adventures. I also just joined an Etsy Group- Cottage Style and find that really interesting.
Time consuming but interesting.
Anyway.

I borrowed some pictures from Martha- Easter is about a month away! Amazing! It is going so fast!
I like it when Easter is in April- there seems to be more time to prepare.
I am not sure if I have any sort of point today- just wanted to share some good things.
will catch upon some emails this afternoon- the forecast calls for rain so I won't be walking... Sweet Junie Moon sent me a movie for my birthday- Becoming Jane and I may watch that with some kettle corn...or a cup of tea and  Madeleine's. I am too lazy to search my blog for the last time I talked about these delicious French  cookies that I made using this recipe book.
Did you see the lunar eclipse last night? I went outside and called Fred and we both looked at it at the same time. Amazing how far apart 600 miles is. When I get home I just want to curl up in his arms and be held.
Maybe I will get a few chenille blankets from the cupboard and wrap us up in them. Bundled and safe.
Then I want to go to the beach and hear the ocean. Wash it away.
Then I am going to go into my studio and create.
Amazing how the perspective can shift when you are in a different place. Amazing.

Martha Stewart's Banana Bread Recipe

Martha Stweart's Banana Bread Recipe, originally uploaded by calamity kim.

Ingredients

Makes 1 loaf.

    * 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature, plus more for pan
    * 1 cup granulated sugar
    * 2 large eggs
    * 1 1/2 cups unbleached flour
    * 1 teaspoon baking soda
    * 1 teaspoon salt
    * 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas
    * 1/2 cup sour cream
    * 1 teaspoon vanilla
    * 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans


Directions

   1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan; set aside. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, and beat to incorporate.
   2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture, and mix until just combined. Add bananas, sour cream, and vanilla; mix to combine. Stir in nuts, and pour into prepared pan.
   3. Bake until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Let rest in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool.

will you still love me if there's glitter in the hash browns?

The craft bomb exploded in my house when I returned from Georgia and the little elves and pixies have failed to show up each night and work their magic!! Once I sat down at the dining room table I knew there would be a problem. I usually keep the art stuff in the sewing room where it can be maintained or the door can be shut. But not this time. This time it's all over the house and I am not cleaning it up until I'm done. If company stops by then they will get their hands slapped as they reach for the fake cupcakes drying on the counter or the fake cinnabon candles that will never be burned, only admired in the cupboard. As I scraped the hot glue that dried on the cutting board this morning and saw the sparkle of lost glitter on the counter and floor I wondered to myself if you can die from eating glitter. Surely not my inner gourmet says. But, my inner critic adds, if I do, maybe it won't show up in the autopsy. Death and Crafting, yep, that's what I think about over my morning coffee. I want to live long enough to make all the things on my list, that grows longer by the idea and yet if I lose my eyesight or my dexterity and can't physically sew anymore then I'll be ready I suppose. To check out of the big Michael's in the sky and float away on a sea of cotton batting to the big quilt shop in the heavens. Next year I tell myself I am just going to start the christmas crafting earlier, like in July, when it's too hot to go outside, I'll be crafting away, making santas and snowmen, sock-monkeys and aprons. I'll make a big list and check them off one by one then I will be ready for Christmas. Filled with a sense of accomplishment and relaxation as everyone else scrambles and shreaks, unprepared and falling behind. So after renting several more movies( A Scanner Darkly, The Devil Wears Prada and My Super Ex-Girfriend) I ignored the hurricane of paint, glitter and glue in my kitchen and Super Fred and I sat and watched. I made sweet use of the time by indulging in my current obsession, yoyo's. I am going to make a garland for the mantle and the little cupcake tree, which I remind myself can still be put out- it's not too late. Sharing some nice quiet on the couch watching movies with my best friend is much more important. So A Scanner Darkly was everything I had hoped and I like all the wierd sci-fi Phillip K. Dick Stuff. It was enjoyable and I think maybe he was a genius with access to really great drugs. Then The Devil Wears Prada and It was good. I enjoyed it and Fred barely tolerated it (Chick flick) and then it was time for my super ex- which he said halfway through, oh honey, I think this is a guy movie. It was but I really enjoyed it! It had Rainn from The Office (Dwight) and that alone was worth watching. We had fun drinking coffee and laughing. I love the rare weekday that Fred gets off, to spend on the couch. It's gray outside and windy- no rain yet but it will probably come later. Wish we had a little coldness but the airconditioner is on and it's in the 80's. The pile of yoyo's grows and I stop periodically and count them, not knowing how many I will need but too OCD to stop. Sadly I eject the last movie and after letting Sadie out I think about my neglected blog and all the plans I had. I was going to make some bipolar beckys and put them on here for sale and aprons and this and that and make some cards and finish this and glitter that. There's no sense in doing anything since the Kids are going to be at their own homes and my brother begged off, wanting to just stay home and relax. I just want to go walk on the beach. Maybe I will. After I clean up the glitter and put the paint away and iron a new tablecloth and set up my little cupcake tree. Flickr has been a wonderful way to stay close to the kids and make new friends and I have enjoyed seeing everyone's pics of their trees and the snow and the children laughing. I can't imagine my life without it, really. I can explore the world and see so much. FredFlare took me on a tour of the big stores in NYC, and I'm sure I'm behind in some of these links, but I just wanted to say have yourselves a merry little christmas all you bloggers and kids and crafty divahs and commenters and silent lurkers. May the New Year bring us all peace, joy, love, happiness, crafts galore and most of all the time with those we love.