I could tell you the whole sad story of how freak storm rolled in Thursday morning as I was leaving for work, and how I got on the freeway to drive home that evening and traffic was stopped dead and it took me 90 minutes to go about 6 miles. And then they closed the one and only highway I can take to my house, so I had to turn around and call a friend to stay with her. And then got up the next morning to a road still closed, so I went to work in the same clothes as the day before (oh the horror!). But instead, I’ll just share the pictures of the flowers Mr. Heylucy gave me for Valentines Day, before all the tragedy. He always does a good job with flowers. He was equally thrilled with the bucket of KFC I brought home the next day when the road finally reopened and I was able to get home and take a very long, hot bath.

Sheesh, I finally did it. I sewed the darn pocket on.

I was hoping it would look like a tulip. It sort of does, right? I’m okay with it, I think.

I’m getting pretty good at sewing binding to things. Here’s my helpful hint for seam binding: if you’re going to be going around curves, make sure you use bias binding. Sure, it’s more of a pain to cut out, but there’s no way I could have used straight binding to do this.

Another project I’ve been working on is up and running. This one is a collaboration with my sister. We both have new cameras and new-(ish) versions of Photoshop that we want to learn how to use, so we decided to share the process with everyone. Each week we’ll exchange pictures and then play with them in Photoshop-she has Elements, and I have CS2, so there should be something for everyone. We’ll also share links and resources and other fun stuff relating to photography and Photoshop. I thought it would be kind of cool to have a site for those of us who don’t really know what we’re doing, but want to learn. We’re posting step-by-step what we do, so you can follow along at home. And of course, participation in the comments section is highly encouraged. So please visit, and spread the word!

And lastly, if you need a song for your Valentine on Thursday, I must admit to being partial to this one. You can buy it on Cary’s Myspace page.

Since everyone in my family is reporting on their local snowfall, I thought I should too.
The rainstorm last weekend turned to snow Monday morning. I love calling in to work to say that it’s snowing, and would they mind if I just worked from home.

Bear loves the snow.

I took these pictures late that morning, and it had already started to melt and get slushy.
Still, not too shabby for Southern California.

I don’t mean for this to turn into a health food blog, but I was at my local Jimbo’s Natural Foods store, and I found myself in the produce section. I don’t hang out in this part of the store very often, because their produce is typically outrageously expensive, even for organic. I usually stop in on my lunch hour for a good bowl of soup, or something from their deli. Somehow, however, the other day I wandered over, and I just started drooling over everything they had. Produce gets a little boring in the Winter, even in Southern California, which I guess contributed to my gleeful reaction. Also, some things were just so pretty, I knew I had to photograph them (and then eat them, of course!).

This alien-looking vegetable is called Broccoli Romanesco, and supposedly it tastes more like cauliflower than broccoli:


I love the chartreuse color. I plan on cooking it up tonight, so I’ll give you my verdict then.

Mr. Heylucy loves radishes, and I think these French Breakfast radishes are the  prettiest I’ve ever seen. Of course I had to get him some. They are supposed to be good eaten with butter and salt. That sounds good to me!

The radishes were also to make up for the fact that I also brought home these golden beets. Mr. Heylucy hates beets. He hates them as much as he hates liver, which I also hate, so I can understand his degree of hatred. Maybe I won’t tell him that these are beets and see if he likes them.


I think I’ll roast these with some other root vegetables, and a little olive oil and salt.
It’s like I have a rainbow in my refrigerator.

I think I’ve figured out part of my lack of creativity problem. It’s all this healthy eating. It takes a lot of time and imagination. I’m not sure how to photograph healthy food so that it looks good, but these two meals really were delicious:
 

I made some vegetable sushi for lunch one day, and then the other night, for dinner I had some mashed yams, sauteed bok choi and spinach, and stir-fried chicken and mushrooms with a little ponzu sauce. I totally made the recipe up based on the contents of the refrigerator, but it was a pretty good combination. I will say, however, that it is not possible to eat mashed yams with chopsticks. I know your day will be much better now that you know what I’m eating. Actually, I have two sources of healthy eating inspiration to share. First, is this book. I just got it, and haven’t made anything yet, but every recipe in there looks really delicious. Second, is this show. I admit, I try to avoid train-wreck realty TV, but an episode of this keeps me from wanting to eat french fries ever again. Caution: there is a lot of talk about poo in every single episode. You have been warned.

I found a knitting project I know I will actually finish in a reasonable amount of time:

I know this, because I made one before. I loved knitting it and I loved the finished product. My mom loved it too, so I gave it to her. Now I want one for myself. The first one was knit in Noro Silk Garden color 87, and this one is color 233. I’m not sure if I’m liking this colorway, but I remember thinking the same thing last time, but by the time it was done I loved the colors, so I’m hopeful. So now I am keeping busy while watching stupid TV. The apron still has no pocket, however.

I should have taken pictures of my molting chickens, but I guess it’s better that I didn’t embarrass them. A few of them looked quite pitiful for awhile there, but I’m happy to report that they have all seemed to grow in healthy new feathers, and look quite plump and healthy again.

The General was looking particularly dapper this morning:

I gave him a glamourous 1940’s screen star glow.   

So many unfinished projects and so little inspiration. That’s how it is around here right now. Above is an apron I started in December. All I have to do is add a pocket, but I just can’t seem to get to it. Here’s the pile on of unfinished projects on the sewing machine:

And speaking of unfinished, I still haven’t painted this room, although the great de-cluttering project of 2006 and 2007 continues into 2008, and I did get a little more cleaned out of there last weekend.

What do you do when you get like this? I have so very little inspiration, and zero motivation. I feel like I’ve been coming home from work and staring stupidly at the TV, and there isn’t even anything good on. I hope this rut doesn’t last much longer.

I have continued taking pictures, however, and since January is yearly bonus time at my place of employment, I treated myself to a Photoshop upgrade (from v6-super old skool-to CS2)! And I have been playing around with it a bit, because I can do that while stupidly watching stupid shows on TV, so I guess that’s something. I picked up The Photoshop CS2 Book, which I highly recommend. So far I have learned how to apply a vignette, and to lighten too-dark photos using Curves, and create a dreamy glow-y effect. And some color adjusting stuff.  Reading Pioneer Woman has introduced me to the world of Photoshop actions, which are just brilliant, and now I want some. Better yet, I want to make some. I better go learn how to do that now.


My pins and needles are ready and waiting for me to get my mojo back. Even the addition of a squirrel lamp isn’t enough to get me going.

My sister just wrote about their week here, and I didn’t realize what a great hostess I was, but I guess I did a really good job. Actually, she and Mr. P are very good house guests. They washed a lot of dishes and swept the floor a few times, two jobs I really don’t like. Her pictures are much better than mine, and there’s lots of good commentary, so I highly recommend having a look at her photo album.

It’s been a long week, so I decided to start off the weekend with a bubble bath. My selection of facial masks and pretty Oililiy soap was courtesy of Yvonne. What I should have also gotten a picture of was the cats, who stare endlessly at the bubbles whenever I fill the tub. I’m not sure if they are terrified or fascinated. A combination of both, I suspect.

Later, I took down the Christmas tree, which was as exciting for the cats as the day I put it up. Lucy made herself comfortable in the middle of the floral mesh I used as a garland. Later I found her in the tree box.

Lucy is a funny girl. Sijbrich thinks that I should train her to do tricks, and I think that is entirely possible. When we first brought the cats home, Petey settled in pretty quickly, and was a little cuddle-bug from the beginning, but Lucy took a little longer. Both cats were about nine months old when we got them, and had spent the previous six months living together in a cage at the shelter where they were being treated for ringworm. I think Lucy must have spent her first three months as a feral cat, because she would do things like steal bones out of the trash, running and hiding with her stash. Apparently she was worried that the feeder dish we keep perpetually filled with cat food Just Might Run Out one day, you never know with those humans, but she would be prepared for that day. She also likes to chew on plastic, any kind will do, plastic bags, plastic wrap, plastic tape. I’ve even caught her swallowing it, so now I try to keep it out of reach as much as possible. She also didn’t like being held. At all. She didn’t mind being petted, and was happy to rub against our legs, and even throw herself on the ground for a tummy rub, but the moment we would pick her up, her ears would flatten and she would squirm to get away. She seems to have realized that we are capable of holding her without dropping her now, so she’ll tolerate being held if we do it exactly the right way: right side up only (no cradling her like a baby), not too tight, and with lots of petting.

More and more she’s settling in and has decided that we humans aren’t so bad after all. She wants to play all the time, with us. Her favorite game is fetch, and she usually lets us know she’s ready to play by jumping on our headboard and dropping her toy on one of our faces and then chirping. She can do this, because her favorite time to play is around 6 a.m. So we throw the toy, she throws herself off the bed and runs after it and then brings it right back. She can do this for hours it seems, and it never gets old. If we’re not available, then Petey will do, and since he can’t throw a toy for her to fetch, they bounce from room to room and fly through the mini-blinds to hide on the window sills. If I ever get new curtains made for my living room, I’ll have to post before pictures of the sad state of the blinds. Then, when she’s tired from the ricocheting off the walls, she’ll curl up in my lap and sleep for as long as I can manage to sit still.

It took us a while to bring home new cats after losing Gigi, and a month later losing Dune, and these two will never replace them, but it’s comforting to know that they have their own specialness, and bring a new kind of joy into our little house.