Crafters Crafty Room

When we lived in Kamloops we had two bedrooms ... so we converted the big room into a studio/craft room. Unfortunately I was too stressed with my job and other things to utilize the area to it's fullest extent. So when we moved to Vernon, I was fortunate enough to have time to craft... but in a smaller space there wasn't much room. For a while I was crafting out of a rubber-maid bin in the living room. But now, I have a lovely space in the bedroom against one wall ... it's a very lovely, small, wall that I've been able to convert with three pieces of furniture, into a half decent place to make my hair accessories.

This is the wall in its entirety! The photos on the wall were taken by my hunnie, the pro photographer: adrianstonge.com The sewing machine is my favourite item I've ever owned. My Nana bought it for me a few years ago for Christmas, which was probably the start of my need to create things... so, thanks Nana!



This plastic set of drawers is full of all my odds and ends and mostly scrapbooking stuffs. The drawers don't close properly and it's kind of wobbly, but it does the job decently enough!



I stole this shelf from my hunnie, which was holding his photo stuff in the storage room. It works perfectly for what I need it for. I hammered in nails on the one side to hold my thread spools, and used some jewelry wire to string my ribbon.



And finally, here's Halloween!




Thanks for reading!

xoxoxoxoxxxoooxx

Favourites

I love to cook. It's something I've loved doing for many years, but never really explored it to any extreme. When my mom was alive, she always did the cooking because food just tasted better when she made it!! After, for a while, all Adrian and I did was eat out. And then when we moved to Vernon it was summer and too hot to make anything but salad or, again, eat out. So when the colder months came, I decided to see what I could come up with. I've become a master at making dinner meals that consist of more than just a piece of chicken and a salad .... (which was pretty much all I made in Kamloops and for the first few months here in Vernon). And I have lots of recipes to share, but that's for another post.

Our holiday season consisted of lots of yummy snack type foods. Chips, crackers and dips, appetizer type tasties and my own creation of a super easy appy: mushroom and asparagus wrapped bacon with cream cheese. Now I'm not claiming fame to the original idea of this, I'm just saying that I found a way to make it my own. I had planned to just use the veggies and the bacon until I realized I didn't have any toothpicks and therefore had no way of keeping the bacon on the asparagus. But cream cheese came to the rescue and here's what I ended up with!:

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus
You will need:
- 1 package of bacon cut in half (a whole piece will be too long)
- 1 bunch of Asparagus washed and dried(but, really, you can use as many as you want)
- About 1/2 a stick of cream cheese (depending on how thick you want to coat the asparagus) softened enough to be spreadable
- wax paper (enough to cover your work space)
- Cookie sheet layered with tin foil
- cooling rack
( I use the cooling rack to place my asparagus on because it cooks the bacon more evenly and lets all the fat drip off .... it's handier to use but you don't HAVE to use it)

What you do:
(Now I haven't actually found a non-messy way to do this yet so it's really up to you as to how you want to coat the asparagus)
1. Using a spoon or spatula, cream the cream cheese in a thick layer onto the wax paper
2. Take a piece of asparagus and roll it around in the cream cheese until it's nicely coated
3. Take a slice of bacon and wrap it around, pressing it lightly into the cream cheese as you wrap
4. Set each piece onto cooling rack/foiled cookie sheet
5. Bake in preheated oven at 400 degrees F for about 20-25 minutes (or until bacon is cooked and crisp)
6. Let cool for about 5 minutes and then enjoy!!



Cream Cheese Filled Mushrooms with Bacon:
What you'll Need:
- 1 package of bacon cut in half (a whole piece will be too long)
- About 10 stuffing Mushrooms OR 10-15 small mushrooms (better for bite-size appies) washed and stems removed
- About 1/2 a stick of cream cheese softened enough to be spreadable
- Half a tomato diced into very small pieces
- A couple green onions diced into very small pieces
- Cookie sheet layered with tin foil
- cooling rack
( I use the cooling rack to place my mushrooms on because it cooks the bacon more evenly and lets all the fat drip off .... it's handier to use but you don't HAVE to use it)

What You Do:
1. Cream the cream cheese in a bowl with diced tomatoes and green onions (you can add other veggies too, like cucumber, white onion, zucchini, or any softer veggie that has a low cooking time)
2. fill mushroom caps with cream cheese mixture
3. Place onto cooling rack/foiled cookie sheet
4. Lay bacon halves over top of the mushroom caps, pressing the middle into the cheese
5. Bake in a preheated oven at about 400 degrees F for about 20-25 minutes or until the bacon is cooked and crisp
6. Let cool for about 5-8 minutes and enjoy!!



The easiest after dinner treat I made was butter tarts. Now, you can find tart recipes anywhere and are usually simple to follow. This is a link to the most basic recipe I could find: http://www.cookingnook.com/butter-tart-recipe.html But I made some changes. Firstly I didn't have corn syrup so I just omitted it!! Secondly, I used equal amounts of butter and brown sugar for a more sweeter taste. Thirdly, I only used one egg...(this was due to some seriously bad luck with about 4 cartons of eggs) and I added extra vanilla. I use a bakers emulsion vanilla... which seems to always taste better in my baking. In the end, this is what I came out with (and they tasted so darn good!!)



Well, this was possibly my longest blog ever!!

Thanks for reading!!

xxooxxoxxoxxoooo

The Winter blues ... and greys

It's funny how the excitement leading to up to Christmas can seem to abate the feelings of depression and sadness that the grey skies seem to bring.

This year Adrian was ready for Christmas in November. So was I!! But then again, I'm ready for Christmas all year long. We set up the tree in November this year, going against every rule my Mom ever set out about Christmas decorating. And now I see why. Her rule was, 'the tree can only go up on the first weekend of December, no sooner!' She was definitely on to something there. Having the house ready for the holiday 2-3 weeks after Halloween will only bring the blues sooner. Not only that, but I found myself getting tired of holiday cheer before December 25th even came.

Adrian's blahs started very shortly after the holidays were over.... but didn't last as long as usual. But for the first time ever the blahs have affected me. Winter is usually the best time of the year, in my books... I love snow and I love scarves and mittens and sunny cold days. I love drinking hot beverages all day long and walking in the park while the snow falls. Although I still love all those things, I find myself feeling sad. I feel that part of it is that my holiday cheer dissipated rather soon.... usually lasting until the middle of January or longer.

After much introspection I've come to the conclusion that my blues are due to a jealousy that has been firing up inside me for a few months now and boiling to the surface only a few nights ago. As childish as it might seem, and as embarrassed as I am to admit it, I find that I'm jealous of all the people on Etsy who are making regular sales of their handmade items. I know my sales will come with time and that I should find a way to channel my jealousy into my crafts, but I really just want to pout and stamp my foot! And the icing on the cake was to see a store downtown, which seemed to step right out of my dreams .... not necessarily selling what I would want to sell, but a shop set up exactly how I would do my own. Same in the colours on the walls, same in the way items are displayed..... same, same, same. So, now not only am I NOT selling on Etsy, but if I ever wanted to open a real store, I'd have to change the whole look and feel that I've already imagined. Alas, I let the blues was over me until I'm verging tears and longing for sunny days that shine pretty pinks and yellows and make me feel whole and warm.

Anyway, my next post is going to be about two foods I made over the holidays that were our favourite! And I'm also thinking about doing a 'Thing-a-day' challenge. That might be fun!!

Thanks for reading =)

Tis the Season ......for therapeutic writing!

Last time I wrote, life wasn't so great... this is what has happened since then:

Things weren't going so great in Kamloops. A) I was super unhappy at my job ... always stressed out and feeling un-appreciated. B) No matter what we tried, living in that apartment never felt right. C) A huge fight with a close friend and subsequent ending of friendship kept us looking over our shoulders every where we went in an attempt to avoid the wrath of said friend. So, tired of sitting around stewing in our own self-pity, we decided to make a change. We needed to go somewhere that was suitable to our lifestyle AND could generate more business. As the Okanagan Valley is prime real-estate for weddings, that seemed the place to go. So, after a day trip to Peachland with Gina to visit Auntie Romi, we (as in me, Adrian and Gina) decided to move to Vernon. And before I knew it, I had quit my job and we had found a cute little condo to rent ...which completely by fluke happened to be only a few blocks down from the place Gina would be moving in to. I managed to save up a bit of money so I could finally take some real time off to come to terms with my moms death, and spend some time missing her in private.... as opposed to random break downs in the bathroom or in the coat rack at work. I've also been able to re-channel my creative side, which led me to open my own Etsy.com shop and gave me the idea to make all handmade gifts for Christmas, which I've been working like a slave over trying to get them all done in time to send before the mad mail rush. My next venture is to teach myself make-up and hair styling techniques so we can offer it as an option to clients!

Tis also the season for making lists! The best things from this year (so far):

-quit my job

-made Adrian St. Onge Photography ... and made it legit

-saw She & Him perform live -- best concert ever in my life!

-moved to Vernon

-Rebecca and Jon's wedding

-went to a Billy Talent concert and was reminded of how much I love that band <3

-The Walking Dead

- discovered Nescafe's instant coffee

-Netflix for Canadians

-Halle discovered the 'all-you-can-eat' buffet of grass outside our door ...she's like a cute little crack addict now!

-Kristi's baby boy Levi ... cute as a button miracle

-Gina moving to Vernon

-finally living in a place with a full sized fridge and freezer

-experienced the Drive-In ... a multitude of times

-Janelle and George getting engaged

-our ipad .....it's still super cool

Thanks for reading!

xoxoxoxo

ps: if you want to check out my etsy shop it's here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/sarajaneforever?ref=pr_profile


if you want to check out Adrian's photography it's here: www.adrianstonge.com
(some good deals going on now!)

An Attempt...

On April 17th of the year 2009 my life was turned completely upside down... And somehow, almost exactly one year later and this life I've been attempting to struggle through is still in shambles.

April 17th, 2009: the worst thing that could possibly happen to me, the death of my mother. She had been sick for a few weeks prior, with what she thought was only a cold. The stubborn woman that she was would go to work the first day she felt somewhat better, only to be back home in bed a few hours later. This went of for a while... so long in fact that it prompted my aunt to stop by and haul her to the hospital.. on April 17th, 2009. I will never forget that day. I woke up sometime in the morning, mom was lying in bed with what felt like gas pains in her chest/stomach area. I helped her the best I could, offered her water and tums and gravol. I had a feeling in the pit of my stomach that something wasn't right. She had never been sick like that ever before and definitely not for as long. When I left for work, I hugged her and told her I loved her. I wanted to stay home but I knew my aunt would be by soon and she'd make sure that mom went to the doctors. As worried as I was about her I told myself she'd be okay.... you know, because doctors make people better. Cut to around 6pm, my last cashier is about to leave and all I remember was seeing Adrian walking towards me with an expression of fear and sadness. "Your mom's in the hospital, she had a heart attack" ...... I couldn't think straight, I couldn't breathe... I couldn't believe what was happening. I left work in a blur and we rushed to the hospital. And we waited.... for hours. When I finally saw my aunt, the nurses with her were escorting us into a room where I thought I'd see mom. It was empty, and right then I knew. "the doctors did everything they could..."

My mom had had a heart attack in her sleep the night of the 16th, and the gas pains were actually pains of the heart attack. She had another one in the hospital on the night of the 17th... around the exact same time Adrian had come into my work. For the whole time we sat in the waiting room I had hope that she was okay... not better, but okay... you know, alive. She had an ulcer, one so bad that the doctors couldn't give her the medication she needed to keep her alive... because apparently it still would have killed her.

This is the first time since having to explain to family how she died, that I've gone through the events of that day. Really, this is the first time I've said much about it ...ever.

Now something about my aunt. About two years prior to the passing of my mom, my mom's brother (my aunt's husband) had passed away. From what I remember he had an arrhythmia, (I think) that caused his heart to beat too fast for the rest of his body to keep up with. This was a huge shock to my whole family... he was the youngest of 4 ( my mom was the oldest). I truly believe, even though it's not like me to be a believer, that the spirit of my uncle had sent my aunt to my mom on that day. She just happened to be in town that day, out of all the days in the year. And I will never be able to express how grateful I am that she was here for my mom on that day. I'm grateful to her for being there so my mom didn't have to go through it alone.

Everyone told me it would get easier... easier to cope with the shock, cope with the lose, cope with the fact that the woman I saw every single day no longer existed in my physical life. I'm still waiting for it to get easier....I don't know if it ever will get easier to deal, or if the pain just gets more bearable . Honestly, there's only two reasons why I get out of bed every morning: 1. if Auntie Romi and Logan and Janelle could do it, so can I. 2. Adrian. He is my reason for finding the good in every day.... it's definitely hard, especially when I can't stop being sad. But for him, I put a smile on my face and go about my daily business. He keeps me together, and lets me fall apart when I need to. I know in my heart that my mom was okay with letting go of this world because she knew that I was in safe, good, gentle and capable hands.

We spread her ashes into the ocean at MacKenzie Beach in Tofino... That's why I always want to go back there.

Ever since that worst day of my life... things haven't been the same:

We changed the apartment around about 5 times before settling for it's current design. But it still feels too much like mom and not enough like us.

I've had to become craftier in the kitchen... my mom used to cook all the dinners.

Money has been super tight, especially since Adrian lost his job and is now a starving artist ..... starving for the art of photography.

I gained so much more weight, I'm the heaviest I've ever been.... we both are.

Motivation runs slowly through these walls... Although, I'm thankful for Adrian's new make-up artist partner, together they are creating new and amazing works of art.

Our car broke down and we can't afford to fix it... but we still have to pay for it and keep it insured... fucking financers.

Although I can't express it to my managers at work.... I'm angry with them for asking me to come back to work a week and a half after my mom's passing. Although I had no choice, I needed the money. And that anger keeps me from enjoying my job like I did when I first started.

Everyone wants money from us/me/him, which we/I/he don't/doesn't have to give. My biggest worry is that our debts will continue to make our lives miserable... everywhere I turn someone is asking for money.

No matter how hard I try, I want to feel my mom's spirit, but I can't. I am constantly wondering where she went when she passed. I'd really like to know. The only comfort is that her ashes went into the ocean, like she wanted.

Shambles, I tell you... shambles.

But I've got love and a love, and I know that will get me through this...and I'm lucky to have the friends and family that I have.

Now that I'm actually able to get passed the "on April 17th, 2009 my mom passed away" part of every blog I try to write, I think I will be blogging more. It really is kind of therapeutic in a way.

Thanks for listening... or reading, I suppose.

So, it's been a while....

....not that there's a lot who read this. Lots has happened this year, I've had many life changing experiences... I hope to write up a nice little re-cap of the year, but that may take a while. Hopefully I will post again before the end of the year!

The Happenings of the past

First thing's first.. Obama?! Oyeah!! What an amazing time for America right now.

Goodbye and good riddance to you, Bush.. enjoy being a douche irl!

Today is Remembrance Day, here in good ol' Canada land.. and the province I am so proud to call home apparently wants nothing to do with the big remembering production going on in the rest of the country. Good times here in BC, y'all =/

Started Weight Watchers a few months ago.. dropped the lbs like a bad habit.. reached my weight goal of 33 lbs lost and then the next week, gained 2 of them back! WTF!!!??? On a mission now, starting today, to never gain weight again. It's a really horrible feeling to know that you've reached such an impressive goal and now you've got to do it all over again.. shit mang. HOWEVER!, I have managed to come up with some really amazing eating habits and cooking recipes which I sometimes feel like sharing with random strangers.. so when I get around to it, hopefully soonish, I plan on posting some of the gooders I've come up with and maybe, if you're lucky, I'll post pictures of the finished products! Woop Woop.. I know you're so totally excited =P

Playing WoW a lot lately with the bf.. good times had there. Excited for the Lich King to make it's way into my life....

Best song of the day: Electric Feel ~ MGMT