I've been working on my February project which is a ATC display book, handmade. It's looking very awesome. I have some more pages to paint and put into the book and mount the cards onto the pages, which I will be doing tomorrow night and then this project will be done.
In addition, I have been art journaling like crazy. Not so much writing, but a lot of art. My baby journal that I take to work and doodle in is almost full. I have been doing a lot of great prompts and challenges with a friend of mine, mostly drawing, writing, and doodling. And then there is my art journal which I received through swapbot, already decorated and filled with prompts which are forcing me to try things I've not done before. Here are some of the materials I've added to my collection in the last month or so ...
Gesso
This is a surface primer for canvas. It works great for paper (ie. journal pages) making them a little sturdier and hold up to watercolors and acrylic paints. I love working with this stuff.
Watercolors
I'm talking about the tube kind, not the Crayola pallettes. I have always had acrylic paints because I like the color intensity and the thickness. But every since starting the use of gesso, having these watercolors is so much. I love how you can do light color washes or up the amount to have really intense color. You can also let them dry out in the palette, add a little water later, and they work good as new. Awesome
Watercolor Crayons
These are similar to watercolor pencils but are of course crayons. More intense color and I find use them in conjunction with the pencils for different sorts of watercolor art.
Gelly Roll Pens
They are the original Gel pen. They are awesome! I have only the basic ones... black fine line; black and pink metallic; and pink, blue, and purple stardust. I can't wait to add more. They write over practically anything... acrylic paint, watercolor, gesso, different scrapbook papers, etc. There are some really neat puffy and gold and silver color halo pens.
I've just committed myself to do three different journal swaps so I'm sure I'll be putting many of my new materials and the techniques I've learned into these journals!!
Sayonara until next time!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
The Why's of Creativity
I came to the conclusion this week that I am going crazy without having a personal space to do artwork and that waiting until we buy our house this summer is too far way. I recently re-organized my art cabinet which allowed me to just pull a bin depending on what I wanted to do and set up on the dining table, but it isn't quite the same as just being able to sit down and immediately be creative and not have to worry about cleaning up afterwards, so the table could be used for it's primary reason ... eating at. I have an antique desk in our bedroom (similar to a roll top, but the top doesn't roll up, it folds down to become the writing surface and there are little cubby holes inside for storing stationary and other desk items) that was just being used as a catch all for random stuff I didn't know what to do with. I've tried to use the desk as a dedicated laptop desk and a place to do scrapbooking, but it just never worked. The computer would get moved and there wasn't enough space for my scrapbooking supplies as well as all the other stuff that I had on the desk. Well, I finally decided that it needed to be cleaned out and become a dedicated art space.
First, I took out the cubby holes as they were removable. Then there is a shelf left. On the shelf is now my gesso, watercolors, acrylics, oil pastels, soft pastels, paint brushes, jars, markers, and calligraphy pens. On the top of the desk is a small shelf which holds all my journals. Next to it, there is space for my scrapbooking bag, of which I refill with different materials for every project I'm working on. Right now, it's got all the stuff I need to do my ATC display book. Under the art shelf is more materials for my display book and my box of collaging papers.
I love it! Everything I need is within reach. It works much better now as a place for me to escape to so I can craft or work on my art journals. And the worse I have to clean up is my paint brushes and cups. I just have to close up the writing surface and it's all put away. :)
All this of course, brings to mind the need for crafting supplies. I know a half a dozen people who have rooms dedicated to scrapbooking or crafting. They also have the materials and the money to buy lots of stuff to fill them up. I neither have the space or the money, yet all my projects seem to turn out really nice!
I think this is because I know that I do not have the space or the money and thus I'm thrifty and buy only what I need for each project.
For example, I had nothing for my wedding album and thus had to buy all new materials ... paper pack, brads, stickers, 8x8 book, chipboard with a few small pieces of my own thrown in.
Then I recently did the sleeping baby scrapbook, from a all in one kit along with a baby girl paper pack, both of which were gifts. I needed some brown ink and some special colored brads and a couple sheets of matching cardstock so I could do the journaling, but that's all the extra stuff I needed.
Now I'm working on my ATC display book, again most of the materials I had. I just needed to go out and get some popsicle sticks to reinforce the cardstock so the pages turn like a book.
I don't feel constrained by having limited supplies and it makes it all the more exciting to go shopping and buy what I need for a current project. And I also think the more stuff I have, the less I'll use it. So it's best to keep it simple! Even much of what I have now is dedicated for a future project. And space for me isn't about acquiring more stuff ... it's about spreading out and working!
Anyways, that's just how I see it personally based on my money and space. I know others do it differently with the resources they have.
Ciao for now!
First, I took out the cubby holes as they were removable. Then there is a shelf left. On the shelf is now my gesso, watercolors, acrylics, oil pastels, soft pastels, paint brushes, jars, markers, and calligraphy pens. On the top of the desk is a small shelf which holds all my journals. Next to it, there is space for my scrapbooking bag, of which I refill with different materials for every project I'm working on. Right now, it's got all the stuff I need to do my ATC display book. Under the art shelf is more materials for my display book and my box of collaging papers.
I love it! Everything I need is within reach. It works much better now as a place for me to escape to so I can craft or work on my art journals. And the worse I have to clean up is my paint brushes and cups. I just have to close up the writing surface and it's all put away. :)
All this of course, brings to mind the need for crafting supplies. I know a half a dozen people who have rooms dedicated to scrapbooking or crafting. They also have the materials and the money to buy lots of stuff to fill them up. I neither have the space or the money, yet all my projects seem to turn out really nice!
I think this is because I know that I do not have the space or the money and thus I'm thrifty and buy only what I need for each project.
For example, I had nothing for my wedding album and thus had to buy all new materials ... paper pack, brads, stickers, 8x8 book, chipboard with a few small pieces of my own thrown in.
Then I recently did the sleeping baby scrapbook, from a all in one kit along with a baby girl paper pack, both of which were gifts. I needed some brown ink and some special colored brads and a couple sheets of matching cardstock so I could do the journaling, but that's all the extra stuff I needed.
Now I'm working on my ATC display book, again most of the materials I had. I just needed to go out and get some popsicle sticks to reinforce the cardstock so the pages turn like a book.
I don't feel constrained by having limited supplies and it makes it all the more exciting to go shopping and buy what I need for a current project. And I also think the more stuff I have, the less I'll use it. So it's best to keep it simple! Even much of what I have now is dedicated for a future project. And space for me isn't about acquiring more stuff ... it's about spreading out and working!
Anyways, that's just how I see it personally based on my money and space. I know others do it differently with the resources they have.
Ciao for now!
Friday, January 15, 2010
Creativity 2010
Happy 2010 ... a couple of weeks late, buuut .... better late than never right?
So this year, I've decided to stop procrastinating on some of the major projects I've been umming and ahhhing about and just do them. So it's going to be one per month for the next 12 months. I still have many small things I do, but major projects need to get done and I have a plan to do them. Right now, I don't think I have enough projects for 12 months, but that's okay. It means the ones I have now will get done and there will still be time to add more as the year goes.
January - Sleeping Baby Scrapbook
Oddly enough, I have just finished this one last night. My mom bought me two things ... an 8x8 scrapbook kit, all the pieces included and pre-cut with instructions on how to construct each page and a baby girl paper pack with stickers, paper, and die cuts. So I had some photos printed, all of my daughter sleeping from newborn to now and made up this adorable sleeping baby scrapbook. I added some of my own embellishments as well as my own journaling tags, but over all I'm pleased with the results.
February - ATC Display book
Tonight I repacked my art bag with the tools I'll need for this. A few months ago, I bought an 8x8 cardstock pack to make bingo cards with for a baby shower ... I decided to use some of these pages to create an ATC display book and bind it myself with book binder rings. Now I thought the cardstock was sturdier than I realize it is, so I'm going to have to strengthen each page somehow. I may be saving a LOT of cereal boxes and other large cardboard things for a while. I'm going to collage each page with stuff I've been getting from swapbot, then insert the ATC's which are already in individual bags and label. I may experiment with gesso too.
March - Baby Book
I don't know why I consider this to be a major project! It'll probably take me an afternoon to do. It just needs to be updated! Finish out the baby stuff and put in the toddler stuff and get a few photos printed!
April - Bingo Card SCrapbook
So see February for mentioning of the bingo cards. I'm planning to use these bingo cards and make an 8x8 scrapbook from them for my sister-in-law. The bingo cards, mounted in the center of each card will be the photo mount spot and I'll decorate around them! Then I plan to put them into an 8x8 purchased book. I was considering doing the personal binding again like the ATC book, but again I don't want to go through the sturdiness thing again and make the project harder than it needs to be.
May - Baby 1st Year Scrapbook
I need to finish it. It's already started. I have all the paper and stuff. Maybe get another kit pack for a baby girl. I'll need to get some more photos printed, but that's the easy part. :)
June - Children's board book Scrapbook
My daughter has this taggie book which has fallen apart and been chewed on, so I confiscated all the pieces and it's going to become a scrapbook. Of what, I don't know. Maybe some of her professional photos, if I can find the extras from the last two times we had them done!
July - Recipe Book
Just after I moved into the apartment I'm in now, my mother and I went to a household auction and we walked away with a huge box of recipe books for only 6 dollars. Amongst those recipe books were hundreds of loose recipes clipped and torn from magazines by the original owner (oddly enough, I also have some of her cooking equipment too). I have gone through many of those recipes, keeping the ones I like. I plan to put them into a binder, glueing them onto cardstock. There will be no rhyme or reason to it, and it's not a scrapbook, but just a collection of recipes. I bought the binder and the cardstock a year and a half ago, and never got around to completing it. So it's on the list as a major project.
August/September - Memento Scrapbook
I have a couple of shoeboxes full of stuff I've collected over the last ten or more years. Memories. Many silly things but they are things that mean something just the same, more notes and scraps than photos. I want to put them into 12x12 scrapbooks. Again, not organized or anything and lots of journaling. I've given this two months because I believe it'll be a long project and probably take more than one scrapbook.
October thru December ... nothing yet. Of course, I may be moving house this summer and if that's the case, one or two of these projects might get put on hold and then done later, but we'll see.
I have two art journals that I am working on, but I decided not to make them a 'major project'. It's something I like to do in my down time, at home, at work, anywhere. One of them I got from swapbot, all with prompts and everything. I did three pages tonight and it was fun. I also have my mini art journal which I take to work and scribble in if I'm bored. It's over half full. So rather than being finishable projects, they are more like works in progress.
There are a couple of writing projects, two of which are nearly finished and one is on hold while I wait for the return of some edits.
Then that wraps up my creativity outlook for 2010. It's nice to see one done and one prepped already! I think it's a good start to a creative year!
Ciao till next time!
So this year, I've decided to stop procrastinating on some of the major projects I've been umming and ahhhing about and just do them. So it's going to be one per month for the next 12 months. I still have many small things I do, but major projects need to get done and I have a plan to do them. Right now, I don't think I have enough projects for 12 months, but that's okay. It means the ones I have now will get done and there will still be time to add more as the year goes.
January - Sleeping Baby Scrapbook
Oddly enough, I have just finished this one last night. My mom bought me two things ... an 8x8 scrapbook kit, all the pieces included and pre-cut with instructions on how to construct each page and a baby girl paper pack with stickers, paper, and die cuts. So I had some photos printed, all of my daughter sleeping from newborn to now and made up this adorable sleeping baby scrapbook. I added some of my own embellishments as well as my own journaling tags, but over all I'm pleased with the results.
February - ATC Display book
Tonight I repacked my art bag with the tools I'll need for this. A few months ago, I bought an 8x8 cardstock pack to make bingo cards with for a baby shower ... I decided to use some of these pages to create an ATC display book and bind it myself with book binder rings. Now I thought the cardstock was sturdier than I realize it is, so I'm going to have to strengthen each page somehow. I may be saving a LOT of cereal boxes and other large cardboard things for a while. I'm going to collage each page with stuff I've been getting from swapbot, then insert the ATC's which are already in individual bags and label. I may experiment with gesso too.
March - Baby Book
I don't know why I consider this to be a major project! It'll probably take me an afternoon to do. It just needs to be updated! Finish out the baby stuff and put in the toddler stuff and get a few photos printed!
April - Bingo Card SCrapbook
So see February for mentioning of the bingo cards. I'm planning to use these bingo cards and make an 8x8 scrapbook from them for my sister-in-law. The bingo cards, mounted in the center of each card will be the photo mount spot and I'll decorate around them! Then I plan to put them into an 8x8 purchased book. I was considering doing the personal binding again like the ATC book, but again I don't want to go through the sturdiness thing again and make the project harder than it needs to be.
May - Baby 1st Year Scrapbook
I need to finish it. It's already started. I have all the paper and stuff. Maybe get another kit pack for a baby girl. I'll need to get some more photos printed, but that's the easy part. :)
June - Children's board book Scrapbook
My daughter has this taggie book which has fallen apart and been chewed on, so I confiscated all the pieces and it's going to become a scrapbook. Of what, I don't know. Maybe some of her professional photos, if I can find the extras from the last two times we had them done!
July - Recipe Book
Just after I moved into the apartment I'm in now, my mother and I went to a household auction and we walked away with a huge box of recipe books for only 6 dollars. Amongst those recipe books were hundreds of loose recipes clipped and torn from magazines by the original owner (oddly enough, I also have some of her cooking equipment too). I have gone through many of those recipes, keeping the ones I like. I plan to put them into a binder, glueing them onto cardstock. There will be no rhyme or reason to it, and it's not a scrapbook, but just a collection of recipes. I bought the binder and the cardstock a year and a half ago, and never got around to completing it. So it's on the list as a major project.
August/September - Memento Scrapbook
I have a couple of shoeboxes full of stuff I've collected over the last ten or more years. Memories. Many silly things but they are things that mean something just the same, more notes and scraps than photos. I want to put them into 12x12 scrapbooks. Again, not organized or anything and lots of journaling. I've given this two months because I believe it'll be a long project and probably take more than one scrapbook.
October thru December ... nothing yet. Of course, I may be moving house this summer and if that's the case, one or two of these projects might get put on hold and then done later, but we'll see.
I have two art journals that I am working on, but I decided not to make them a 'major project'. It's something I like to do in my down time, at home, at work, anywhere. One of them I got from swapbot, all with prompts and everything. I did three pages tonight and it was fun. I also have my mini art journal which I take to work and scribble in if I'm bored. It's over half full. So rather than being finishable projects, they are more like works in progress.
There are a couple of writing projects, two of which are nearly finished and one is on hold while I wait for the return of some edits.
Then that wraps up my creativity outlook for 2010. It's nice to see one done and one prepped already! I think it's a good start to a creative year!
Ciao till next time!
Friday, December 25, 2009
Why I write ...
I haven't posted in a while. This time of year just seems to eat me alive with plans, shopping, budgeting, working, and everything in between. I seem to have to do everything and can't seem to do anything right. It's tiring and my blogging drops off everywhere. But I found a moment to post thing on a mailing list in response to a question on why people blog. I decided to post it up here...
Why do I blog?
My blog started out as a way to keep in contact with my many friends around the city when I lived in Melbourne, Australia. It was kind of a gimicky thing at first, but we used to talk about ourselves and be silly and arrange meet ups and such. Later on, it evolved into a writing space where I wrote about my daily life, especially how I was feeling and my family back home in the US read it and kept up on what I was doing with my life because I'm shocking with replying to emails. Unfortunately, it also, for a while, degenerated into a war space where many fights ensued and we played games with what we wrote simply to hurt each other's feelings. But that stopped a long long time ago.
Now that I am back in the US, I write in it so my friends in Australia can keep up with my life here. And I read theirs so that I can keep up with what they are doing. And the comment feature keeps replies manageable. I couldn't keep up with a dozen individual emails and then replies to those and so on and so forth. My friends leave comments, I answer them, etc.
It's also a timeline of my last 8 years, much of which I lived in Australia and the friendships I've had and lost, my first marriage which I had and lost, and the steps I've taken to get through it and on with my life. It's filled with memories, written at the time and I can go back and read it and thumb through it, remembering things that made me laugh or cry and the people who interacted with what I wrote and left me encouraging comments. I know that paper journals do much of the same thing, but I love the community feel of having a blog and knowing when I need feedback someone out there will have something to say.
I don't post quite as much as I used to... it's hard when what you most want to talk about is your work and you can't because there is all kinds of confidential crap that goes along with working in a health care setting, so I find other things to write about. :D I also know that what I write about is trite and of no significant value to anyone but me, but that's what's important about MY blog. It's important to me! :)
I'm taken back to a quote I heard a long time ago and I don't know who said it but it goes something like this ... Your journal is the place where your opinion on the world matters.
And that's why I write.
Happy Holidays to everyone! See you in 2010.
Why do I blog?
My blog started out as a way to keep in contact with my many friends around the city when I lived in Melbourne, Australia. It was kind of a gimicky thing at first, but we used to talk about ourselves and be silly and arrange meet ups and such. Later on, it evolved into a writing space where I wrote about my daily life, especially how I was feeling and my family back home in the US read it and kept up on what I was doing with my life because I'm shocking with replying to emails. Unfortunately, it also, for a while, degenerated into a war space where many fights ensued and we played games with what we wrote simply to hurt each other's feelings. But that stopped a long long time ago.
Now that I am back in the US, I write in it so my friends in Australia can keep up with my life here. And I read theirs so that I can keep up with what they are doing. And the comment feature keeps replies manageable. I couldn't keep up with a dozen individual emails and then replies to those and so on and so forth. My friends leave comments, I answer them, etc.
It's also a timeline of my last 8 years, much of which I lived in Australia and the friendships I've had and lost, my first marriage which I had and lost, and the steps I've taken to get through it and on with my life. It's filled with memories, written at the time and I can go back and read it and thumb through it, remembering things that made me laugh or cry and the people who interacted with what I wrote and left me encouraging comments. I know that paper journals do much of the same thing, but I love the community feel of having a blog and knowing when I need feedback someone out there will have something to say.
I don't post quite as much as I used to... it's hard when what you most want to talk about is your work and you can't because there is all kinds of confidential crap that goes along with working in a health care setting, so I find other things to write about. :D I also know that what I write about is trite and of no significant value to anyone but me, but that's what's important about MY blog. It's important to me! :)
I'm taken back to a quote I heard a long time ago and I don't know who said it but it goes something like this ... Your journal is the place where your opinion on the world matters.
And that's why I write.
Happy Holidays to everyone! See you in 2010.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Thankfulness
I decided to wait this week in order to post on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day in the United States. This is a day that has always had special meaning for me because every eight years my birthday falls on this day. This year wasn't one of those times, I still have another three years, but I'm still considered to have a 'Thanksgiving' birthday.
I unfortunately had to work so I wasn't able to join the rest of my family for their big Turkey dinner hosted by my aunt and uncle, but I did get to see them briefly when I dropped by husband and child off. I was presented with a pilgrim hat made with a peanut butter cup, girlscout cookie, and frosting by my cousin for the road. It was so cute.
Needless to say, this entry is about what I am thankful for.
First off, my husband, child, mother, and step-father ... he infuriates me more often than not, but my husband tries in his own little ways and I think I need to be more aware of that. My baby will always be my baby, no matter how big or smart she gets. Any my parents, I would not have made it without them here. They give so much.
My job ... There are so many people in this economy that are suffering and have lost their jobs. For a while there, I was so afraid that my job too was on the chopping block as things were being evened out and cut back in our place of work. But there is a huge necessity to my position, and I'm thankful I am still here.
My car ... it's working and it's reliable. It's not the best, and I've put a lot of money into it recently to keep it that way, but it'll get me through the winter and then some.
Okele and Shadow ... I could not get through each day without them. They are both very very far away from me and yet, they are both always there and I can count on that. Other people have drifted in and out of my life and they have both remained constant.
Crafts and art ... it's such a stress relief and I make time to do it. The finished product is what keeps me going and I look forward to hearing what people think of the gifts I make for them.
The roof over my head and the utilities that make my place liveable ... I could not imagine getting through this winter not being sure where I am going to be sleeping the next night and if it will be warm or not.
I wish everyone a wonderful holiday season from now until New Years. Until next week, have a great one.
I unfortunately had to work so I wasn't able to join the rest of my family for their big Turkey dinner hosted by my aunt and uncle, but I did get to see them briefly when I dropped by husband and child off. I was presented with a pilgrim hat made with a peanut butter cup, girlscout cookie, and frosting by my cousin for the road. It was so cute.
Needless to say, this entry is about what I am thankful for.
First off, my husband, child, mother, and step-father ... he infuriates me more often than not, but my husband tries in his own little ways and I think I need to be more aware of that. My baby will always be my baby, no matter how big or smart she gets. Any my parents, I would not have made it without them here. They give so much.
My job ... There are so many people in this economy that are suffering and have lost their jobs. For a while there, I was so afraid that my job too was on the chopping block as things were being evened out and cut back in our place of work. But there is a huge necessity to my position, and I'm thankful I am still here.
My car ... it's working and it's reliable. It's not the best, and I've put a lot of money into it recently to keep it that way, but it'll get me through the winter and then some.
Okele and Shadow ... I could not get through each day without them. They are both very very far away from me and yet, they are both always there and I can count on that. Other people have drifted in and out of my life and they have both remained constant.
Crafts and art ... it's such a stress relief and I make time to do it. The finished product is what keeps me going and I look forward to hearing what people think of the gifts I make for them.
The roof over my head and the utilities that make my place liveable ... I could not imagine getting through this winter not being sure where I am going to be sleeping the next night and if it will be warm or not.
I wish everyone a wonderful holiday season from now until New Years. Until next week, have a great one.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Weeks in Review
So I skipped a week... didn't necessarily mean to, but things got a little hectic and I found some artwork I wanted to do and a new project I'd like to start working on... and Christmas Shopping. Oh I did so much!
Anyways, what I'd like to do here is a recap of some of the recent posts I've made ...
ACNE
I believe I have won the war. I did a good trial run with the products I originally had and saw a significant change in my face. I added the Neutrogena Acne Stress Control Night Cleansing Pads to my night routine and immediately saw further results. I skipped one night and didn't do my regular routine and I had one breakout. Seriously, I am so surprised it worked, but what I have learned that you can buy as many spot treatments or cleansers as you want, but nothing will do the trick until you use the correct products together as a team. And it's guess and check to find what's right for your face!
SEASON ENDINGS
The leaves are gone and it's getting cold. Too cold even for my little one to outside without a hat. Heavy jackets will be coming out soon. We got our first snowfall just after Thanksgiving last year, so I'm sure it's right around the corner. The car is all fixed up and ready. I'd love an extra few months of mild fall weather... seriously.
H1N1
Both my husband and I were immunized. I was offered it at work due to being on a high risk unit and immediately accepted with no severe side effects. My husband was offered it at his latest clinic appointment for the reasons he works with handicapped individuals and he is asthmatic. He had no side effects. My daughter got her seasonal flu shot, but was only granted eligiblity for H1N1 this week, but she has a rattly cough so it might have to be put off for another few days. After a number of kids died from it in our local area and others falling severely ill, her not having it scares me more and more every day.
Where am I
Art Therapy of my own making has ALWAYS been a HUGE saving grace for me. I have since talked many things over with my husband and extended family that have been bothering me. I have been spending more time doing crafts and relaxing that I have in a long time and that has really been helping my stress level. I feel so much better now and ... happier. I am working on some projects with some friends of mine and those partnerships do wonders for my mental health. It's good to have some support!
Dipping
I failed. I made it about 5 days and on the fifth, I realized that I had a nearly full jar of White Salsa Con Queso in the fridge and I didn't want it to go off, so I ate it. But still ... it made me more aware of how much and what I dip, what I don't need to and I have really cut down. Now I wish I could tackle weight loss in the same manner. :D
That's all for me. See you next week and have a great one!
Anyways, what I'd like to do here is a recap of some of the recent posts I've made ...
ACNE
I believe I have won the war. I did a good trial run with the products I originally had and saw a significant change in my face. I added the Neutrogena Acne Stress Control Night Cleansing Pads to my night routine and immediately saw further results. I skipped one night and didn't do my regular routine and I had one breakout. Seriously, I am so surprised it worked, but what I have learned that you can buy as many spot treatments or cleansers as you want, but nothing will do the trick until you use the correct products together as a team. And it's guess and check to find what's right for your face!
SEASON ENDINGS
The leaves are gone and it's getting cold. Too cold even for my little one to outside without a hat. Heavy jackets will be coming out soon. We got our first snowfall just after Thanksgiving last year, so I'm sure it's right around the corner. The car is all fixed up and ready. I'd love an extra few months of mild fall weather... seriously.
H1N1
Both my husband and I were immunized. I was offered it at work due to being on a high risk unit and immediately accepted with no severe side effects. My husband was offered it at his latest clinic appointment for the reasons he works with handicapped individuals and he is asthmatic. He had no side effects. My daughter got her seasonal flu shot, but was only granted eligiblity for H1N1 this week, but she has a rattly cough so it might have to be put off for another few days. After a number of kids died from it in our local area and others falling severely ill, her not having it scares me more and more every day.
Where am I
Art Therapy of my own making has ALWAYS been a HUGE saving grace for me. I have since talked many things over with my husband and extended family that have been bothering me. I have been spending more time doing crafts and relaxing that I have in a long time and that has really been helping my stress level. I feel so much better now and ... happier. I am working on some projects with some friends of mine and those partnerships do wonders for my mental health. It's good to have some support!
Dipping
I failed. I made it about 5 days and on the fifth, I realized that I had a nearly full jar of White Salsa Con Queso in the fridge and I didn't want it to go off, so I ate it. But still ... it made me more aware of how much and what I dip, what I don't need to and I have really cut down. Now I wish I could tackle weight loss in the same manner. :D
That's all for me. See you next week and have a great one!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
The Art of Dipping
And now for something a little less serious this week.
Dipping.
A person can't get anything these days without a side of ... dip. At home, we keep bottles of condiments in our fridges to dip everything from fruit to meat to desserts. At restaurants, it either comes with a little container of meal related condiment or you can make your way to the fountain drink area to find little foil packets of everything under the sun.
At McDonalds the other day, my daughter's happy meal came with caramel dip for the apple slices and I was offered a choice of dips for her nuggets... when asked what they had, the server behind the counter rattled off about six, most of which I forgot moments after she said them, and then decided ketchup in it's little foil packet would do. She likes ketchup anyways.
At Red Lobster a few weeks ago, the fish came with tartare sauce, the crab legs with melted butter, the salads with your choice of salad dressing in a little cup on the side, for pouring or dipping depending on the diner's choice.
Buffalo Wild Wings offers around 14 different buffalo wing sauces for their wings, which also serve as dips if you prefer something other than mini chicken wings. My husband bought a bottle of his favorite flavor to take home... Why? To dip his steak in.
Waffles and pancakes come with their own little container of breakfast syrup. Small packets of crackers or breadsticks have dippable cheese. Pizza Hut serves a side of marinara dip with their breadsticks.
Sushi comes with soy sauce and wasabi.
Chip Dip ... ranch, french onion, nacho, spinach... We have an old family recipe in our family for cream cheese potato chip dip with onions. And a friend of mine used to bring over a wonderful eggplant dip with pita chips. And lets not forget good old hummus or if you prefer, Guacamole with your corn chips. I spent thirty minutes the other night trying to decide on the right dip for my corn chips. I settled for a white salsa con queso nacho dip, good but a little too spicey for my taste.
I am a mayonaise-a-holic. If it's dippable, there is mayonaise on my plate.
Vegetable trays come with dill sour cream dip. Fruit trays with vanilla or fruit flavored yogurt.
How about bread dipped in your soup or stew?
Wiki of course has many more than I can think of off the top of my head. I only remembered the ones I've eaten in the past two weeks. But seriously, all this in the past two weeks? Clearly, dipping is more than just a condiment, it's a necessity!
You can't escape it.
Here is a funny tidbit of information... I met my husband at a fondue party. Fondue is an art of dipping!
Even a the age of two, my child requests dip, so much so that I put a dob of ketchup on her plate with every meal now before she even asks.
Dip. Empty calories full of flavor and fat and salt.
I think here, the ultimate question is ... can we eat foods without dipping them? I think some, yes. Salad dressing isn't exactly a dip, although it is used as one here where I live. Ranch being the most popular, it is not only a salad dressing, but a dip for things like breadsticks and deep fried or baked cheese. A couple of guys I knew in high school used to dip their pizza in ranch.
But back to my salad ... I dislike the taste of oil and vinegar based salad dressings such as italian. I think it stems from the tartness/sourness of the vinegar and a long history of hating the smell of vinegar when they used to can pickles at my grandmother's house. So I quit having salad dressing on my salad and went for a straight dash of olive oil, lemon juice, and some pepper. Which clearly goes to show that even if I don't like a particular dressing for the salad, I still need something on it to make it a bit more palatable. Something to bring all the flavors together.
I do like raw veggies, but there is something about being able to dip the veggie that turns good food into even better food. But you have to ask yourself, if raw veggies are good for you, aren't you defeating the purpose of eating healthy food by dipping it in the sour cream or ranch dip with all it's salt, fat, and sugar?
Probably.
But I suppose that doesn't mean we are going to stop dipping. In fact, we'll probably do it more. As soon as we know something is bad for us, we feel guilty but we do it anyways.
I wonder if I can go a whole week without dipping? I'm not sure, but I think I'll try. I wonder if I can even remember that I set this challenge for myself given that it's 0600 in the morning and I've not been to bed yet. The joys of working night shift.
Tune in next week for a blog post recap of some of the more interesting points of the past few weeks since I started this blog and of course, whether not I followed through on my challenge not to dip for a week.
Dipping.
A person can't get anything these days without a side of ... dip. At home, we keep bottles of condiments in our fridges to dip everything from fruit to meat to desserts. At restaurants, it either comes with a little container of meal related condiment or you can make your way to the fountain drink area to find little foil packets of everything under the sun.
At McDonalds the other day, my daughter's happy meal came with caramel dip for the apple slices and I was offered a choice of dips for her nuggets... when asked what they had, the server behind the counter rattled off about six, most of which I forgot moments after she said them, and then decided ketchup in it's little foil packet would do. She likes ketchup anyways.
At Red Lobster a few weeks ago, the fish came with tartare sauce, the crab legs with melted butter, the salads with your choice of salad dressing in a little cup on the side, for pouring or dipping depending on the diner's choice.
Buffalo Wild Wings offers around 14 different buffalo wing sauces for their wings, which also serve as dips if you prefer something other than mini chicken wings. My husband bought a bottle of his favorite flavor to take home... Why? To dip his steak in.
Waffles and pancakes come with their own little container of breakfast syrup. Small packets of crackers or breadsticks have dippable cheese. Pizza Hut serves a side of marinara dip with their breadsticks.
Sushi comes with soy sauce and wasabi.
Chip Dip ... ranch, french onion, nacho, spinach... We have an old family recipe in our family for cream cheese potato chip dip with onions. And a friend of mine used to bring over a wonderful eggplant dip with pita chips. And lets not forget good old hummus or if you prefer, Guacamole with your corn chips. I spent thirty minutes the other night trying to decide on the right dip for my corn chips. I settled for a white salsa con queso nacho dip, good but a little too spicey for my taste.
I am a mayonaise-a-holic. If it's dippable, there is mayonaise on my plate.
Vegetable trays come with dill sour cream dip. Fruit trays with vanilla or fruit flavored yogurt.
How about bread dipped in your soup or stew?
Wiki of course has many more than I can think of off the top of my head. I only remembered the ones I've eaten in the past two weeks. But seriously, all this in the past two weeks? Clearly, dipping is more than just a condiment, it's a necessity!
You can't escape it.
Here is a funny tidbit of information... I met my husband at a fondue party. Fondue is an art of dipping!
Even a the age of two, my child requests dip, so much so that I put a dob of ketchup on her plate with every meal now before she even asks.
Dip. Empty calories full of flavor and fat and salt.
I think here, the ultimate question is ... can we eat foods without dipping them? I think some, yes. Salad dressing isn't exactly a dip, although it is used as one here where I live. Ranch being the most popular, it is not only a salad dressing, but a dip for things like breadsticks and deep fried or baked cheese. A couple of guys I knew in high school used to dip their pizza in ranch.
But back to my salad ... I dislike the taste of oil and vinegar based salad dressings such as italian. I think it stems from the tartness/sourness of the vinegar and a long history of hating the smell of vinegar when they used to can pickles at my grandmother's house. So I quit having salad dressing on my salad and went for a straight dash of olive oil, lemon juice, and some pepper. Which clearly goes to show that even if I don't like a particular dressing for the salad, I still need something on it to make it a bit more palatable. Something to bring all the flavors together.
I do like raw veggies, but there is something about being able to dip the veggie that turns good food into even better food. But you have to ask yourself, if raw veggies are good for you, aren't you defeating the purpose of eating healthy food by dipping it in the sour cream or ranch dip with all it's salt, fat, and sugar?
Probably.
But I suppose that doesn't mean we are going to stop dipping. In fact, we'll probably do it more. As soon as we know something is bad for us, we feel guilty but we do it anyways.
I wonder if I can go a whole week without dipping? I'm not sure, but I think I'll try. I wonder if I can even remember that I set this challenge for myself given that it's 0600 in the morning and I've not been to bed yet. The joys of working night shift.
Tune in next week for a blog post recap of some of the more interesting points of the past few weeks since I started this blog and of course, whether not I followed through on my challenge not to dip for a week.
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