Books to Give as Gifts

Nine years ago, I was the maid of honor for my college roommate’s wedding.   She and her husband are currently off on an extended weekend vacation to have some private, honeymoon time together; which is very much needed.

It has been a rough year for them.  Mainly, my friend’s husband had to undergo a second open heart surgery operation, as the first operation six years ago was botched and the heart repair had severely restricted some of the blood flow through his heart valves.

Sometimes a celebratory card is in order for occasions’ such as anniversaries.  But, at times I prefer to give a book, as I did for my friend after her engagement.  That book was “What No One Tells the Bride: Surviving the Wedding…”.

The book that I am going to send her in celebration of her anniversary is a humorous little book entitled “101 Uses For A Bridesmaid Dress”. 

The author got her inspiration from stories she had heard, such as one woman who dug a hole in her back yard and buried her bridesmaid dress or the one that cut up a dress and used the fabric to wash her car.

From there she started jotting down notes for a variety of humorous ways one could re-use their dress or dresses and thus along with an illustrator a tongue and cheek book was born.

My bridesmaid dress for my friend’s wedding was actually very neutral and would have easily been worn again at another formal occasion.  It is long gone, as after the wedding, I took it to the dry cleaner and never got the gown back after he repeatedly told me he would take care of his store’s damage.  In the end, I had to take him to small claims court.

Yes, the judge ruled in my favor.  But, I have not one bridesmaid gown in my closet.

Now, my friend’s cousin, who was also a bridesmaid in the wedding… Well, she ordered the wrong size and received a gown that was far too small and could not be returned.  She, on the other hand, now has two identical gowns in two sizes!

My friend was a bridesmaid in a number of weddings and still has them hanging in her cedar closet. 

Nine years after her wedding and having been a bridesmaid for a number of family members and friends, I am hoping she gets a good chuckle out of the book.  I think that she will especially laugh over my favorite use; which I plan on placing a Post-it Note to mark the page, prior to sending her the book.

“101 Uses For A Bridesmaid Dress”, by Cindy Walker with illustrations by Donna Mehalko

The other book that I tripped upon was “The Grandmother’s Book” that I think would serve as a wonderful gift from the parents to be to their parents or as a baby shower gift that eventually will come back to the child after the grandmother has completed inserting her input and thoughts in her own writing into the pages of the book.

I want to send this book to my mother to fill out so that as her child, I will have a handwritten record of family and the little things that make up our history.

I am also pondering purchasing additional copies for my paternal aunt and uncle, as they could provide insight into that side of the family, as well as modifying responses to document more about who they are and about my grandparents.

“Grandmother’s Book”, by Marcia O. Levin

Trying New Foods - Skyr a.k.a. Traditional Yogurt of Iceland

For the most part, I enjoy trying foods that I have never tasted before.  This past week, Giant Food Stores sent, in the mail, a couple of manufacturers coupons for siggi's Icelandic style skyr strained non-fat yogurt in the amount of $1. per coupon.  (Reference:  http://skyr.com/)
Now, there is a little incentive to give the product a try.  I like yogurt and truly enjoy fruit smoothies made with fresh fruit, plain yogurt, water and ice.

Once at the store, I ended up purchasing two, 6 oz cups of yogurt at a retail cost of $1.99 per cup.  There were four options available at the store and I selected the orange and ginger and the blueberry fruit varieties.

This afternoon, I decided to have a snack and tried the orange and ginger container.

As far as the product, it contained minimal traces of orange and ginger.  Nothing like traditional American cups of yogurt with fruit.  Plus, the consistancy visably looked more like that of ice cream with a bit of texture to it.  When placed in a spoon skyr will remain stuck to the spoon when turned over.  Unlike yogurt which will fall or slide off.

Skyr, reminds me very much of a Mediterranean yogurt cheese a.k.a. labneh that is the consistency of American cream cheese.  Like labneh, the flavor comparison is that it has a slightly tart yogurt taste.

Due to the regular retail cost of $1.99 a 6 oz cup, I would say that it will not often find its way into my grocery basket.  But, if on sale or if I am in need of a high protein meatless diet this is a great product to purchase and consume, as it has 16 to 17 grams of protein per container!

Actually, I am going to recommend this product to a friend of mine who was telling me about a diet plan that her physician has her on; which includes consuming a breakfast of  over 30 grams of protein each morning.

A rather difficult endevor when you have to be up and on the road prior to dawn for a 50 minute or more comute to work.  Plus, she was lamenting on how she really did not care to have a huge breakfast in the mornings nor did she have the time to prepare and consume.

If she can get in roughly half the grams of protein at home before she departs in the AM, than perhaps she can have her reward of a siggi's skyr once she gets to work.  Thus getting the protein her physician is recommending without as much AM frustration.

I would give the product a thumbs up and say to try it out for yourself.  Let me know what your impressions are after you have tried it.

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If you have never tried labneh and live in the DC Metro area it can be found at Middle Eastern food markets such as The Mediterranean Bakery located on Pickett Street in Alexandria, VA.

Or, if you live in an area that does not sell it, you can make it yourself by purchasing yogurt and straining it.  Just follow the recipe provided in the link below or look on-line to find another similar recipe.http://www.food.com/recipe/yogurt-cheese-labneh-88089

More about skyr from the Skyr.com website:

What is skyr?

Skyr is the traditional yogurt of Iceland. It is made by incubating skim milk with live active cultures. The whey, the water naturally found in milk, is then strained away to make for a much thicker, creamier, concentrated yogurt. So to make just one cup of skyr, with all that water going out, you need 3 - 4 times the amount of milk required to make a regular cup of yogurt. As a result of this process skyr comes out with 2-3 times the protein count of standard yogurt.

Our farmers do not use growth hormones like rBGH. All siggi’s products are natural and do not contain any artificial sweeteners; our yogurts are very lightly sweetened with agave nectar. We try our best to keep our ingredients list short and simple.

What is...In The Area That I Like To Use My Laptop

Indulge the author, as she is posting photos mainly for family members that have not visited O'Dea-O'Dea.  Above is a photo of the area that I like to sit when using the laptop and blogging.  Perhaps unconventional, but I prefer to work where there is plenty of natural light, comfortable and a lack of clutter around me.

I have always cringed when I have walked into someones work space or office and find that they sit in the dark like a mushroom.  A dark room just makes my eyelids heavy with sleep! 

Stare into the light my children.  Or at least work in an environment that is well lit and conducive to work.

Yes, I have space dedicated as an office.  But... for all intensive purposes it is under construction and in dire need of major unpacking and organization.

Items in the area where I like to use my laptop include:

• Comfortable high back chair with a pillow to help support the lumbar area.
• Ottoman/foot stool to hold various items at arms reach.
• An old hospital bed tray that has survived all of these decades to come into another setting and be useful a la Restoration Hardware's newest collection of industrial furnishings and products having a second more glamorous life in the home with a new purpose .  The tray has a wrought iron pipe stand with knobs for adjustment (up/down for height and tilt of the tray) and the top is made of oak with an approximately 1/2" lip around the entire edge.  (It is nice to have the adjustments of tray in that I can tilt the tray when using the laptop.)

• West Elm large, square, off-white vase that I keep handy for paper recycling (area where I often open the mail).
• IKEA office organizer box assortment.  Large gray cardboard organizer box with lid and handle cut outs is big enough to hold papers and open mail that needs to be tended to.  The smaller black office organizers on the floor are a more recent purchase.  (They actually collapse flat when not in use - nice!  Then to use them there is a zipper in the center of each base that is zipped to hold the box square.  They also have clear plastic pockets on one corner for insertion of labels.)  The boxes hold note books; mail that needs to be attended to and coupons and sales that might be of future interest.
• BlackBerry Bold wireless device.
• Digital camera and USB cable.

• An onyx and brass very large older ashtray that sits on an Italian 100% wool throw.  You might see an old ashtray.  I on the other hand see it as an interesting and solid piece that I can rest my beverage in while I am seated in the chair.   

That my children, is what is in the area that I like to use my laptop with the lesson to have some original thought and ideas as to how to see, use or re-use items for unconventional purposes.

Creative Ideas Publication Free from Loew's

Lowe's is offering a series of free, mailed publications during the year for Home and Garden, Woodworkers and Outdoor Living.   I just received my first publication "Lowe's Creative Ideas:  For Your New Home".

You can sign-up on-line to request that the publications be mailed to your home. 

http://www.lowescreativeideas.com/subscribe/subscribe.aspx

They also have a lot of how-to instructions on their website. 

Kudos to Lowe's on helping out us do-it yourself types.

Reality of Projects in Process

The camera rechargeable battery is charged and I have downloaded some photos of projects in progress.  Below you can see just how chaotic, dirty and messy some of the task can be.

As I had mentioned in a blog, earlier today, seeing just the final product probably really is not always the best method of sharing information on projects for those that view my blog.  Many of the projects, at hand, have a long time line and list of task associated with each of them.

The project that had tasks that I worked on this weekend were:

• The mowing and weeding of the yard here at O'Dea-O'Dea
• Garage organization, re-organization and cleaning
• Cleaning up the sun porch to include removal of the deep freezer chest and refrigerator to the rear of the garage

  

  Approx. 12 bags of yard waste (all weeds from garden beds)

  



The sitting area of the sun porch in a jumbled in-process state of change



Backyard outside of the sun porch also in a jumbled in-process state of change w/stuff!

Sun porch in-process filth former location of deep freezer chest

One of the visuals that I have not captured and a person needs an image of this is that not once.  But, three times this summer I have emptied out half of the garage in order to move pine cabinets in; re-locate some existing old metal cabinets.   A third time was Sunday, when half of the garage was emptied onto the front lawn to make room for the deep freezer and refrigerator move to the rear of the garage.  (Before it got dark, the garage contents spread on the lawn had to be hastily moved back into the garage to be under cover.  Still requires further moving and work.)

The first time, I had the delivery of the pine cabinets and had no choice but to put the contents on the lawn even though there was a threat of rain.  Did it pour!

The second time, I worked on the other half of the garage.  Once again contents on the front lawn and driveway.  Sunny day, but again, it rained.

This Sunday, it did not rain.  Thank God!  But, it was a weekend and neighbors were driving by wondering what the heck was going on as there were trunks, boxes, garment rack with coats, etc. strewn across the lawn.  No yard sale sign.  But, one of the neighbors that just can not help herself came trotting over, much to my dismay and decided she was going to have a look-and-see.

Here I was cleaning the exterior of a refrigerator, at the end of the driveway, and she is coming to look to see if there is something for her or her family (Prior to passing away, Mr. O'Dea was generous enough to give her sons camping gear and she has asked a few times since, if there was any more).  Please...this is not about you!

I kept to the task at hand and made certain not to give her eye contact.  Told her as she was walking over, "If you come any closer you are going to get enlisted into helping".

It didn't stop her.  She let me know that she had hurt her back this summer and couldn't lift.  Wha...wha...wha... and she eventually went away.

Anyway, back to the ebb and flow of the garage project tides.  It will probably a handful more tasks of emptying out the bays of the garage in order to move in the other set of used, pine pantry cupboards I purchased and need delivered, as well as continuing to sort through items, organize and in some cases purge.

This evening (Monday), I just did not have the energy to tackle any of the moving and cleaning tasks.  Documentation with some photos and blog postings are the extent of Monday's involvement.

Friday Night and Chilly

Here is is already 15 October and half of the month just buzzed by without a wink.  It goes from intense heat here in the DC area with humidity that will keep any sane person indoors during the hottest parts of the day to this brisk, dry cold air. 

In the grocery store this evening there was the mixture of various seasons of dress.  Many a person still with the Aloha shirt or shorts and a t-shirt with sandals to the winter jacket and wool cap.

It is going down to the low 40's this evening and I hate to do it to Empress Lui, but the window that I normally leave open for her to get fresh air and check the outside world is closed for the night.

15 October 2010 - Empress Lui keeping her paws warm

I am hoping that tomorrow will be clear and comfortable and that my motivation to get some of the work around the yard, etc. can be accomplished without having some lame excuse. 

You know, like rain, bugs or it being too hot, etc.

Below is a snapshot that I took here at O'Dea-O'Dea this year.  March to be exact. 

I then made use of it as the cover photo for my work team's internal MS Sharepoint site.  A bright reminder as to how the seasons change and each one has a beauty of its own.