Boreal Witch

One quilt.

How pathetic.

Granted, I did a lot this year. Third trimester swelling made it impossible to sew or quilt which meant all of the quilts I had intended to finish pre-infant were still in pieces in Ziplock bags. I had my second son and recovered from another birth. Robinson and I planted a garden and enjoyed another beautiful Alaskan summer. Arthur was enrolled in gymnastics and Balin finally got onto a decent sleep schedule. Our one and only car died (ironically on the way home from the quilters) and it took us some time to purchase a new car and track down an engine for our old vehicle. I actually did finish three quilts, but only got one quilted.

So, really, I suppose one completed quilt is really quite good considering the year's excitement.

Quilt #1: Strip Bow Quilt
This quilt was made for my cousin Brian and his partner Byron. I hadn't intended to make them a quilt (at least not so soon), but while we were at my grandmother's funeral, we started talking about the quilts I had made. They said that they loved them and I promised I would make them one. Someday. (I have a lot of "someday" quilts floating around my house.) I found the pattern in a quilt book my grandmother had. I recovered most of the fabric from various tubs and boxes. The quilt itself was very, very easy and it would not be difficult to make another one like it, especially for a doll. I learned that I will never, ever buy large widths of fabric at Jo-Ann's. The fabric is way too thin and, according to the quilter, will pill. Besides, with the amount it cost to buy that cheap fabric, I could have bought some nicer fabric and pieced it. With the right coordinating thread, no one would ever know.

Even though I didn't complete many quilts, I did manage to do some fun quilt-related stuff this year. I saw a longarm quilting machine in action. That was an amazingly fun experience. I'm not sure if I'll ever get to own one (they take up so much space) or if I'll ever be a serious enough quilter to ever need one. Quilting is something I like to have fun with. If I ever started hoarding fabric without using it until one day I was buried beneath and had to tunnel my way out of it to survive...then maybe I would need one. Right now, quilting is a way of relieving stress. I acknowledge I have a collection of projects, but I am trying my hardest to finish the ones I have before I take on any more. That's so hard for me because I love starting new projects. It's much easier for me to get excited about beginning a quilt than it is to see a project to the end. My passion begins to fizzle about half-way.

I really should consider doing more baby quilts because they are small and generally very easy. Plus, now that I have a free motion foot, I can quilt my own smaller quilts!

Which reminds me, I bought a free motion foot for a whopping $1 this year! I can now quilt my own (small) quilts or wall hangings. It is so hard to stipple something and make it look good. My first project was an iPad holder for Arthur's friend Jade. I've quilted a doll blanket for Arthur's doll and our family tree skirt. All three of these projects seemed to take forever and were murder on my back. It was slow going, but the results were quite lovely. My goal for this next year is to get really good at stippling. I guess that means I'll need to practice.

What, more quilting? Oh, darn!

Blessed be.

Come September 1st I get excited for Winter Solstice.

Kind of silly, I know, considering there's a perfectly good Wiccan holiday in between Autumn Equinox and Yule, but Winter Solstice is the one Wiccan holiday that I feel like I'm a good Wiccan. I actually do things that are Pagan-y and meaningful. I make special dinners and decorate the house. I carve a log which gets burned in a bonfire. I thank the Universe for the change in the seasons and the dramatic gain in sunlight we will begin to get. It's this time of year I feel my most devout.

Burning the Yule log was surprisingly pleasant this year. For the first time in our Yule celebrations, it was a balmy 15 degrees outside (notice that number was NOT preceded by a minus sign). We were able to enjoy the bonfire and watch the log burn. We poked at the fire and once we were finished, we went in to enjoy some rhubarb crumble.

Christmas was a quiet affair. No one visited, we didn't visit anyone. It was nice not having to rush through airline security. We opened presents, ate cinnamon rolls, and just spent time together. It was surprising to see the large number of gifts under the tree because we made it a point to have a frugal Christmas this year. Our families are so generous and we were very grateful for that.

2012 will represent many new beginnings for our family. I intend to start a sewing business. In fact, that was my Yule wish this year. I'm hoping to make some fun kid stuff for some of the holiday bazaars around town next year. I've been upcycling some upholstery scraps into baby doll carriers. I also plan on turning some old banners into diaper changing pads. I'm not sure if this will even be remotely successful, but I love to sew and if I can make a living out of it, why not?

Here's to 2012!

Blessed be.

Growing up, my parents always did the same thing with leftovers: we ate them as leftovers. Once a week, my mom or dad would pull out all the leftovers and we'd (begrudgingly) eat them.

Once I moved away and had to cook for myself, I discovered a sneaky way to make leftovers a bit more palatable: make them into something else. This idea didn't have to be saved for Thanksgiving leftovers anymore, it could be done anytime for any meal.

Sometimes Robinson's office will make soups and since we had a ton of potatoes, we always signed up to bring those. One of these meals was scheduled for Wednesday and Robinson received a reminder on Monday saying to bring mushrooms.

"I thought you said you signed me up to bring potatoes," he said.

"I did!" I responded.

He went to the store to get mushrooms, only to discover that the person who'd handed out the slips accidentally put his name with the mushrooms.

So now we had an extra pound of mushrooms.

Oh, darn.

I love mushrooms, so it wasn't a big deal. What was a big deal was that we weren't going to be able to use them in a meal this week since none of our meals had mushrooms in them.

But I didn't want them to go bad...

...so I made this incredible mushroom gravy.

Browned Pork Chops with Mushroom Gravy
Serves 4

1 tbs. canola oil
4 pork chops
1 tbs. butter
1 lb. mushrooms (any kind)
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 tbs. brandy or white wine
1/2 cup leftover turkey gravy*
1/4 cup water
1 can cream of mushroom soup
salt and pepper to taste

1. Brown the pork chops in the 1 tbs. oil. Place on the bottom of a casserole dish.

2. Melt the butter in a skillet. Chop mushrooms and add them to the melted butter. Add thyme and garlic powder. When the butter gets absorbed by the mushrooms, add 1 tbs. brandy or white wine.

3. Once the mushrooms are completely sauteed, add the 1/2 cup gravy and stir to incorporate. The gravy should reconstitute into a sauce on its own. Once it does, add the 1/4 cup water and mushroom soup. Stir well and bring to a boil. Pour over the pork chops.

4. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes. Serve hot with rice or noodles.

Blessed be.

* My Thanksgiving turkey makes the best gravy and thus the richest mushroom sauce. You can find the recipe here.

The Universe has decreed that we needed two cars. Granted, one of those cars is broken and probably won't be fixed anytime soon, but we are technically a two car family now. Once we get our gray Matrix fixed, it will be rather nice.

Unfortunately for us, we are not a two-income family. It's going to be a challenge to pay for our new red car.

We're back to our college days of saving all of our precious pennies by having a strict weekly food budget. Robinson's even stopped coming home for lunch to save on gas. Christmas will be very simple this year, which is quite a coincidence because I was planning on a pretty frugal holiday season anyway. The kids are too young to know, so I don't feel bad or guilty in the least.

It's a good thing Christmas is around the corner. My sisters and my mom are always very generous when it comes to getting the kids clothes, so they should be set for the next year. Since I saved all of Arthur's old clothes for Balin, we won't have to get him anything. Plus, it's nice to have a network of other moms who give us their kids' old clothing.

I'm confident we'll make it all work. Somehow it always comes out in the wash. I've offered to get a part-time weekend job to help cover expenses, but Robinson said we don't need to worry about it yet.

Yet.

Now that's a scary word.

Blessed be.

In all my years of driving, I've done a pretty half-assed job taking care of my vehicles. Sure, they got the necessities like oil and air in the tires, but for the most part, preventative care like tune-ups were not done.

Then came the Matrix. I tried really hard to get regular oil changes and do some of that preventative work because it was such a nice little car. We depended on it. Once Balin was born, I didn't get around to it. I just didn't have the time. I had hoped Robinson would think to do it, but if he's not looking the beast in the eye right then and there, he won't tackle it.

Our poor car died yesterday. I was driving back from the quilter's when I started to lose power. Then the car died. Luckily, there were two cars behind me. The first guy didn't stop, but the next guy did. He took me home. I called Robinson and explained the situation. He got one of his co-workers to drive him out there and after pouring in some oil, he determined that the car would have to be towed since the car wouldn't turn over.

After a day's wait, the mechanics called with the verdict: the oil rod had gone through the engine which meant that the engine was shot. It would take $4000 and about 5 months to put our poor Matrix back together again.

So, now we are stuck either buying another car that we can't afford or fixing our car, which we also can't afford. Unfortunately, Fairbanks is not the kind of city where you can't have a car. The public transit isn't very good and we don't live anywhere near a bus route.

The thing is, I'm surprisingly calm about this experience. Sometimes it takes a big "uh-oh" moment to make sure that you never, ever do a stupid thing like not get regular oil changes again.

Our future cars will have it so good.

Blessed be.

Blessed be.

I've been trying to get better about celebrating Pagan holidays. I missed the summer solstice and Lammas this year. I meant to have a bonfire on the Fall Equinox. Some of it I can blame on Balin, as any new mother can tell you it's difficult to get anything completed, much less started. Brushing your teeth in the morning becomes a major accomplishment. Housework gets swept to the side and is only done when the pile of dirty laundry threatens to swallow you whole or when the dishes lean precariously on the counters. Blogs get neglected. Smileboxes aren't sent. I think family members are beginning to wonder if we're still around.

Still, we really made an effort for Halloween. Arthur is old enough to begin to understand that costumes = loads of candy. There were two deaths of close family members within the last year as well. It was imperative that we recognize them, too. As a result, Halloween extended from one evening to a week-long event, which was surprisingly nice.

Last year, I made Arthur a Curious George costume, which he refused to wear. I didn't want that drama this year, so after some battles with Arthur about what he wanted to wear, I finally left the costume up to Robinson. He did a good job convincing Arthur to be a computer programmer, like him. They made cardboard iPads and Robinson even asked one of his co-workers to make Arthur a name tag, exactly like the ones at the school district. Robinson's co-workers thought he was the cutest thing ever. There were so many pictures taken and the end result of cubicle trick-or-treating was a small bag of candy, which is perfect because neither myself nor Robinson needs any more sweets.

Balin and I dressed up like Wicket the Ewok and Princess Leia. I reused the material from Arthur's rejected Curious George outfit. I was pretty surprised it worked so well. We made quite a stir at UAF's Halloween Bash. Even a brief truce was declared so that we could pose with members of the Empire's finest.

Arthur even went to eight of the stations and was eligible for one of several door prizes. What a surprise we had when he actually won one of them! It was a Star Wars Lego sticker book, just the kind of thing to make both Robinson and Josh green with envy. Arthur sat on the floor the afternoon he got it, peeling and placing stickers, saying, "Not everyone gets to win a prize. I'm special. This is really special." He even covered pieces of paper with stickers for Robinson and Uncle Johnny.

We also went to our friend Sarah's house to carve pumpkins, but since we had not yet gotten our pumpkins, the boys painted their little ones instead. Well, I painted Balin's because he probably would have eaten the paint. When we finally got our pumpkin, Arthur decided he wanted the letters E, W, P, and H carved in it rather than a face.

Finally, we made rice krispy treat skulls and decorated them with candy. Unfortunately, the marshmallows were so old that the treats hardened within the hour of making them. Still, I hadn't done this activity since I was a junior in college and it was very enjoyable making one with my own child. This might become an annual activity.

We also remembered my grandmother, who passed away last August, and Robinson's mom who passed away this January. It was a little sad when Arthur couldn't (or maybe didn't want to) come up with a memory of his Oldma. I wonder if, when he gets older, if he will have any actual memories of her.

Blessed be.

For two nights, Balin and Arthur both slept until about 7:30. It was wonderful. Robinson and I easily got lulled into a false sense of security, believing that we had finally come to the point where our children would "sleep in."

Little did we realize that our children were evil geniuses who were probably just playing practical jokes on us. For almost the past week these kids have been waking up at 5:30, bright-eyed and ready to start the day.

I'm not sure who is waking up first. If it's Balin there's not much we can do other than not go in until after 6am, and if it is Arthur, we can only hope that he stays quiet until Balin wakes up. Either way, I don't count on either of us getting much sleeping in time in the near future.

I suppose that's the draw back of having two kids in a small house. Someday we won't be able to get them to go to sleep or wake up in time for school. When my sisters and I stayed up half the night giggling we probably drove my parents crazy, too. Life is circular like that.

Blessed be.