Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Somewhere over the rainbow it is spring. Or at least over in my shop, because my front lawn still has piles of snow.

Technicolor Pillow $40

Anti-Winter Pillow $27

Spinning Circles Pillow $35

My Big Brother

My brother Mike just launched his new website. Ain't he a talented photographer? I would go on and on here about why his photos are so great using photo phrases like 'depth of field' or 'aperture' but I am an idiot when it comes to photography.

Besides, his photos speak for themselves. And I'm not even that into cars. May God bless you Mike in finding a job! Dang this blasted economy. I just can't help but think if it wasn't for the greed on Wall Street and the greed of many Americans who thought they deserved a 5,000 square foot home and a boat and lots of toys, we wouldn't be in this mess. And neither would decent hard-working folks like my brother. So here's to finding a job better than the last.

P.S. I love that the second photo is in the L.A. aquaduct. Yup, never any water there! Gosh, I miss L.A. and the glorious arid climate that it is.

Mughlai Chicken

I made this chicken dish again tonight. And then I chatted about it with a friend on facebook which makes me think I should just post the recipe. It helps that the recipe comes from my favorite British chef Nigella Lawson. Isn’t curry the national food of England now? I knew those Brits were smart.

I can’t say enough about this dish. I’ve served it at curry parties and it’s always a hit. It’s my comfort food and when you see the ingredients you’ll know why—chicken and cream? Yum!  Don’t be afraid to use powdered spices instead of whole spices if that’s all you have. Personally, I buy my whole spices in bulk here (for cheap!) and keep them in the freezer. Now if I only had a tandoor oven to make naan bread….

In the News

For better or worse, I was featured in The Daily Herald newspaper and then the very next day on KSL Radio. I've decided I hate being interviewed because facts get lost and I get misquoted. Almost makes me feel sorry for celebrities. (almost) The sad part about being in the news is all the negative comments that quickly follow--there are some meanies who commented on the ksl broadcast and sound so bitter you wonder if they suck on lemons all day to keep up such a demeanor. Nonetheless, read or listen to the broadcast if you so desire.

Oh, and buy the way, I do not work 5-6 hours a day. Yikes! More like 2-3 hours.

Treasure Chests

I have decided that if I want to buy my kids toys then the test should be this: throw the toy down onto the floor in my path of walking, and if it looks good there, then buy the toy. Because that’s the only reason my kids have toys—to make me work harder at cleaning up all the crapola. So being the brilliant person that I am, I have put a moratorium on toys, sort of. For Christmas, this was the test: give the children gifts they’ll love and I will love. Tough order to fill.

I think I've mentioned before that I swap my sewing skills for fabulous furniture with Four Chairs furniture in Orem. In an effort to keep the no-toy-rule this last Christmas (yes, I'm behind on blogging about sewing/decorating) I decided to give the girls blanket chests. I told the girls that these were like treasure chests . So only items they love and treasure should be placed inside—i.e., no crapola. They seemed to like that idea and quickly went around their room grabbing special items to carefully stow inside. And because I love color, they had to be painted cute shades of limey green and turquoise. Mission accomplished.

Beyond the Call of Duty

This picture is reason enough why driving the morning carpool is evil. Glory, give me a ticket to anywhere else.

Pillow Envy?

By now you all know I design pillows right? Well seeing this post on apartmenttherapy.com (my favorite design website…and not just because they’ve featured me twice) made me think the pillows in my own shop were a bit dull. Come on, sushi pillows! And how about the pillow mimicking a pool of blood! Ha!

You Know It’s the Dead of Winter When….

…you go out to get the mail without a coat and think, ‘Wow it’s warm today!’ (The thermometer said 38 degrees)

…you have memorized where the worst ice potholes are in the neighborhood and expertly avoid them even if this means driving on the left side of the road.

…your car needs to be re-aligned due to afore mentioned potholes before you memorized the  locations of the worst.

…you sit in your bay window that faces south to soak up the sun. you sit there so long the sun moves, so you move as well.

…you turn your electric blanket on 1 hour before bed lest there be one single cold spot left when you climb in.

…you drink Postum (ok, Pero, because you all read my blog on the death of Postum) at least twice a day.

…you search travelocity.com saying to yourself, “if flights to California drop just $5 more bucks, I’m outta here!”

…you sigh with relief as you grip your heated steering wheel and wonder why you don’t do more yoga so that you can drive with your feet on the wheel as well.

…you ask your friend who is in law-school what kind of liability you’ll have if someone dies while climbing your ice coated front steps.

….you don’t like the answer your friend gives.

….you wonder why for the millionth time you have to live in Utah among the frozen chosen.

Dropping Hints

I turn 35 next week--January 14th. I feel pretty good about that although my YW like to tell me I'm old. I haven't come up with a good comeback to that one yet...still thinking. Because guess what, I'm not old!! Yes, I usually have Keane or U2 or Erasure playing in the car when I'm cartin' those little missies around, but I'm not old.

Anyway, I know many of you are just racking your brains right now because you don't know what to get me for my birthday. So just pick from the list and make my day.

A homemade baked cake. (No boxed mixes please)...a clean house....new sunglasses for all this glaring snow....cool leather boots with heels to replace my 'man made materials' boots....a jewelry box to replace the one my brother Mike bought me in junior high.....the will to continue exercising everyday...The Carol Burnett boxed set so I can laugh my bum off...an electric mattress pad (saw at Costco last week) to compliment my electric blanket Paul gave me for my 34th birthday (can you say human grilled cheese)....kids that eat what I put in front of them....husband that adores me (check, got that already)....The  Dummies Guide to the Wii (so I can beat my kids at boxing)....gift cards to iTunes....the knowledge to put movies on my iPod Touch…a license plate rim that says, ‘Still California Dreaming’….and eggs benedict on the big day. Got it? Good, go get it.

Cynthia’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve Celebration

  

A fun-filled evening was had by all in our little family. We stayed home, cooked dinner, frosted cupcakes, watched old family videos, and let the kids watch the ball drop in NYC at 10pm. For dinner we had pan-fried tilapia and parmesan risotto. I’ve decided after several attempts that risotto isn’t worth the hype. Give me a regular rice pilaf any day rather than ladling in hot stock slowly for 45 minutes. Yawn.

The highlight was the chocolate peanut butter cupcakes. But be warned….these cupcakes, like anything peanut butter, require you to have a large glass of milk standing by lest you get called by a radio station and have to answer the trivia question, “Who shot Alexander Hamilton in that famous duel?”. Answer without milk: “Ew-un Buh”. Don’t let this happen to you. Other than that, these are amazing cupcakes, and that’s coming from a non-peanut-butter lover. Happy New Year! 

Molasses Spice Cookies

We’ve made these cookies twice this Christmas season.  They are my all time favorites—chewy, spicy, great for dunking. Of course the recipe is from The Best Recipe, my all time favorite cookbook. Hope you like ‘em too!

 

1/3 cup granulated sugar (about 2 1/2 ounces), plus 1/2 cup for dipping
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (11 1/4 ounces)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon table salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened but still cool
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar (about 2 1/2 ounces)
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup molasses (about 6 ounces), light or dark

Instructions

1. 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Place 1/2 cup sugar for dipping in 8- or 9-inch cake pan.

2. 2. Whisk flour, baking soda, spices, and salt in medium bowl until thoroughly combined; set aside.

3. 3. In standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter with brown and granulated sugars at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low and add yolk and vanilla; increase speed to medium and beat until incorporated, about 20 seconds. Reduce speed to medium-low and add molasses; beat until fully incorporated, about 20 seconds, scraping bottom and sides of bowl once with rubber spatula. Reduce speed to lowest setting; add flour mixture and beat until just incorporated, about 30 seconds, scraping bowl down once. Give dough final stir with rubber spatula to ensure that no pockets of flour remain at bottom. Dough will be soft.

4. 4. Using tablespoon measure, scoop heaping tablespoon of dough and roll between palms into 1 1/2-inch ball; drop ball into cake pan with sugar and repeat to form about 4 balls. Toss balls in sugar to coat and set on prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Repeat with remaining dough. Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies are browned, still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft (cookies will look raw between cracks and seem underdone), about 11 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Do not overbake.

5. 5. Cool cookies on baking sheet 5 minutes, then use wide metal spatula to transfer cookies to wire rack; cool cookies to room temperature and serve. (Can be stored at room temperature in airtight container or zipper-lock plastic bag up to 5 days.)

The Magic of Snow

Bless you mother nature for sending snow to my neighborhood. It’s been too cold to play outside all month and the kids have been fighting way too much due to cabin feveritis.  But now the white powder that delights my children has arrived. Why is snow like magic for children? And just in time for Christmas.

Like a good mom I sent the kids out in their snow gear to enjoy the splendor of it all! There can’t be more than 3 inches but it’s enough to give them something to smile about. 

 

Teenage Silliness

I received an email from my friend Andy (who has the most delicious food blog) this morning. It was a link to Eric Snyder's (formerly of the pullitzer-prize winning paper The Daily Herald) homepage where he wrote a screenplay for Twilight. I laughed so hard. My favorite line: "Since when do white people honor treaties with Indians?" Hardy, har har.

Ready to laugh? Click here.

Merry Christmas

This year our stake YW leaders challenged all the young women and young men (teenagers from 12-18 years of age) and their leaders (that would be me since I am the big P in my ward) to memorize The Living Christ.  For those readers not of my faith (the LDS / Mormon faith), The Living Christ is a document issued by leaders of our church proclaiming to the world our belief in Jesus Christ as Savior of the world.
It’s a pretty long document. And I often think I am low on gray matter these days, but I can finally say I have it all memorized. To explain here what this means to to me is pretty personal and I’m not articulate enough anyway to describe such feelings in a public forum. But I will say this—at this wonderful Christmas season I feel such a renewal that He is my Savior. “God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son.” Merry Christmas. 

Dreaming of Me

I have crazy dreams that I often remember with such details that I confuse myself. Thank goodness my dear friend Allison is a master at dream interpretation. Earlier this year I had a dream that I went to Young Women’s Camp (which came true) but while at YW Camp my husband put our house up for sale and sold it—all in one week. I came home from camp desperately crying and begging the new owners to please not make us move, that I really did need my house.

I desperately called Allison to see what this crazy dream meant. She said that houses represent ourselves. So Paul was trying to get rid of me! FYI—I’ve told Paul before that if he ever wants to get rid of me I will not go quietly but will take him for all he’s worth—that’s when he usually looks at me like I’m one pawn short of playing with a full chess set. Anyway….I’ve been having some really do-whoppers of dreams lately that I desperately need interpreted.  I have all the usual dreams of not having any teeth, of being caught in just my underwear in public, and of course running but not going anywhere. Old hat.

But lately I have had dreams such as-- Obama having in his possession the lost 116 pages of the Book of Mormon manuscript and how I’m trying to convince him to turn them over to the church….or dreams where my neighbors all live on islands and can only get places by diving off their land and swimming out to sea……or ok….I can’t remember anymore right now. And I just asked Paul to remind me of some of my hokier dreams (because I always tell him when I wake up) but he doesn’t remember either. Smart boy. So don’t leave a comment of dream interpretation and say that I’m going looney, because I already know that. Give me something good.

And no, I’m not on any medication.

Foul Words A Plenty

Is it wrong that I laughed so hard I cried the other day upon hearing this:

Hallie: (approaching me while sobbing) Mom, Ilene says that when I grow up I'm going to.....I'm going to (more sobs).... I'm going to smoke. But I'm not Mom, I'm never going to smoke. But she keeps saying I WILL!!

Mom: (biting lip to prevent guffaws from escaping) Well, ignore Ilene. I know you won't smoke when you grow up.

Hallie: No mom, I'll never be a smoker.

Ilene: (sitting silently at the kitchen table, coloring, while shaking with pent up laughter and squinty eyes cast down)

An Epiphany on Homemaking

Once upon a time there was a gal named Cynthia who was a good homemaker. Yesterday she was a good girl and cleaned her kitchen/dining/family room, otherwise known as the great room. This happy little gal stood back, sighed with pleasure at the sight of a sparkly clean house, and then went to pick up the kids from school. Within 30 minutes the children pillaged and plundered the pantry, strewing the home with homework, crayons, pencil shavings, smashed bananas on the floor, backpacks strewn everywhere, Ritz cracker crumbs aplenty, etc. The happy homemaker was no longer happy.

When her husband came home that night she tried to explain it this way, "Imagine that you worked so hard on some financial statements for a client. Everything was just right and you were impressed with your brains and abilities. Just then, an angry co-worker comes into your office and hits the delete key. You hadn't saved your work because it's impossible and you were forced to start all over again. But you just couldn't do the same work twice--somehow that made you feel like nothing more than a eunuch. So you watched the food network instead." The husband totally got it. Thank you.

BYU Flashback

A few days ago Paul and I went on a date thanks to my blessed sister Patty who loves to babysit my kids. So we went to Thai Ruby (one of my favorite restaurants in this whole valley) and then to the BYU Museum of Art to see current exhibit on The Demise of Modernism. Well, apparently BYU doesn’t consider the MOA a great date destination because it was closed this particular Saturday night, and probably every other Saturday night I suppose. Rates!

So what do we do? Well, we haven’t seen the new addition to the Tanner Building, let’s go there! Obviously we were stalling and not wanting to go home until the kids were asleep. So we headed back to the building where Paul and I spent the greater part of our college years. Upon entering the building, I was flooded with memories and emotions of days gone by. Here are just a few.

• I remember giving a report in Information Systems about this crazy new computer in the library that could give you up to the minute information on stocks. Something called the internet.
• I remember not ever once raising my hand to answer a question in class—during all four years! Yea, yea, I’m a know it all, but about important stuff like mascara and the best way to cook asparagus, not business.
• I remember there was a student or two in each of my classes that had a laptop computer. I remember being jealous that he didn’t have to go wait in line at the computer lab to use Quattro Pro version dinosaur 1.
• I remember leaving my apartment early in the morning to make it to the computer lab before classes began to print out my homework. I also remember being so poor that I would agonize whether I should print out my homework on the free dot matrix printer or whether to splurge and use the 10 cents per page computer lab laser printer. Live large Cynthia, go for the laser.
• I remember failing Accounting 210 (Paul aced this of course, like everything) and having to retake it as a night class. Nothing ruins a good night’s rest more than ending the day at 9:20pm with debits and credits instead of Cheetos and chocolate milk.

But most of all I remember telling myself that life would begin when college ended. I was right about that one. See? I am a know it all.

Tip of the Day

Do not run over rakes in your garage with brand new tires that cost $110 each. Yes, you can still see some of the white stickers on the tire because I just bought the tires last week. Laugh for me, I'm not. I should blame little Ilene who was raking leaves on Saturday, but I won't unless she has $110 in her little wallet.

ApartmentTherapy.Com

A while back I was featured on ApartmentTherapy.Com for my pillows. They liked my designs as well as my low prices. I had never heard of this home decor website before but apparently they have 2 million hits a day. I didn't get two million orders, but I got enough in one weekend that I was waking up at 4 am to cut and sew like a sweat shopper. The hype over this pillow hasn't slowed down--I've sold it 35 times now. So thank you Lily at apartmenttherapy.com for the fab article. I check out your ultra chic and modern website almost daily now. Here's to good design. (*glasses clinking in the air for a toast*)