A Funeral

I have spent the last few days in another state to attend the funeral of my sister. For all of her adult life, she suffered from the terrible disorder of schizophrenia. The last few years of her life were spent in a nursing home. Needless to say her disease affected our whole family.

In the face of a seemingly purposeless and terrible existence, it is hard not to question why, but I have to believe there must be a reason.........

Scrapbooking

Yesterday I spent some time working on the scrapbook I have started for my husband's father.  See the initial post here.  This entailed scanning old newspaper articles into my computer using Photoshop Elements. These clippings are more than 80 years old and are not in the best of shape. I did some research on the internet about how to scan them. The only useful information that I found was to scan them at a lower resolution than I normally do for my scrapbook photos. 150 - 200 dpi's were suggested and I found that this did help some.   Here are the pages that I did..........

They are not great but are at least readable when printed. Click on them and use Control + to enlarge them on your computer screen.

Our printer does not do 12x12 pages so my scrapbook pages are 8.5 x 11.  I use Pioneer Memory Books generally carried by Joann's and Michael's.  They are inexpensive and I can buy refills for them. Actually, I prefer 8.5x11  albums. They are easier to handle and store although you cannot put as much on the smaller pages.

I've decided to use a very simple design for the pages in this book - not many added elements.  So maybe I can get through with it fairly quickly.  I really enjoy doing this but it does take a lot of time.

Book Review - Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

 For most of my life, if I started reading a book, I would finish it even if I didn't particularly like it. As I've gotten older, I don't do that any more.

Here is one that I have just finished - a neat little book, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, written by Dai Sijie. It was originally published in 2000 in France with the English translation published in 2001. According to the book's jacket, the book was soon to be made into a film. Don't know if this movie has ever been made or not. 

It takes place in China in the early 1970's after Mao ordered all of the universities there closed and all of the boys and girls who had graduated from high school to be sent to the countryside where they would work and live with poor peasants to be "reeducated".  It is the story of 2 boys who were sent up into the mountains during this time essentially to live and work in poverty.  However, somehow they did seem to have a lot of free time.

They met the daughter of the village tailor (the Little Chinese Seamstress) and one of them fell in love with her.  The boys were able to steal some contraband western novels among which were books by Balzac.  The boy who was in love with the seamstress would read these books to her in their courtship - thus the name of the book.

This was a sweet book with a somewhat surprising end.  But the thing that impressed me most was the very clear, descriptive, beautiful writing of this author. It is a fairly short story and very entertaining.

Here is the first chapter in this book.

Another Template

I found this free header at Smashing Magazine. It is by CV Designs. Isn't it lovely?

I am trying another template from the new template designs in Blogger.  I really prefer a simple, essentially white and black, uncluttered look.  I know I have got to quit changing templates all the time. I'll never have a "brand" (I'm being funny). I'm beginning to think I just enjoy experimenting and learning how to do all this stuff rather than the actual blogging.

Also, I have added a couple of "pages" and intend to explore using pages further.
 
I spent several hours this past week trying to figure out Feedburner - finally got it configured in with the last template I was using.  I still don't quite understand it.  Since the Feed Chicklets still show, I am assuming it is working with this template.  However, SiteMeter is gone and I've got to figure that out again. Mrs. Mecomber, if you are out there, I could use a blog post about Feedburner! I like the way you explain things!

In my next life, I am going to Web Design school!

A Beautiful Day in Sunny Florida

We have had a beautiful day. Blue skies, great weather, not too cool, not too hot. My husband, grandson, and I went to a craft fair and farmer's market.

A good photographer would have cleaned the food wrappers, etc. off the table:)  I"ll blame this on my husband as he is the one who took this picture.

Here is a photo taken today of the Lantana Bed that I was working on a couple of weeks back. They are beginning to grow and pretty soon will be covered with flowers.  Lantanas are a Florida native plant, don't require much water, and are very hardy. They come in several colors. Mine are red and yellow.  We have planted asparagus fern in the bare spot between the Lantanas and the patio.

The Bottle Brush trees here are in bloom. This photo does not really do this tree justice.  The "bottle brushes" are a vivid red.

Websites

Here are 2 interesting websites that I found with Stumble Upon. Well, one of them is kind of weird. This is the weird one.  Whoever put this website up needs to find something to do.

This one  about  how to repurpose a wool sweater into a bag is more practical.  The bag is lovely, and if I ever find a 100% wool sweater at the Goodwill Store here in Florida, I'm going to make one.

Have a Great Day!

Tasty Tuesday - Menus - Salmon Loaf Recipe

Most homemaking and Mom blogs have Menu Mondays. I'm always a day late and a dollar short so I am having Tasty Tuesdays - at least I'm hoping the meals will be tasty. (:-) Usually I can get by with planning only 3 or 4 menus for the week as there are just my husband and myself here.  This week my daughter and granddaughter are here so things are a little different.
Here is the plan..........

Tonight:  Salmon Loaf with Bechamel Sauce/Rice/Orange-Glazed Carrots/Tossed Salad

Wednesday:  We're eating out.

Thursday:  Beef and Potato Casserole/Sauteed Cabbage
         
Friday:  Chicken and Spaghetti Casserole/Broccoli

Saturday:  Sauer Kraut/Pork Chops/Baked Sweet Potatoes

Sunday:   Baked Beans for Square Dance Club picnic

Monday:  I'm winging it!

Salmon Loaf with Bechamel Sauce
1 can (12 oz) salmon ; drained with bones crushed and skin removed
6 oz. buttermilk (see below for substitution)
1/2 cup cracker crumbs  (12 saltine cracker squares)
2 eggs
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons parsley flakes

Bechamel Sauce
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp. flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
2 teaspoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons margarine or butter

I usually start by draining the salmon, putting it in the bowl, removing the black skin, and crushing the bones with my fingers. They are a good source of calcium. Then I add the other ingredients, mix them well and pour it all into a greased loaf pan or corningware.  Bake 50-60 minutes at 350 degrees.
Béchamel Sauce:  Combine milk, flour, salt, pepper, mustard, and brown sugar. Beat with wire whip until smooth.  Add 3 Tbsp. margarine. (Actually, I only add 1 1/2 Tbsp.) Cook, stirring, until thickened. Serve over the salmon loaf.

This is an old recipe that I have made for years.  It's good and inexpensive. If you do not keep buttermilk on hand, here is a good substitution .

My Sewing Closet

In the early years of my marriage, I had a sewing machine set in a simple cabinet. Over the years I sewed with that machine in our family room, in the dining room, or in our bedroom in the various houses where we lived.  There was always a sewing mess in those rooms.

After my last child left home, we decided to use one of our bedrooms as a computer and sewing room.  My husband has a long desk and several file cabinets on one side of the room, and I have a smaller desk on the other side.  Not much room was left for sewing.

My husband bought a new, computerized, portable sewing machine for me, and after seeing in a magazine an idea for converting a closet into a sewing space, I decided to have a shelf with a fold out extension built in the closet in that room.  My handy husband put up other shelves and lights inside the closet. It works pretty good - not as much room as I would love to have but at least I can fold up the extension and close off the mess.

Now.........if I could just figure out what to do with all the mess important stuff my husband leaves needs to keep around his computer!

 

Closet closed

 

Closet with the extension folded up

Extension down with machine set up for sewing

Fabric shelves at the top of closet

Thrifting and Firefox

I had always used Internet Explorer for my browser.  Recently, mostly from curiosity, I switched to Firefox after reading a little about it on the internet.  I had been having trouble with my internet connection flipping in and out.  My husband and I could not figure out the cause - especially since he was not having any problems with his computer.  Surprisingly, after I switched to Firefox I had no more problems...........Don't know if that information will be useful to anyone.  Probably everyone else already knows it!

This post needs some photos so here are the last of my recent thrifting at estate sales
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A pretty little basket for $1.00

A bowl with a rose pattern for 50 cents. 

And a turkey basket for 50 cents.

Did I need them?  No, but they were cute and a bargain!

Website for Wednesday

I have noticed that a lot of bloggers have a "Wordless Wednesday" on which they usually post a photograph or something.  I have decided to have a "Website Wednesday".

I love to surf the web and this will give me an opportunity to share some of my finds.   Sooo------today's Website Wednesday is a tutorial for making a reusable Swiffer duster on the blog "Sew Much Ado".

I like to use those dusters, but I hate buying disposable refills. I hope you find this useful.