it's Tuesday you say? Really? Oops!

This week was a crazy one, and as you can tell I missed my weekly update. Sorry about that folks, I'm not even sure what I did that made the week just fly on by, but whooosh, there it went.
I was supply shopping for an order of covered keepsake tins my stepmother asked for, and finishing two of the ten of them.


Of course while I was at Michaels I had to buy another skein or three of yarn. I knit my first little stuffed friend. A tiny turtle, green with purple stripes. I found this pattern free online!
Sunday the man and I went to the mall to try to find a video game we've been wanting for a while and finally decided our budget would allow us to grab it. Well they didn't have it, so we went out to eat instead, but tiny turtle had a great time out, we chronicled his adventures with our cell cameras and I made a lil collage....

Yesterday I knit up all the pieces needed to make him a lil sister, today I need to finish stitching and stuffing her.
I also spent a lot of time with the man's mom this weekend. We went to their church tricky tray Friday night, I won a watch and a dozen roses and got to meet a few more neighbors, we grabbed a few slices first, it was a general good time had by all.
Then Saturday was the next town over from ours' garage sale day. Bright and early we went out looking for some furniture for my hopefully will become my craft room one day/spare room. I got a nice solid wood table and two huge solid wood cabinets on the cheap. And I got myself some sunburn for free, since I forgot to cover my lily white arms with the spf50 sunscreen that was on the coffee table!

I'm also very excited to have met Tracy aka Popcornfeet on etsy, aka the crazy suburban mom on blogger. She had posted in the etsy forums, a call for fun items under $10 and a feature on her blog for the one she bought. Lucky for me she loved my retro green flower barrette! Which she photographed and mentioned on her blog with linky's and all the fun stuff! I'm the jerk who didn't post here right away directing some traffic her way, so go over there now and check out her awesome blog!
Speaking of Tracy and her awesome blog... she was awarded a pretty nifty award, which *jumping with glee* she has passed along my way!
Thank you so much Tracy for my very first blog award!



"The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken - excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. "

I believe the thing to do now is pass this bad boy along to 5 blogs I would brave the zombie chickens to read...

The Stapelia Company
Neddle Tatting and Other Nonsense
TotusMel's Wunderkammer (double the TotusMel, double the fun!)
Insanity and Bliss
Sassy Glass Designs

Another week passes

Another week has passed us by, seems like I have a habit of blogging on Thursdays!
I survived Easter Sunday/First Holiday in my new house/first family holiday I've ever hosted as a *cough* adult *cough*. YAY! The parents all got along, I met my Mom's boyfriend, and my man's grandmother was very happy with my no longer pink but blonde hair. (*stomp*grumble* I miss my pink hair!) Honestly I'm just glad it's over!

A while back I won a $15 gift certificate for Ruth @ AllOverArt's Shop in her monthly giveaway, I still haven't spent it because I'm so torn over two of the pendants that I just can't choose. Well folks she's at it again (it is a monthly giveaway afterall) and I'm throwin my hat in the ring once again, if the random number generator fairy smiles on me again I won't have to choose between pendants and can get both! With this mention I'm simultaneously upping my chances and diminishing them, I get a second entry, but all of you lovelies have a chance to win too, if you pop on over her blog and check it out for yourself!

I finished the books my friend lent me and he was right I loved them! Rose of the Prophet trilogy, by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. They are the ones who wrote the original Dragonlance trilogy. The first book was slow going, I really didn't get hooked to the point of can't put it down until the last 100 pages or so. And then I devoured the last two books, and of course, I'm a lil sad that it's over, that there is no more to read of Khardan, Zohra and Matthew, but it was truly a great story! If you liked the dragonlance trilogies and dismissed the other Weis Hickman series (like I had at first) you may just want to pick these up, and remember, its slow to pick up, but if you keep reading you wont be sorry, sooner than you think you may not be able to put them down.

Slacker, party of one.. right here!

Blog slacker that is.. otherwise I've been keeping very busy.
As mentioned before Easter Brunch will be at my house on Sunday and while at most there will be eleven family members here I'm going a bit crazy at the thought.. My house just doesn't seem put together enough, my spare room is not really put together as a real room yet... I need to mop all the floors, I've been cleaning like a mad woman all week! Not to mention the fact that although my man's parents have met my grandmother, in over 4 years together they have never met my mom.. my mom is, shall we say, an interesting lady who can sometimes rub people the wrong way.... She's (and me too honestly) the type you either love right away.. or hate... (example: my mom and I have matching shirts I got us from Vegas that Say "If you think I'm a B**ch you should meet my Mom(Daughter)we wear them out together... yeap she loved it!) I'm hoping since they adore me, they'll think my mom is quirky and love her too! Doesn't mean I'm not nervous as all heck!

That's and avatar of me and my mom...a few years ago doing an ad spot for a friends horror film company....we aren't your typical mother daughter pair I guess!
Paranoia aside...... it should be great really.. I'm just a giant worry wart!
What else has been happening? Well I've wanted to learn to knit forever I never had anyone who could teach me (my gram that lives near by could only crochet, and that was before the RA destroyed her fingers)..
My man took me out to lunch on Saturday and while we were out he asked if I minded if we stopped at the bookstore... me giant bookworm that I am.. would I mind.. pfft.. lets go sweetheart! Mind you I have 3 books a friend of mine lent me that I ha vent finished reading yet... So I looked at the fantasy novels,browsed the fiction section, made note of the new book said friend and I wanted to read to tell him I saw it on the shelves... and headed over to the art/craft section to find some polyclay books.... The section was HUGE.. I mean really HUGE.... and I looked.. and looked and looked.. and only found TWO books on polyclay... TWO, and both were on making beads, which I honestly can do without a whole book thank you very much... But there was an entire wall of knitting and crocheting books! So I just decide to browse through the complete idiots guide to knitting and crochet.... My man comes up to me after he found the graphic novel he found worthy enough to buy... took the book from my hands and bought it for me!! YAY!!! We didn't stop and get any knitting needles or anything, we just wanted to get home... but once there I dived into the book... and started practicing casting on stitches onto a pen with old scratchy yarn from an old craft project. Next day we were out and about and I got a pair of size 8 needles and two skeins of yarn to learn with, best to see if you can do something before investing too much cash into it.
I've completed one practice piece in a garter stitch (I just used the knit stitch trying to get used to it)... I had accidental been adding a stitch on the end by pulling the last loop the wrong way, so I learned how to decrease a stitch... I was left with something mishapped that I though now what the heck do I do with this... as I was smooshing it to turn into a blob monster.... I realized I had accidental made a perfect fingerless glove! well not perfect perfect.. but close enough.. I'm wearing it right now.. great cushion on my wrist at this computer desk!
Yesterday I learned the purl stitch and now have a few inches of nearly perfect stockinette stitched fabric that will probably become my first ever scarf.. if I don't ruin it while learning to switch colors!
I was going to sign up for twitter today, but the name TheClayMuse is taken.. claymuse isn't so I may take that one...I'm just a wee bit intimidated with this whole twitter thing... keep an eye on my sidebar, if I take the leap I'll be adding a follow me widget!
And since you only got a tiny little pic and I got nostalgic while browsing photobucket for it.. here's some of my artwork from a few years ago.. I haven't drawn pencil portraits in forever! (Click to enlarge!!)

He's dark and brooding over something or other.....


graveyard self portrait.. yea I'm an odd one....


Alex... wonder what he's up to these days.....


Someone HELP!!! I'm being bitten by a cute vampire!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Easter's near, time to make Pizzagaine!

I'm going to be a bit lazy here but I really want to share this recipe with as many people as I can because.. well it truly is my favorite meal, and I only ever get to eat it once a year! In reality I could make it whenever I want but the ingredients can run a bit expensive depending on your local deli! Oh the lazy part is, I posted this in a recipe thread last year when I made my own pizzagaine with only a little of my mom and gram's help (they were there but I was determined to do this on my own)... So I'm copying and pasting that post...
Weird thing is my Gram keeps a half recipe written, which she usually doubles, and my mom the whole one...which she usually doubles... and we wind up with like 6 whole pies and a bunch of min casserole single pies...



The whole recipe makes about 3-4 pies so I'll be posting the half recipe.. it contains weird measurements I'll bold them to make sure you make note of the change...
two part recipe.. the crust ad the filling.. first the filling (because we make it first and let it rest while making the crust)
Filling note on the meats, when we get them cut at the deli counter we ask them to cut them slightly thicker than normal sandwich meat
Filling
1 1/2 lbs pot cheese (ricotta)
1/4 lb ham
1/4 lb peperoni
1/4 lb prosciutto
1/4 lb salami
1 block of mozzarella cheese (normal size block of Pollyo which I think is 8oz)
1 egg

Mix the Ricotta (no need to drain) with a sprinkle of salt and pepper and the egg.
We slice the meat into "grids" so you get little rectangles but you could also tear it into pieces by hand. Separate the meat into the ricotta mixture (I say separate because we stack up the meat and cut into little rectangles and then have little stacks to separate for easier mixing)
Its best to add the meat slowly and mix everything up every couple of handfuls... If your not squeamish use your hands to help mix, we have bent many a spoon over the years mixing Pizzagaine up...
Cube up the mozzarella (into about 1/2 inch cubes) when about half the meat is mixed in start throwing in handfuls of the mozzarella as well..
you may not use every little bit of the meat, we usually have a little of each type left, it's hard to say when to stop adding the meat.. it's really an eyeball it kinda thing.. just use almost all of it and you should be fine


Pie Crust
2 cups of Flour
1/2 Tsp baking powder
1/2 Tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 3/4 cups of shortening (Crisco) CUT IN HALF!!! only use half of this in the recipe, my gram never bothered to figure out what half of a cup and 3/4ths is)
1/2 an egg (same deal.. beat the egg in a little bowl and divide in half .. just eyeball it)
1/4 cup of water
1/2 tablespoon of vinegar

Mix the dry ingredients together.. cut in shortening (you know whatever half 1 & 3/4 cups is) Add the 1/2 an egg, water and vinegar mix to form the dough.

you guys know how to roll out pie crust right? This is a two crust pie btw.. one for the top one for the bottom..well do that.. line a pie tin.. plop some mixture in the center.. you want it to reach the top of the pie pan.. then spread it towards the outside of the pan with a circular motion, DON'T PACK IT DOWN!!
hehe this is a heavy heavy mixture.. if you stamp it down and pack it in there it will be heavy as a rock when baked. When this is filled you lay another crust on top..pinch it closed and "bird feet' as my sister says the top crust a few times with a fork so it will release steam a bit..

Bake this in the oven at 350 for about an hour... let sit for about 15 mins before diving in..
don't eat it all at once...


note this recipe can make over 1 pies worth of ingredients.. you may get two pies, or juuust short of two pies.. usually we make so so many that with the left over crust and filling we put the filling in mini casserole dishes and cover them with the crust.. these bake for about 45 mins (gotta make sure that crust is done)
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I really do not want to know how bad Pizzagaine is for you...I just can't wait to make mine this year! On that note, I'm having Easter brunch at our house this year! Oh man.. I knew it was going to happen too... our new house has a beautiful screened in sun porch and it was only a matter of time before my Grams decided we needed to do a holiday here! I think I'll be doubling the above recipe so I have some for brunch and some for myself and the man during the following week!

On an exciting note... Over at the blockheadradio weekly challenge I've got some stiff competition going, neck and neck with another artist, we keep over taking each other by only a few votes... I can't stop checking, or biting my nails!
If you haven't voted yet pretty please with a cherry on top, would you mind popping over and giving baby true blue a boost?


Thanks for stopping by!
Feed my blog monster ----> he's hungry and thinks your comments are oh so yummy!

Rain rain go away....

Man, don't ya know it.. whenever you want to play/work outside... there comes the rain! Of course there is plenty of work to do inside as well.... Just not the work I wanted to do!
I cleaned the lizards cage today, problem is the pet store near where we moved doesn't carry the white reptile calci-sand by zoo meds that my little guy is used to.. They do however carry another brand of calcium sand that I know is safe for leopard geckos, problem is, Slick Nick is one picky little brat! Not only is the sand not white.. but it's not as powdery, it's more textured. Now Slick always gets ticked off when I clean his cage because for the interim he gets stuck in a dark shoe box.. he HATES the shoe box.. and he usually gives me the stink eye for a while before he crawls back in his rock for his daytime sleepykins. Well.. whew.. boy I wished for the stink eye today! First he freaked out so much he nearly broke his neck trying to climb up the glass and out of the cage when his toes hit the sand(leopard geckos can't climb glass unlike their other gecko cousins who can). So I took him out and let him chill on my chest till he calmed down, then he hung out with me till he tried to make a break for the floor... Back in his cage he's sitting there, on top of his large rock.. shooting daggers at me with his lil eyes, refusing to touch the new sand... I just took this with my cell (quality sucks)

he is so mad at me! I keep tellin him tough tooshy mister.... it needed to be cleaned and I wasn't driving 45 mins away to get him the sand he likes!

Moving on... I won my category in the Artisan's challenge last week, which means I'm now in the weekly challenge! It's pretty stiff competition over there at the moment! I'm neck in neck with one artist.... it's gonna be close..
So if you would be oh so kind.. and pop over there and vote for Baby True Blue by TheClayMuse (second entry on the list) I would be ecstatic!

If you didn't see the shout out post before this one, please check it out.. those 2 lovely ladies who deserve a bit of exposure!

Spring is here.. I have flowers peeking through the leaves to prove it....

Thanks for stopping by!