Friday Follow-up and Gracie's Pinwheels

Weekends are a bit like rainbows; they look good from a distance but disappear when you get up close to them. –John Shirley

I had high expectations for yesterday and Friday really had a lot to live up to. On the whole, it was a rather good Friday, as Fridays go. I started my day doing math and eating muffins with LadyBug at her school. It was organized by the 3^rd grade teachers, so there were lots of moms there and the muffins were huge and chocolatey with chocolate chips . After that, I went to see my old friend, the chiropractor. I'd forgotten just how good he really is. I've been to several in my day, and he is far and away the best I've ever been to. It's not just a quick 20-minute adjustment. It is a 1-hour treatment. He works the muscles in the problem area, getting them to relax first and then he does the adjustment. If I had my way, I'd have a standing Friday morning appointment with the chiropractor.

Both of those things were a really great way to start the day. Unfortunately Work had different ideas about how I should spend my Friday and I was there a really lot longer than I wanted to be. I used to think that I was a fairly efficient, on-task kind of person. But I'm starting to wonder if that isn't true, because it seems like I'm really slow at my job. I'm always busy, always working. But things take longer than I expect. Well, that's a subject to explore another day.

After work, Mr. Bug and I went to see The Adjustment Bureau. Emily Blunt was amazing, though I think my favorite part was the movie popcorn. Or maybe holding hands with Mr. Bug.


We ended our evening with the most delicious chicken burritos from Cafe Rio. After that, the day was pretty much gone, and so I didn't get to do any sewing. I'm on that today .

I'm working on the machine quilting on Gracie's Pinwheels. I had about ⅓ of the quilting finished when I put it away last weekend. I was feeling a little discouraged about the machine quilting I'd chosen. I'd debated back and forth about which color of thread to use and just how to quilt it. I knew that pink thread would stand out too much on the black fabric, so I decided on black, hoping that it wouldn't stand out too much in the busy pattern in the pink fabric. And I finally decided on loopy flowers all over. I worked on it for a good chunk of time last Friday and by the time I was ready to call it quits for the evening, I was wondering if I'd made a mistake. I started to think that the quilting looked like black scribbles through the pink fabric. The messiness weighed on my mind all week, and I wondered if the quilt was going to come out all right; if it was going to be one of those miracle quilts that once they are all done and bound and washed you just love or if it really was that bad and I was going to hate it when it was done.

When I opened up the quilt today and took a second look, I realized that my mind had really distorted the messiness in the look of the quilting, and I decided that it was pretty OK. So, I continued on. I'd finished just over half of the quilting when I opened out the quilt again and realized that I should have listened to Rhonda {who is, after all a professional}, and done loopy flowers in the pink blocks {with pink thread} and stippling in the black blocks {around the pinwheels, in black thread}. I could have even done arcs inside the pinwheels in pink thread. It was a little bit agonizing to realize that I'd made the wrong choice.

I weighed my options. I calculated the tedium and time consumption of unpicking to get the perfect quilting vs. the self-loathing I would feel if I finished the quilt in this imperfect state. My distaste for unpicking won out and I continued on. I've got just over ¾ of the quilting finished now. But that nagging voice in my head keeps telling me that this quilt would look so much better the other way. Will someone please tell that voice to shut up !?! Quilting is supposed to be fun. At least that's why I quilt. So, I'm going to finish up the loopy flowers and stop beating myself up for not getting it right. Because, really, this isn't life and death we're talking about here, and those loopy flowers are pretty adorable. Aren't they ?

Favourite Things Friday: Friday

I always give 100% at work:

13% Monday

22% Tuesday

26% Wednesday

35% Thursday

4% Friday

–Unknown

When you're a stay-at-home-mom, all days are pretty much the same. When friends commented that they were glad it was Friday, I vaguely remembered that feeling but no longer shared it. I used to love Fridays. It meant that there was a little break from school and work and responsibilities. And sometimes it even meant going out on a date. But after having kids and staying home with them for 11+ years, it didn't really matter one way or the other which day of the week it was, because moms don't really get a break on weekends.

Since I started working again, that old Friday Feeling has started to come back. I find myself unusually cheerful on Fridays. The work-day seems to go by faster than usual and by mid-afternoon I'm planning all the fun things I'm going to do when I get home.

This song by The Cure has always, always been one of my favorites and in honor of that wonderful day that it is I'm sharing with you. {Editor's Note: Sorry about the poor picture quality on the video. The embedding was disabled on the official video. <— That is a link to watch it on YouTube. The picture is a lot better quality and so is the sound.}



After an especially long week at work, I'm really going to enjoy my Friday. I'm hoping that I'll be able to get off work early and I'm looking forward to my Friday evening, which will definitely involve fabric. I might even ask Mr. Bug to go see a movie with me. And whatever you do with your Friday, I hope you enjoy it!

Today's post brought to you by:

The One Where Elizabeth Does Machine Quilting and Binding for Hire

We are closer to the ants than to the butterflies. Very few people can endure much leisure. –Gerald Brenan, Thoughts in a Dry Season

My cute friend, Annelise, made the most adorable baby quilt for a friend of hers and asked if I would machine quilt it for her. I was kind of excited about it for a couple of reasons. First, it was a good opportunity for a little practice. I'm getting the hang of machine quilting, I think. At least I can do a passable meander. Second, it was flattering to have her think I would be good enough to get the job done. And third, her quilt is SO darling. It was fun to have something to cute in the house for a few days. I just love the Riley Blake fabrics she used.

Look at the cute patchwork strip she put on the back. So fun!

She also asked if I would do the machine part of the binding for her, which I was only to happy to do especially considering it was such a cute stripey fabric.

She did such a great job with this fun quilt and I'm excited that I can count it as a finish for this month.

Today's post brought to you by:

Bradbury 13: The Happiness Machine

Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't try to do things. You simply must do things. –Ray Bradbury

The final episode in this series of old time radio dramas is The Happiness Machine. This story occupies three chapters in Dandelion Wine, which is a collection of short stories all set in the fictional Green Town, Illinois and loosely connected by the theme 'summer' as well as the 12-year-old character, Douglas Spaulding and his family.


The Happiness Machine
It was the sort of sound that might be heard coming from a giant's kitchen on a summer day. There were all sorts of hummings; low and high, steady and then changing. It was the sound of Leo Alfman and his happiness machine.

My Rating:
It doesn't take much digging to find the deeper meaning in this wonderful story. Leo sets out to built a machine that will make you happy, but he takes the long way around to find out that he doesn't have to look any farther than his own family to find true happiness. I think that so many people look outside of themselves for happiness. They blame their circumstances or the people around them for their unhappiness. But life is what you make of it and you have a choice about how you feel and what you do with what you've been given. If you just look, you'll find happiness all around.

Air Date: June 25, 1984

Narrator:
Paul Frees

Cast:
Jesse Bennet
Jean Jenkins
Mark Alston
Lynn McKinlay

Music:
Roger Hoffman
Greg Hansen

Production Assistant:
Patrick Mead

Associate Producer:
Jeff Raider

Created, Produced, Directed:
Mike McDonough

Executive Producer:
Dean Van Uitert

Audio Clip of The Happiness Machine
Buy The Happiness Machine mp3
Buy Bradbury 13 Audio CDs

Cook Once, Serve Twice

To the old saying that man built the house but woman made of it a "home" might be added the modern supplement that woman accepted cooking as a chore but man has made of it a recreation. –Emily Post

I'm a big fan of working smarter instead of harder. When it comes to food, Mr. Bug is not a big fan of leftovers. If I am making a large recipe, I will usually freeze half of it and serve it again in a few weeks. No leftovers to go to waste and I have a complete meal ready to put on the table with very little effort. Smart. Sometimes I make leftovers on purpose and do a makeover on them, serving an entirely new dinner. This is one of my favorites. It is great for Sunday dinner and then a quick mid-week meal.

Italian Seasoned Crock Pot Roast

3–5 lb. beef roast
1 cup boiling water
2 beef bouillon cubes {or 2 teaspoons beef bouillon granules}
or for dairy-free, substitute 1 – 14.5 oz. can of beef broth for the boiling water and beef bouillon
1 packet dry onion soup mix
1 can {15 oz.} Italian stewed diced tomatoes

• Dissolve bouillon in boiling water and stir in onion soup mix.
• Place the roast in a crock pot and cover with canned tomatoes and juice. Pour the broth and soup mixture over top of the tomatoes.
• Cover and cook on low heat for 8 hours. Slice and serve with Savory Rice topped with the tomatoes and broth.

Notes:
• I usually do a 3 lb. roast and this easily feeds our little family of four, plus there is enough meat left for Shredded Beef Burritos and almost always sandwiches, too.
• There is plenty of the broth and tomatoes to go with a bigger roast, so no need to worry about running short.

Savory Rice
2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup finely chopped onion
1 garlic clove, pressed or minced
1½ cups uncooked white rice
3 cups hot water
¾ teaspoon salt

• In a 3-quart saucepan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat; sauté onions and garlic until onions begin to turn clear.
• Add rice to the garlic and onions in the pot and heat for 2–3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add the hot water and salt to the rice and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low; simmer for 25 minutes. Stir and serve.

Makes 3 cups cooked rice

Notes:
• This is how they make rice in Brasil. Once you try it this way, you'll never go back to plain rice again.
• When cutting your onion, make sure to remove any of the layers in the very center that are a slightly different color than the rest of the onion; they may be yellow, or even green. They are bitter and will give the rice a funny flavor.
• If your garlic has started to sprout, remove any of the green shoots that have started to come out. That part of the garlic is bitter and will give the rice a funny flavor.
• This recipe is enough to go with a 3 lb. roast and have left overs for Shredded Beef Burritos. For a 4 lb. roast increase onion to ⅓ cup, rice to 2 cups, hot water to 4 cups and salt to 1 teaspoon. For a 5 lb. roast double the recipe. And use a bigger pot.

Shredded Beef Burritos

1 can {15 oz.} black beans
plus, for each burrito, you will need:
1 large {burrito size} tortilla
1 oz. shredded cheddar cheese {omit for dairy-free}
⅓ cup Savory Rice
2 oz. Italian Seasoned Crock Pot Roast, shredded
Tomatoes and broth from Italian Seasoned Crock Pot Roast
Green Sauce

• Place black beans in a small saucepan; cover and simmer over low heat to thicken the sauce that comes with the beans while you prepare the other ingredients for the burritos.
• To reheat the leftover Savory Rice, place it in a covered microwave safe dish. Place the cover loosely on the top of the dish, allowing for steam to escape and microwave for 2½ minutes on power level 6. Stir rice, and cover to keep warm.
• Shred the leftover roast beef and divide into portions for each burrito. Heat the roast beef in the microwave for 90 seconds on power level 6.
• Place the tortilla on a microwave safe place, sprinkle the cheddar cheese down the center of the tortilla. Top with rice, black beans, shredded beef, tomatoes and green sauce. Microwave for 30 seconds on high and roll burrito. Use a toothpick to help keep it closed. Serve immediately.

Notes:
• The ingredients, as listed, make really huge burritos. You can use less of any of the ingredients, dividing out what you have left between the number of people you need to feed. Specifically, 2 oz. of meat is a very generous portion, so if you don't have that much for each person, you can definitely get by with less.
• These amazingly huge burritos are only 500–600 calories, depending on the tortillas you use and how generous you are with your shredded cheese and rice.