Kittens n snow

Kittens n snow,
originally uploaded by GypsyDancer81.

Kittens snub snow!

Must try harder!

I started this blog with great intentions of keeping abreast of what's happening in my life... but my life took over and left the blog behind. That's about to change.

However, real life is calling me out of the house on this rainy and miserable day to go meet some friends at a craft fair and to take The Waynage to discover the delights of Milgi's... so I shall leave you with the 2 things of interest that I have found today.

The first is an excellent blog by a very cool lady called Erin O'Brien... Enjoy :)

The second is a little quiz-let that determines personality traits. I sooo wanted to be Bette Davis, but it seems I'm Marilyn Monroe... whooda thunk it... scarily, they may be right.

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz...

You Are a Marilyn!

You are a Marilyn -- "I am affectionate and skeptical."

Marilyns are responsible, trustworthy, and value loyalty to family, friends, groups, and causes. Their personalities range broadly from reserved and timid to outspoken and confrontative.

How to Get Along with Me

• * Be direct and clear


• * Listen to me carefully


• * Don't judge me for my anxiety


• * Work things through with me


• * Reassure me that everything is OK between us


• * Laugh and make jokes with me


• * Gently push me toward new experiences


• * Try not to overreact to my overreacting.

What I Like About Being a Marilyn

• * being committed and faithful to family and friends


• * being responsible and hardworking


• * being compassionate toward others


• * having intellect and wit


• * being a nonconformist


• * confronting danger bravely


• * being direct and assertive

What's Hard About Being a Marilyn

• * the constant push and pull involved in trying to make up my mind


• * procrastinating because of fear of failure; having little confidence in myself


• * fearing being abandoned or taken advantage of


• * exhausting myself by worrying and scanning for danger


• * wishing I had a rule book at work so I could do everything right


• * being too critical of myself when I haven't lived up to my expectations

Marilyns as Children Often

• * are friendly, likable, and dependable, and/or sarcastic, bossy, and stubborn


• * are anxious and hypervigilant; anticipate danger


• * form a team of "us against them" with a best friend or parent


• * look to groups or authorities to protect them and/or question authority and rebel


• * are neglected or abused, come from unpredictable or alcoholic families, and/or take on the fearfulness of an overly anxious parent

Marilyns as Parents

• * are often loving, nurturing, and have a strong sense of duty


• * are sometimes reluctant to give their children independence


• * worry more than most that their children will get hurt


• * sometimes have trouble saying no and setting boundaries

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz at HelloQuizzy

Cawl for tea for you and me?

Since starting up my little sales venture on Etsy, I've become even more enamored with all things Welsh and, as the weather has turned rainy and drab over here, it seems like the perfect time to try out an age old Welsh recipe - "Cawl" (pronounced cowl as in snood-y thing that goes over your head).

This recipe dates back to medieval times and is a sort of thin stew or broth-y type thing. Over the years, when money was tight, this meal would sit on the fire (later, on the stove) for days and whatever vegetables people could get their hands on would be thrown in to make the dish go further; a bit like curry and chili, Cawl is always better as the days go by!

Traditionally it's made with mutton, vegetables, and stock and would be eaten with bread dipped in the broth; It might not sound as appetising as it actually is from the description I've given, but on a day like today it's comfort food!

So I made it yesterday, left it to stand for the day, and tonight's tea is patiently waiting for us :)

CAWL RECIPE

Lamb - cheap cut
1 onion - roughly chopped
8 peppercorns
1 small swede
4 carrots
4 large potatoes
3 large leeks
Knob of butter
chopped parsley

Stage 1

1 Cover the lamb with water, add onion, peppercorns, and salt. Boil water and simmer for a couple of hours until the meat falls off the bone.

2 Remove the lamb from water and strain the stock. When the lamb is cool, remove meat from the bone, discard the bone and any excess fat. Cut meat into chunks.

3 When stock is cool skim off the excess fat. Leaving the stock overnight will leave a hard fat covering on the top which can be removed in one piece if you prefer..

Stage 2

1 Chop vegetables into large chunks .

2 Melt butter in large pan and soften swede and carrot, then add the parsnip, potato when these have begun to soften.

3 Add the leeks when the rest of the vegetables have started to soften.

4 Add lamb stock and the lamb chunks.

5 Add more water if necessary ensuring the vegetables are covered.

6 Bring back to the boil and simmer until the vegetables are cooked (1/2 hour or an hour, it depends on personal preference of how you like your vegetables).

7 Add a handful of chopped parsley and season to taste.

Serve with freshly ground pepper, crusty bread, and mature cheddar cheese.

Berw Bookclub Membership - ever expanding.

We now have five members;
Me
Ally
Tiff
The Waynage
El (a.k.a. E.T.!)

WOO, HOO!!

We've decided that

1. (Generally) we should try to read a book in a fortnight, although with a book the size of TTW that might not be possible and we'll have a change of plan when we start reading the book in future.
2. No discussions of the events in the book until the end date. Fine to let others know how much you are, or aren't, enjoying the book, etc. but no specifics about things that may give away the plot, or could colour someone else's perception of the book... no one likes to be told the ending of the film when they're only half way through it :(
3. When we reach the end date, we'll have a chat about the book in more detail... decisions yet to be made as to how to go about that.

So, I'll let you all know now, I'm loving the book just as much second time around as I did the first, with one small exception. First time I read it, this time I'm listening to it.

***WARNING to BBC members (hey, I just typed that and realised that we are now members of the BBC - Berw Book Club!!!) - do not click on the links in the following paragraph if you think seeing the narrators will make you think of them as the characters***

Now, the woman who narrates Clare's portions (Laurel Lefkow) sounds just as I imagined Clare would; the guy who narrates Henry's portions of the book (William Hope), nah, not feeling it at the moment - too brash and 'actor-y' - I'll let you know how this one progresses.

.

This week I've been thinking about life a lot.

Mine, obviously, but also that of friends and loved ones. Now this sort of navel-gazing often leads to a really simple and, often, not overly productive question... why does bad shit happen to the people who deserve it the least?

I mean, take my friend... lovely woman, caring, sensitive, intelligent, talented... brain tumor! (all out now I hasten to add)

These are the type of things that lead to THE QUESTION... hell even a day where you miss the bus, lose a heal off of your shoe, or run out of money before you run out of week can lead to THE QUESTION.

Well friends, I have received the answer!

Expecting life to treat you well because you are a good person is like expecting an angry bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian.

Shari R Barr

How true. There's only one problem... it's left me with a new question...

Who in blue-blazes is this oracle Shari R Barr???? She has no paper trail in my cyberspace (is that an oxymoron?).

I guess that laying awake wondering who the wise-worded- woman is has to be better than wondering why bad things happen to good people though.

Pottery Pottiness!

It's official - my pottery is driving me mad!

I'm desperately trying to finish a concept piece that I started back at the end of last year and one thing after another seems to have me scuppered in this aim!

The piece is called "Through the Looking Glass" and is part of the collaboration quilt venture that I'm involved in (I know, how do you quilt pottery? Perhaps I'll explain this one in another post... then again, maybe I'll just leave you guessing...).

Okay, now it's fair to say that I may have been a little overly ambitious in hoping to take you from "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" through to "chaos theory" in 8 easy stages by using phrases or sayings... but, hells bells, over 7 months and still going, that's just not fair!

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now so, hopefully, the completed piece is something that I'll be able to post before the end of July... that's the plan anyway :)

The Etsy shop is open!!!

Well, it's been hard going getting it up and running, but it's there now, getting a fair amount of interest, and has been favourited a few times... so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

It took a long time to get all of the photos and descriptions done and to get them uploaded, but I think it looks quite good now - I'm very happy with it. If you click on the title of this post then you'll be taken to Celf Berw on Etsy :)

At the moment, the shop is separated into three sections;

• Ceramics,
• 

• Needle Felted,
• 

• and Dichroic Fused Jewelry
• 

These are just a sample of what's on offer over there and items are still being added all the time (so if you like things you see there it's worth popping back regularly!)