cleo*dee

Apparently this is the most snow we've had for awhile, especially in such a short period of time.  I think we got around a foot in the southside, the roads everywhere still aren't really plowed but considering that our side streets never are plowed I didn't really grasp that as an absurd thing.  We did find it crazy that the grocery store closed early Saturday but it was a great excuse to get a treat at Dozen who was thankfully one of the few places open.  We've been having fun shoveling and cleaning off the car and figuring out where the heck to put the extra snow and it's been fun walking down the streets everywhere and it's just flippin' gorgeous out.  Saturday was sunny and there's snow on all the trees and everything was just bright white and sparkling.  I'm sure by the end of the week I'll be tired of being parked in and trudging around in slush but for now I'll just admire the loveliness. 

I made up a batch of cranberry whole wheat muffins for breakfast.  I followed 2 different recipes and then figured out my own recipe based on what ingredients I had on hand and what I wanted to use.    Some are frozen in wax paper bags and some are in a tin. We'll see how the frozen ones turn out.



1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2-1 cup orange juice (I only had enough oranges for 1/2 a cup, a tad dry but nothing to write home about)
1/2 cup apple butter 
2 eggs (beat a bit before adding)
1 cup dried cranberries
a bit of cinnamon and sugar (to sprinkle on top if you want)

Preheat oven to 350.  Line or grease a muffin tin ( this made about 16 muffins since some of mine I made a bit smaller).
In a large bowl whisk the dry ingredients and sugars, then stir in cranberries. 
In a smaller bowl whisk together the orange juice, apple butter and slightly beaten eggs.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until blended.  Don't over-stir or you'll have tough muffins.  Fill the muffins 3/4 full.  I had some cinnamon and sugar mixed up from a previous baking event so I sprinkled some of this on top.  They should take about 20 minutes to bake.  I rotated my pans after 10 minutes and mine were done in 15 since my oven is crazy.  When a knife comes out almost clean and they are golden brown they're done.  Take out and leave them in the pan for a few minutes and transfer to a cooling rack. 

Next time I may add some nuts or some oats and next week I'm going to try some pumpkin oatmeal.  My parents both grew up on the stuff and had their fill so we never ate it growing up and my only experience with it was kind that tasted like cardboard and came in a little packet so I'm hoping some homemade stuff will be better than that. 

Over the weekend I finally finished watching Samurai Champloo (which I started watching 4 years ago) and watched all of Cowboy Bebop.  Those are some awesome shows.  One thing I appreciated about them (and what I appreciate about a good amount of the British shows I watch) is that they're not afraid to end it so they end up actually telling a story instead of  dragging on for seasons for ratings  (office I'm looking at you). I finished sewing 20 squid and cut out all 100 of them, worked on our new little project (making 45 badges for him to wear), cleaned the fridge and the apartment, made some more cleaning concoctions out of lemons, vinegar and baking soda (oh and cleaned up a coke that a dear soda drinker left in the car that EXPLODED.  We scraped off frozen soda bits for almost 2 hours with a spatula and caught it in a bucket- because when something explodes it goes on the fabric ceiling of your car, and also all of the seats, the floor and in the back of the car.   This week will see Tilly going off to get detailed so the soda that we couldn't get hopefully goes away.  After that I went on my way to a friends house to bake delicious cookies.  
Today I made roasted chickpeas, cut up all the veggies I bought and made chocolate syrup.  I also made this turmeric and garlic chicken on a bed of spinach, carrots, cucumbers, chickpeas, cranberries and honey mustard.  I think I've found a great replacement for croutons.  

3 prototypes that failed but I think I'm finally on the right track.

Soon I will have the little creature ready that will be wearing these glasses.

My goal this year is to have between 100-120 squids fully completed each month.  I just cut out an army of squid blanks to get me started and of course color-coded my left over felt stash.

Since winter has us in its grip I figured I should make some more blankets to use around the apartment.  I found 2 yards of some clearance Christmas flannel that wasn't insanely Christmasy and some pretty ice blue and white pattern cotton fabric.  I splurged on some organic cotton batting but found out it was 60% off anyway and then I used a 20% off coupon on my entire total so the blanket was pretty darn cheap.  I started it last night and finished quilting it this afternoon.  I should probably put some edging on it since I didn't do the best sewing job but I honestly don't think I'll ever get around to it.  Next up is Scott's blanket which hopefully will go a bit quicker and end up a bit nicer. 


I didn't move him for about an hour.


Warmth!!


totally should have bought some more of this for pillowcases. 


and how it always ends.

This week has been about unwrapping this big wonder, ironing all of the felt and then pulling out my handy list of to-do squids and drawing tons of squid blanks.  After that I have to cut each squid out, categorize it and then put them in a box where they will await faces and backs and eventually be sewn up.  While it's not "un-fun" work it really is kind of tedious because it takes FOREVER.  Luckily I've been passing the time by watching the Dr. Who/David Tennant finale and the Torchwood Children of Earth special which is a wonderful thing to have while you're mindlessly ironing and cutting. 



this also helps:

This weekend was spent going to Ikea mainly for a new rug since a certain someone had a nervous stomach while we were gone.  And of course while I was there I picked up some more boxes to organize more of the squid piles to ring in 2010.  Speaking of 2010, it will be my fifth year of doing Cleo Dee's.  Holy crap!  To commemorate this occasion I have teamed up with Scott to launch a new little creation.  I'm not sure of the exact date since there's still a lot of prototyping to do but hopefully it will happen in the next few months.  Also, come October there will be some fun things in store for the anniversary of Cleo Dee's.  But for now taxes are being organized and obsessive calling of the landlord to fix our frozen pipes are what is consuming my mind at the moment. 

Last night we pulled off the End's annual Holiday Party and I have to say it was pretty fun.


Champagno was passed out of course by Melisa in her lovely costume.


the pinata was broken.


Prizes were given out for the costume contest (won by Mary Poppins and Bert).


and Thanksgiving dinner was eaten.

Hope you all had a wonderful New Year's!

I stole this idea from some other folks on LJ so here are some favorite photos from the past year.  Hope you enjoy ringing in the new year and I promise there will be some less photo-heavy posts once things calm down 'round here.  

( the photos that made it )

Jenny Peaches Football.  The cat named by my 4 year old cousin who is now 15. 

Back from Christmas vacation.  All the traveling has been fun but it's nice to be home. 
Still getting things together so here's some of the outside shots from the week.



We drove an extra 3 hours since it snowed the entire time we were traveling to my family's


we almost got side-swiped by the on-coming buggy. 

A few more dishes to wash, some more carpets to vacuum and a car to pack and we're off for Christmas.  In honor of that here's some Christmas-themed photos of our only holiday activity thus far. 

Yummy Christmas dinner


spicy mixed nuts for gift-giving


bundles of cookies for cookie-giving


karl marx embroidery gift for our Commie friend

Sorry for the stretches of silence on here but the only thing I've been doing is finishing up custom work, wrapping packages, mailing said packages and prepping for crazy cookie bake day along with prepping for crazy week-long Christmas activities that will occur in 2 different states. My kind of Christmas. In the meantime watch some videos. Some little facts: in the first one I voiced the cat since Ico's english just wasn't quite ready for voice work Commonwealth is the same place where I get the squid cards printed up. They are all awesome.

Back from my last show of the season which was just lovely more about that later but now just a quick reminder-
all custom items are due by midnight tonight. But I still have 1 more squidtivity that is boxed and ready and 2 more mini christmas that will be up for grabs (along with any other ready-made items) in my shop until December 18th (noon eastern).

If you're in the Cleveland area tomorrow I'll be selling my wares for the last show of the season at Bazaar Bizarre.
78th Street Studios: 1300 W. 78th St to 1305 W. 80th St., north parking lot, north entrance (behind the building) -- accessible from W. 78th OR W 80th St.

Tomorrow from noon-9pm and
Sunday from noon-6pm.

Depending on where I'm set up I may be selling my squid aprons along with a clothing sale along with plenty of Christmas squids, a few Squidtivities and a small amount of mini christmas squid sets.

Hope to see you there!

And remember this for any online orders:
Custom orders must be received by the stroke of midnight eastern time on December 13th.
All other orders must be received by noon eastern time on December 18th.
All items will be shipped out between 12p-4p on December 18th or before noon on December 19th

Everything is guaranteed to be shipped out in time to reach you by December 24th (if needed I will gift you with the free upgrade to priority). If you have other dates you need items by please let me know and (time willing) I will make sure you get it by your needed date.

We're back from Chicago! We drove straight back from the show Sunday night so Monday involved some sleeping in and Tuesday was errand day. We had tons of fun and I have lots of custom orders and other squids to make this week and one more show to go. If you want any custom stuff remember there's only 5 more days to order!