Blog

~ My Midori ~

April 21, 2015 by Patricia Fisher

When I was in Florida in February, I discovered an interesting little journal/planner that I just couldn’t stop thinking about. It’s called a Midori.They’re not new, and I have found that there is a Midori obsession out there. Just doing a quick search on Pinterest or YouTube will verify that. There are videos from a guy’s point of view to a scrapbooker’s dream, and everything in between. Intrigued, I had to have one, so I treated myself to this Traveler’s Notebook for my birthday this month. I was so excited when it came. They are just a piece of leather (brown or black), with an elastic band down the center. Each one comes with one blank book. You buy whichever inserts you want, according to what you want to use it for. They are an empty canvas, ready for you to create on. Here is a look at my Midori so far.

This is it, in all it’s chunky goodness!

This is a zipper insert to hold my pen/pencils etc…, the other half is in the back of the midori.

The books are all plain like this. Of course, I couldn’t leave mine that way, that’s part of the fun!

This is a file insert. Then my first book is a by-the-month calendar.

The green tea bag came in my order. The clear pockets were an add on.

The next book is just lined paper, I use it to journal, write notes or lists, keep track of “what I learned”.

The middle book is watercolor paper. I ordered this one and a mixed media paper from this shop on etsy.

Yes, you can find places to order handmade inserts to fit the different Midori sizes, and even buy a”faux” dori.

This is a pocket insert.

Then a blank page insert that I sketch in (this isn’t great paper for sketching on though, but I already decorated the front and back covers, so…I’m using it anyway!).

You can never have to much washi tape on hand.

This is how the inserts come…

and there it is, I actually have four books in there now, but I took out the little leather change pouch. It’s amazing how much you can fit, and for those that know me, you know I “HAVE” to stuff it full!

This is the fountain pen that the Beekeeper made for me…

..and this is an antique pencil sharpener (made in Germany), that I bought at the Marketplace, it fits in my zipper insert with my eraser perfectly.

So, that’s my Midori! I love it, just wanted to share.

Filed Under: Art Journaling, The Inspiration Room, Visual Journal

~ What I Learned in March ~

April 7, 2015 by Patricia Fisher

Sometimes you have to really stop and wonder, “what did I learn this month?”. This was one of those times. It seems the months that I’ve kept an ongoing list, I don’t ever get around to actually linking up with Emily Freeman, over at Chatting At The Sky, to share my learning experiences. This month I started a list at the beginning of March, but I didn’t keep up with it, so I had to think back over the month….and yep, I learned a few things alright. Unfortunately, I missed the link up, but I decided to post this anyway.

1. I found out a little about how the show, “The Antique Roadshow works”. How they pick what and who goes on the air. How the experts know the info. What happens after your stuff is appraised for $$$$. Just in case you have some family heirlooms you’re curious about, check it out here.

2. (This may have happened in February) okay it did, but it’s worth mentioning here now. My sister introduced me to a new store, Soma. I don’t know where I’ve been! Well, honestly I do pretty much just shop T.J.Maxx, but whatever! We were at the outlets in St. Augustine, and I bought the most comfortable pair of pajamas ever! I wish I could wear them all day, and I might have a couple days at my brother and sister-in-laws place in Florida, just saying.

3. So after 8 1/2 years of marriage, 12 1/2 years of “togetherness”, I learned that my husband, the Beekeeper, doesn’t like egg noodles! WHAT! Who doesn’t like egg noodles? Well, my husband apparently. So from now on his dishes will be perched upon rice, preferable wild rice I’m told. Okay then!

4a. There is room in my heart to love yet another golden retriever.

4b. It’s a lot harder to housebreak a puppy without 5 kids in the house to help take turns taking the puppy out. I don’t think this needs an explanation.

5. This one has actually been an on going learning experience since January and will continue. I’ve been taking Christy Tomlinson’s, SheArt workshops, and I’m learning a lot about mixed media and enjoying every minute.

6. My hubby gave me an overview of how electrical power plants works as we drove by this one, which sits right at the end of a nice little lake and I always think “this is so ugly and why is it right here?” Now I know, and I’ll try to appreciate it more the next time. (Life with an electrician)

7. I learned that, yes, if you wait patiently and ask nice enough for long enough, and are willing to pay the booth rent you can have the biggest and nicest space at the antique store. I also learned that we had enough inventory to fill it. Now to keep it filled for the busy summer season. Fun, Fun!

So, nothing mind boggling, but it was only March in NY. What have you been learning?

Filed Under: What I Learned

~ Mixing It Up ~

February 9, 2015 by Patricia Fisher

This is what has been happening outside in New York (P.S. animal lovers, they had just been turned out, and they love to roll in the snow). So, I’ve been tucked inside by the wood stove with my art supplies getting messy. I signed up for Christy Tomlinson’s class, She Art Workshop and it has been great fun, can’t wait to take another one of her classes. Here’s a look at what I’ve been up to….

I ran out of canvas’, so this girl is actually on a block of wood.

I guess I had extra clothes, so why not hang them on a clothes line.

Then I moved up to a big canvas and left the girls and their clothes out!

Here’s a close up look…

….and that’s what you do when it won’t stop snowing! Well, that or take a trip to Florida. Room for two more on the dock?

Filed Under: The Inspiration Room Tagged With: mixed media

~ Count Your Blessings ~

December 23, 2014 by Patricia Fisher

All a buzz… this can be the busiest time of year for a lot of us. We seem to want to cram as much as possible into a few short weeks of time. We know from past experience what this does to us and those around us, but we seem to get caught up into it year after year. Still, even with all the added tasks and outings that can drain the energy out of you, if you can manage to find those still, quiet moments to contemplate the “reason for the season”, it’s undeniable what a special time of year it really is. Sitting mornings by the warmth of the fire, with only the glow of the Christmas lights interrupting the darkness, this is my time each day to reflect on all of the blessings that have been lavishly poured out on me…and, I’m grateful!

We celebrated one of those many blessings over the weekend. Our grandson was turning five and we all gathered together, enjoying the special little man that he is.

The background to this is….”Nana makes cakes”, according to John Michael. So, he decides what his party theme is for the year and…Nana makes a cake to go with it! What someone failed to explain to him was, for the previous generation, when Nana was Mom, there were several shows that were “off limits”. Among the list was, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which to my amazement has come back around full force…and guess who likes it!?!( I have two older nephews that will enjoy how the tables have turned, and I quote…”stupid Little House On The Prairie!”). Well, since Nana is a much softer touch now than she was as Mom, the quest was on for the, TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle) cake pan. I have since found out that I needed to start this search much sooner, instead of dragging my feet. Wilton has retired their 1989 TMNT cake pan and now it is considered “vintage”. Being the lover of old things that I am, you would think this would make me happy. No, what this means is that this cake pan that I really don’t want in my collection is two or three times it’s original price! When my Amazon search turned up one for over $100.00, I gave the search over to my “ebaying” husband. He found one with the auction up that night and won the bid, Yay him! Unfortunately, it wasn’t shipped out for three days! So, when Saturday morning came around and the TMNT cake pan wasn’t in the morning mail, I knew the worst had come! (haha) I would have to get creative around a theme that as a mom I had opposed. Alas, Nana couldn’t disappoint, so Papa and I were off on a shopping trip for a cake topper. (Might I add, there are wedding cakes with less expensive cake toppers than this.)

He liked his cake…’nuff said!

P.S. The “TMNT” cake pan came the day after the party!

Filed Under: Family, Grandchildren

~ What I Learned in November ~

December 4, 2014 by Patricia Fisher

I haven’t participated in this in awhile, but I’m linking up with Emily Freeman over at Chatting at the Sky, for a look back at what I learned in November. This is an interesting and fun thing to do, even if you don’t have a blog. It’s amazing looking back and realizing you’re still learning, or should be!

1. My first thing learned was actually from my sister-in-laws post from lasts month “What I learned in…”. She introduced me to Glennon Doyle Melton and her blog Monastery. A great new find for me, love it and her (and my sister-in-law).

2. Secondly, is more a matter of admitting about myself rather than just learning….I seriously have a problem following a recipe. I always start out planning to follow it, but somewhere along the way I convince myself that a little more of this or that, or omitting this or that, or substituting what I’m certain will improve the dish or “work just as well”, and sometimes it does! The point does remain, I’m ADD when it comes to following a recipe….I do love to make up my own though!

3. Our sweet dog Riley wasn’t feeling well last month, so we took her to the vet. They prescribed a medication, but instead of handing us a bottle of pills they gave us the scrip and sent us to the pharmacy! Okay, maybe others are use to this, but as for us, we just looked at each other like ” Okkk?” strange but OK. So, apparently she is on “people pills”. New to us…when did this become normal?

4. Technically speaking, with the assistance of the same sister-in-law I have finally figured out the drop down menus on my blog. It’s endless, there’s more space than I have information to share, but if I feel so inclined, I now have the space and the know how.

5. …and lastly, I learned after more years than I care to mention, after marrying (the first time) at 18, becoming a mom at 22, again at 24…26…28…and 31, a single mom at 39, a new wife again (thank-you Jesus for this man!) at 43, a Nana, and an empty-nester (sort of), for the very first time I’ve worked!..outside of our home!…for pay!…and I liked it!

See you next time…keep learning!

Filed Under: What I Learned

~ Chips & Salsa ~

November 24, 2014 by Patricia Fisher

I have a new category along the menu of my blog called “Been There”, when you place your cursor over it two choices drop down, w/the Beekeeper and w/the Sisters. I’ve been wanting to post about places we go to and have the posts be grouped together. So, here we go, no better place to start with than our favorite Mexican Restaurant, El Bandido in Middletown NY.

The Beekeeper and I have been going here for years. We’ve taken several family members and told many friends about this little treasure. It is over an hour from home, but happens to be in a town that we frequent for shopping or pass by going to and from the airport or to visit family in NJ. So you guessed it, we also frequent El Bandido! We are NEVER disappointed, fast, friendly service and always delicious.

Did I mention entertainment…. live music!

Lots to take in.

My favorite waiter/guitar player, (love the dimples).

You can even take home their salsas.

Suffice to say, we love El Bandido, they never let us down. It’s always a fun night out and a great place to take friends.

This is the Beekeeper’s look of “seriously, enough with the pictures!”

So, adios…eat more chips and salsa!

Hasta la proxima!

Filed Under: w/the beekeeper

~ Rainy Monday ~

November 17, 2014 by Patricia Fisher

Dark, cold and wet….that’s what we had today! Add to that the fact that my little wood stove in the living room isn’t quite ready to “fire” up, that isn’t a recipe for a cozy day. We’ve spent the last two days extracting honey that we had been putting off for too long. What a big sticky mess! Glad that is done for this year. Now we can just enjoy the fruit of our (or the bees rather) labor.

On another note, back in June we started selling our antiques at a large multi-dealer shop called, Marketplace on Chestnut, as well as at our shoppe at home. First we started in a small spot then moved to a larger booth in October. We are enjoying the extra outlet for our finds, as well as all the new friends we’ve made… a few pics of the set up.

I spent a little time this week putting together more photo cards after my new display came in the mail. I was enjoying the process until I ran out of photo paper and had to quit. Wondering if I want to add these to our Etsy shop.

I go back and forth with whether or not I want to join Amazon Prime . It sounds like a good idea, but every time I look for a movie for us to watch, I can’t find one of interest. What to do!?! I could watch all four seasons of Downton Abbey again…plus plus…but could I get the Beekeeper to watch it? Doubtful, but a girl can try.

Filed Under: Fishers Beehive Shoppe, Honey Bees, Photography

~ Reorganize ~

November 10, 2014 by Patricia Fisher

Time to reorganize some things, furniture, rooms, closets, my schedule. With the change of the season my daily routine changes considerably. Our horses get stabled at night, and therefore stalls need to be cleaned every morning. My garden gets put to bed for the winter, now that next years garlic is planted. All the winters wood is split and stacked, the barn is full of gorgeous second cutting hay, and my raised beds are mulched down with chopped up fall leaves. Time to enjoy some inside projects that have been put off for the busy summer months….like this blog! I’ve missed the blogosphere, posting and reading everyone else’s post. So, time to begin again. Here is what is happening now….

We had an abundance of beautiful concord grapes this year, so we made 35 quarts of delicious grape juice. I’ve always made grape juice like my grandmother did, grapes, sugar and boiling water in a quart jar, process in boiling water and wait a few weeks….and grape juice! This year we tried something different and bought this 11-Quart Stainless-Steel Juicer Steamer. It worked well and I like it, but the juice is much thicker than the other way. Good stuff but 35 quarts was enough, so we decided to try our hand at wine making with the rest. The Beekeeper found a recipe for dry wine using our grapes, as neither of us like sweet wine. We truly have no idea what we are doing here, all new ground for us. So we went to this local shop for help. They suggested the book, Joy of Home Wine Making . Can you make “good” wine from concord grapes? Time (lots of it) will tell. I’ll keep you updated on the progress.

This post contains my affiliate links.

Filed Under: In the kitchen, My Potager

~ Oh, Go Bake a Cake! ~

July 11, 2014 by Patricia Fisher

I’ve been in cake baking mode. I love cake! I like to look at them (as you can tell here), I like to make them and I like to eat them. They are far better than pies in my book, or even than the ice cream that people pile on them. So, I was on Pinterest a few days ago and found this cake. It looked good and I love the name, so I printed the recipe and gave it a shot.

The first thing that happened, on the very first step of making the white cake was my mixer died! My beloved Kitchen Aid! We’ve been together for 14 or 15 years, I wanted to cry (I’m serious, well, pretty serious). So I dug out the only hand mixer I have left after giving my good one to my youngest daughter. This one is actually my good immersion blender that came with attachments. I was reluctant to use it for a big task thinking I might burn it out. It did however, see me through the job. So, now I have the white layers baked and cooling, the brownie layer in the oven and I’m just beginning to mix up the cream cheese frosting. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we had a tornado warning for that evening. Just as I begin to beat the butter and cream cheese…..our power goes out!!! We do have a gas stove, but with electric ignition and my brownie layer is in the oven. Since the oven is up to temperature and it’s half way through the baking time I leave the door closed and hope for the best. I wait, but the power doesn’t come back on. So I wrap the cake layers after cooling, including the brownie, which seems to have “weathered the storm”, so to speak. I refrigerate the beginning of the frosting and the beginnings of the chocolate sauce which I had already placed in a pan on the stove. I go to bed, only to awaken at 1:15 am by the electric company removing a limb that had become entangled in the wires across the street during the storm. The power was back on, but no cake constructing in my immediate future. In the morning the Beekeeper informs me that a couple limbs came down in the storm on our pasture fence, the pasture that the horses were in! So, we load everything for tree removal and fence repair on the wagon and 4-wheeler and head up to the pasture, only to find two whole trees that have to come down and be removed…..hours of work! We were almost finished and ready to close up the large hole in the fence, when the lovable, very old, pretending to be sleeping pony darts through the fence while my back is turned! Do I have to even say that this gave the other three, normally well behaved, much larger horses the incentive that they needed to also dart through the broken down fence! Now we have four very happy, very large, four-legged creatures enjoying the well groomed lawn of my Dad’s rental property. I yell for the Beekeeper, who laughs at my inability to control my small herd and we contemplate how to best rectify the situation. Too late! One moves, they all move (they are a herd you know?), through the stone wall and into the cemetery! Unhook the wagon, hop on the 4-wheeler and begin the round-up. So, fast forward….we “guided” them into the other pasture and loaded all the fire wood that would fit on the wagon and headed home. We arrive to find my dad, sister, daughter and two grandchildren waiting on the deck for us. A shower for me, a dip in the pool for him and mojitos for the house, all is well!

What about the cake, you ask? I did finally finish it, whipped the frosting, heated up the brownie layer a little, made up the chocolate sauce and put it all together.

Given the circumstances of the way this cake was made, it didn’t turn out too bad. If made the “normal” way and if the Beekeeper and I liked brownies, which neither of us do, (I remembered this once again as we were each eating a piece after dinner), I think this would be a keeper recipe. So, give it a try. Here is the post where I found the recipe, here is the website of the creator of the recipe, and here is her book Surprise-Inside Cakes , which does look very fun. Happy baking!