Happiness

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote these rules to help people live happier more productive lives. They seem like a lot of common sense to me, which is nice to see from a century ago.

1. Make up your mind to be happy - learn to find pleasure in simple things.
2. Make the most of circumstances. No one has everything and everyone has something of sorrow.
3. Don’t take yourself too seriously.
4. Don’t let criticism worry you - you can’t please everyone.
5. Don’t let your neighbors set your standards - be yourself.
6. Do things you enjoy doing, but stay out of debt.
7. Don’t borrow trouble. Imaginary things are harder to bear than actual ones.
8. Since hate poisons the soul, do not cherish enmities and grudges. Avoid people who make you unhappy.
9. Have many interests. If you can’t travel, read about places.
10. Don’t hold postmortems or spend time brooding over sorrows and mistakes.
11. Don’t be the one who never gets over things.
12. Keep busy at something. A busy person never has time to be unhappy

I realize that the pursuit of happiness is a rather shallow goal compared to searching after peace and hope and joy, but it's nice too.

http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/how-tuesday-hand-painted-teacup-and-saucer-with-louchelab-7274/

I am finding as this semester comes to a close there is nothing I want more than to be doing crafts all the time.

I think I will have to make a pair of teacups for people I know who are getting married. :)

All you need is a word.

Here is a site which is just fodder for the creative mind.

http://ideas.bighugelabs.com/

Enjoy.

Amazing things from Spring Break!

Dear Everyone,-or the half a dozen people who may ever read this poorly updated blog-

I have just returned from a wonderful, wonderful break full of wonderful, wonderful things like being introduced to Mumford and Sons! Learning to knit! Getting books at a library booksale! Roadtripping with two of my favorite people in the world! And getting inspired into goosebumps by the books at the

But here are some amazing sites you should check out:

http://www.ragandbone.com/blog/?p=1609

This guy makes a variety of arts and crafts out of old books. I LOVE HIS WORK. Glamour dress out of an old phone book, all sorts of plays on medium and it is just wonderful.



Another creative individual doing totally different sorts of things, mostly about inspiration and delight is Keri Smith.

http://www.kerismith.com/blog

The book I saw of hers was called "Wreck this journal" and it was totally charming. I wanted to buy it and wreck it, and I wanted to just do unexpected and creative things. All the time.



That's all for now! I'm off to go conquer the world!

The Fun Theory.

So there's a group of people trying to make the world a better place and changing people's behavior using: fun.

http://www.thefuntheory.com/

WATCH A SET OF STAIRS BECOME A PIANO!

That. is. wonderful.

It appears that I am unable to keep a blog while in school. I am not sure if this should surprise me or not, but because a very dear friend of mine just started blogging, I thought I would post again.

So I am posting about bread. Normally I make oatmeal bread from the more with less cookbook.

1 c. quick oats 2 c boiling water
1/2 c whole wheat flour 1 pkg. (I scant Tablespoon) yeast
1/2 c brown sugar 1/2 c. warm water
1 T. salt 5 c. white flour

Combine oats, whole wheat flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl, and
pour the boiling water over it. Stir to combine.
Meanwhile, dissolve the yeast in the warm water.
When the oat mixture is lukewarm, add the yeast. Stir in the white
flour, cup by cup.
When dough is stiff enough to handle, turn onto floured board and knead
5-10 minutes. Place in greased bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled.
Punch down and let rise again. Shape into 2 loaves and place in greased
9x5x3" pans. Bake at 350 F for 30-40 minutes. Cool on rack.

I like this recipe because it is dense and soft and just a little bit sweet and delicious. It is also the kind of bread some of my friends make, and so it is very comforting and familiar.

But I've recently learned about a cookbook for "Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day" which is very basic, but very easy and delicious. Follow the link for the whole recipe, but I'll post a picture here.




http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=1616

Homemade popsicles!

I love popsicles. You probably love popsicles. Most people love popsicles. Last year for my birthday I asked for a popsicle mold, but I left it at home when I went off to grad school in the fall. But this summer I asked for one again, and got not one, not two but three popsicle molds. Enough to make 12 at a time. :)

So I've been having a lovely time providing cold refreshment to everyone who comes to visit me. So far I've done a lot of juice popsicles, (tangerine-grapefruit, white grape raspberry, orange, orange pineapple, grape, grape cranberry) as well as smoothie-popsicles with strawberries, raspberries, banana and peaches and just pineapple orange banana.

Here's a list of suggestions I found online. I'm planning on making some tea popsicles next. Or limeaide.

31 Great Homemade Popsicle Recipes from http://blisstree.com/eat/homemade-popsicles-recipes/

1. Apricot : Mix 2 cups apricot juice with 1/2 cup soy milk (or skim) and freeze.

2. A tablespoon of organic raspberry jam mixed with water or milk. This is nice for that last bit of jam in the jar.

3. Pineapple and carrot juice

4. Plain old carrot juice

5. Smashed strawberries

6. Homemade lemonade

7. “Glitter” pops. These take some time. Sprinkle colored sugar into your mold. Fill the mold half with water. Freeze. Sprinkle in more colored sugar. Add more water. Freeze. I can’t figure out how to simply mix in the sugar because it’ll melt, and/or sink to the bottom. These pops look a lot more glittery if you make them with yogurt – the sugar doesn’t dissolve much.

8. Homemade limeade

9. Sparkling Organic Pear

10. Maraschino-lemonade pops

11. Applesauce: sometimes thick applesauce needs to be mixed with a little water or it freezes oddly.

12. Fudge pops

13. Tangerine juice – tangerine lime is also really good.

14. Red beans and coconut

15. Blend raspberries (about 6 oz), 1 1/2 cup plain yogurt, 3/4 cup water, and mint (either a handful of fresh mint leaves, or 2 tsp mint syrup) – blend really well and freeze.

16. Green tea root beer

17. Chocolate and vanilla layered pudding – or make it easy on yourself and simply add both flavors to your mold and swirl them with a thin knife.

18. Honeydew lime

19. Fresh pureed peaches, a tablespoon of honey, and whole small wild blueberries. Mix and freeze.

20. Brew strong green tea, mix in honey, freeze.

21. Strawberry cinnamon

22. Salad pops: Blend half a cantaloupe and a couple cherry tomatoes to sort of still chunky. Add 1/4 cup of chopped mint, basil, or lemon balm (not all three, choose one). Add a cup or two of plain organic yogurt. Freeze.

23. Mashed bananas, a dash of milk, peanut butter, and chocolate sauce – mix smooth and freeze.

24. Mango Kulfi

25. Pureed watermelon mixed with white grape juice

26. Sweet potato pops – cook, mash, mix smooth (adding some soy milk to thin it), sprinkle in a little nutmeg, freeze. These are really good.

27. Banana and pomegranate

28. Chamomile sun tea pops – just like they sound. Make sun tea and freeze. I love lemon sun tea pops, too.

29. Chocolate chip mint popsicles

30. PLAIN WATER – plain water is way fun to freeze. Every kid I know likes plain ice pops, and we need lots of water to stay healthy. Also, if you’re having a summer picnic, you can make plain water pops with beautiful tiny edible flowers, flower petals, small whole berries, or whole herb leaves in them. Stick them in a bucket of cubed ice to serve and everyone will think you’re some sort of Martha Stewart genius. People will fawn over you for freezing water. No kidding.

31. Fruit and yogurt pops