Archives for August 2013

August 29, 2013 by: The Domestic Fringe

I Already Screwed-Up The Sixth Grade

I already screwed up sixth grade and we’ve only had orientation.

It wasn’t quite as bad of a mess-up as the time I chicken danced my way into the slow cooker after a school performance that my kid wasn’t in. No, that was worse, but probably only because I made my husband sit through two-thirds of the program, all the while looking for our little girl who happened to be in the wrong grade.

I was so absolutely certain orientation began at 6:30 p.m. I even agreed to bring along another kid who didn’t have anyone to take him.

When five o’clock rolled around, I kicked everyone out of the house, except for my children, reheated leftovers for dinner, and thought I had it all together.

We were starting this year off right, by golly.

During dinner, my daughter decided to change her clothes for orientation, because she’s female and that’s what we do. Then she thought she’d get a quick shower first, so she’ll not only look good, but she’ll smell good too.

I am a mom on board with hygiene, so I gave her my blessing and cleaned up the dinner dishes.

That’s when I glanced over at the calendar.

The prescription in my glasses seems to be getting weaker by the day, so I walked up and put my face close to the 28th.

It said 6:00.

No, that can’t be right. I thought. I could see there was a 3 inside the zero. Did it start out as a 3 and turn into 0 or the other way around?

Franctically I began digging through my pile of papers.

Do you have a pile? Because if you do not, please come to my kitchen ASAP and tell me what to do with all this stuff.

Sure enough, I found the paper and it said 6:00 p.m.

It was 5:52.

That’s when I lost the mother-of-the-year award for the hundredth time this year.

My daughter went with soap in her hair.

The other kid went without dinner.

But, we went.

Things were coasting along smoothly enough. I even remembered to turn my phone off half-way through the principal’s speech. Sixth grade is a cinch, I thought.

Until the lockers.

For love of all that is sane and good and easy in this world, why a combination lock? Why?

Twenty minutes later, she opened it herself.

There are no gaurantees when the first day of school rolls around.

And to the parent who bought all the brightly colored hanging beads for her kid’s locker, you’re killing me, the same as if you were sticking fifty-two fancy, magnetic, hot-pink pushpins into my right eye.

Please wonderful overachievers, let’s keep the bar set low, at least until the eigth grade.

If we make it that far.

How’s the school thing working out for you?

August 28, 2013 by: The Domestic Fringe

31 Days of ??? The Big Reveal

Do you know what’s coming up in October?

The famous 31 Days series hosted by the Nester.

31 Days of ???

Last year I wrote, with the help of several amazing women who were willing to share their stories, 31 Days of Living by Faith.

I was hesitant to commit to such a big series, because I’m a fly by the seat of my pants blogger, but I found out that I loved having one topic to write about for an extended period of time.

For the last few months I’ve been kicking around ideas for this October. I’m a pretty good idea person, but the follow-through about kills me.

If you’re an entrepreneur, I thought of three different business to start just this week. It’s how my mind works. I can’t stop the ideas, and shockingly, some of them are even good. My problems comes in working all these ideas out. I get caught up in the details and everything good thing comes to a screeching halt.

I found myself courting several topics for this 31 Day series, but I couldn’t say I do. I had a serious case of the commitment jitters.

Then one night, when I was almost asleep, an idea popped into my head. I flipped on the light switch and rustled up a pen and proceeded to write a detailed list for all 31 Days.

I knew without a doubt this was my topic.

Dum, dum, dum, dum….that was a drum roll in case you didn’t hear it in your head as you read it.

Yup. It’s going to be 31 Days of Cheap Tricks, Living for Less.

I know, the title. Believe me, I had about ten tamer titles in mind, but they were blase. I think we’ll all remember this one.

Because October is a super-special month, I’m going to offer advertising.

I will open up the right sidebar and place your adds there; however, I want all the hard work done before October first. That’s why I want to get your adds up as soon as possible. Inevitably I’ll run into a few glitches and I want them worked out as soon as possible.

You’ll really be getting two months of advertising for the price of one.

You may want to advertise your blog, Etsy shop, other business, etc.

Last October my stats doubled in the month of October. The 31 Day series draws in more readers, gets shared more, and simply reaches a broader audience. I fully expect this October to be the same way – doubled stats.

I’ve never actually shared my stats before, except on a personal level, but if I’m going to sell you add space, you’ll want to know how many people read and follow the Domestic Fringe.

Believe me, stats are important, but not the most important thing. I appreciate each and every person who takes the time to read anything I write. I don’t take you for granted.

Stats

Over the last 4 months, I’ve averaged just above 60,000 page views per month.

Subscribed via email: 728

Facebook Fans: 678

Pinterest Followers: 592

Twitter Followers: 528

Advertising

Below are the following add options with prices.

Large adds = 250 x 250 or 290 x 160 = $35

Small adds = 140 x 140 = $20

I’ll also promote you on Social Media throughout the month.

If you are interested in advertising, please contact me via email as soon as possible. I’ll get your add up as soon as I receive it. All payments are via Paypal. My email is tricia9199 at yahoo dot com.

I hope you’re as excited for October as I am!

August 27, 2013 by: The Domestic Fringe

The Indian Castle Church

This past Sunday my husband held a service in a church that was once a mission to the Indians. This church, built in 1769 by Sir William Johnson (commissioner of Indian affairs), still stands tall.

The church has no heat and only minimal lighting, so it’s only open in the summer. It’s always chilly inside, even in August.

I write about so much on The Domestic Fringe. Sometimes I feel like you know me as well as I know myself, but then I realize how many other things I can’t write about.

Usually, I omit things in order not to offend someone else. You see, our lives are so tangled up with others, it’s difficult to tell a story and leave out all the good parts. I’ve learned that other people don’t really like to show up in my stories and they don’t like their church to be mentioned most of all. So, I keep silent.

This church is different though. It is a building without a congregation, a museum of sorts.

People come from all over New York to get married in this old church. It’s for the history more than it is for the beauty, because the inside is old and sparse.

The Indian Castle Church suffered a terrible fire in the 70’s and nearly burned all the way through, but it was saved and rebuilt. When you look up, you see the charred timbers, reminders of a horrible event in history. When the wind blows especially hard, blackend pieces of wood, thin as paper, float down to settle at your feet.

This church has stood the test of time and many protestant denominations through the years.

FringeMan holds a service here nearly every year. One year he held three days worth of special meetings and had to string temporary lights around the inside. It was dim, like stepping back in time into another world, into someone else’s story.

The fine people who work and fight to keep this building in usable order want to do so much with it. They dream of it being a place of constant life. The stones that make its meager foundation are in desperate need of repair, but unfortunately there’s no money.

There’s never enough, is there?

It’s hard to fund present projects, but these hopes for the past are nearly impossible.

If only.

If only there was heat.

If only the foundation were fortified to make the building safe.

If only there was a bathroom.

Maybe this old shell of a building could become a church once again.

We’re praying it will.

Will you pray with us?

Some history is worth remembering.

August 26, 2013 by: The Domestic Fringe

Exotic Chicken Sandwich with Blueberry Dressing

I’m not exactly sure what makes this chicken sandwich exotic, but it does remind me of the fancy sandwiches in Panara Bread and that’s about as exotic as I get lately.

I know, my life is fascinating.

This sandwich, however, is a culinary masterpiece, a party in your mouth, a mish-mash of leftovers.

Look mom! I’m eating my veggies.

This sandwich is the sum of three days worth of leftovers.

Two days ago, we had salad for dinner and I cooked up some chicken and then sliced it. I wish I could give you a recipe for my chicken, but I don’t remember what seasonings I used.

Chicken

I imagine it went something like this….Grab the large pan, douse it in olive oil, and throw a few chicken breasts in. Add seasoned salt, generously, pepper, some flakes of green this or that, and a teaspoon of chicken broth base. Brown either side and then put a lid on it until the chicken is cooked. Slice.

We ate it over salad and it was wonderful, but I had a lot of chicken leftover.

Bread

Yesterday, I made a pot of meat sauce and spaghetti. At the last minute, I thought about how nice a chunk of bread would be with this sauce, so I started looking for a super quick bread recipe. Now I have an easy home-made bread recipe that I use often, but I wanted a hard, crusty artisan type bread.

I am a bread snob. I would say sorry, but I’m really not.

I love me some bread, but it must be good bread. New York City has amazing bread. I was weaned on it, but I can’t get it up here, so I have to make it myself.

I used this recipe from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe and it was wonderful. I highly recommend it.

I made one loaf to go with our spaghetti dinner and put the rest of the dough in the refrigerator overnight.

We used the leftover dough to make rolls for our sandwiches.

Sandwich

I love a good sandwich. If you ask my husband, he’ll tell you I can turn just about anything into a sandwich. He hates to eat that way, but I could do it every day.

Remember the blueberry jam explosion I had last week?

Well, I have nine bottles of this strange, shall we say exotic (?), syrupy blueberry sauce.

I need to use it on something other than just pancakes.

Now I say it’s exotic, because it has cinnamon and nutmeg in it. Don’t ask. I simply followed the recipe, but I have a knack for being drawn to unusual recipes.

I thought, why not use it on my chicken sandwich?

So I spread some blueberry dressing (yes, it has many names) added lettuce and shredded carrots to one side of the sandwich, and on the other half, I used a healthy portion of warmed leftover chicken and cheddar cheese.

Then I put the two sides together and could barely fit it in my mouth.

These are the times when I’m glad I have a bit mouth.

Delish!

I loved it.

No-one else was brave enough to try some blueberry dressing on their sandwich, but it sure was good. They’re missing out.

That’s my exotic chicken sandwich with blueberry dressing.

What’s the best sandwich you’ve eaten recently?

August 24, 2013 by: The Domestic Fringe

Yard Sale Haul

I don’t usually post on the weekends, but my daughter and I went to a few yard sales this morning.

I know, that explains everything, right?

Well, I haven’t actually been out yard-saling all summer. ALL. Summer.

And summer is almost over!

So when we had nothing else going on this morning, we raced out the door.

We spent the big bucks – $4 smackers.

Our Yard Sale Haul

A giant cupcake pan. That was my daughter’s idea. She’s been wanting one of these for about four years. Guess what kind of birthday cake she’s getting this year!

A feed sack, except it’s a salt sack. As soon as I find myself a sewing machine that works, I’m going to cut it down and make a pillow out of it.

And a vintage glass. There was only one, but the guy having the sale threw it in for nothing.

Here’s a better look at the glass. I’m going to be on a mission to find a few more.

Then my daughter got a tropical print maxi dress. It looks like she should be wearing it in Hawaii. Unfortunately, I can’t photograph it because it’s in the wash. She wants to wear it tomorrow.

And my favorite find….

A pair of vintage wooden acrobats. They flip over the bar when you turn the knob on the side.

Aren’t they the cutest? They’re sitting on my desk, because I like to be surrounded by cute junk when I work. It has to be cute though, or else I’ll trash it in the name of mental clarity.

These acrobats are super-cute.

And all for $4 dollars. I’d say it was a bargain.

What about you…Do you stop for yard sales?

August 23, 2013 by: The Domestic Fringe

I Found It On Etsy

I have a pot of spaghetti sauce simmering on the stove-top and I’m waiting for my bread to rise, so I opened my laptop in order to waste a little time.

Usually Pinterest helps me while away the minutes, but I realized I hadn’t been on Etsy in quite some time, so off I went, and look at what I found.

This isn’t a sponsored post, so these shop owners have no idea I’m featuring their products. I just couldn’t help but share.

Check out this family of deer graphic vinyl car decal.

Source: Unique Graphix

I’m calling it Cutesy Redneck Chic.

I may buy one and put it on my husband’s truck and see if he notices.

I mean, we use Redneck Heat from wood we harvest ourselves, my son is a Redneck Gourmet who told his doctor that he eats squirrels, and we eat like Redneck’s (but not squirrels) with FringeMan’s Hillbilly Hell-Fire Venison Chili, so I may as well.

Besides, it’s cute!

Source: Lettersearring

I’m a child of the 80’s. What can I say?

My brother had Pac-Man sheets when we were kids and our landlord dealt in vending machines and video games, so we got to play a tabletop Mrs. Pac-Man all the time. No quarters needed. Life was good.

Source: Paradise Findings

I think this ring is really pretty. I’m not so much into big stones and gems. I think I tend toward simpler rings, for today anyway. I like how they are making jewelry from silverware too. So fun!

Source: the Stationary Room

I still haven’t bought any Washi tape. I need some. I know I need some, but whenever I’m in a store standing before Washi tape, I can never think of a project that justifies buying a roll or ten.

What do you do with your Washi tape?

Source: Workshop 23

I love paper art and mixed media art. One day I’m going to take one of Jeanne Oliver’s online courses and have some fun trying it out for myself.

Source: Found Vintage Living

If I didn’t love my trash to treasure desk so much, I would want one like this. In fact, if I ever found one of these at a reasonable price, I’d buy it and use it for something other than a desk.

I love mid-century modern furniture. How about you?

Well, friends, my bread has risen, so it’s time to fire up the oven and get cooking. Hope you all have a great weekend!

August 23, 2013 by: The Domestic Fringe

Insta Friday: Finding Paul Bunyan

It seems we found Paul Bunyan.

He’s living at the water park we visited.

I love that my daughter will still pose for fun pictures.

My son just walks away and when I do get a photo, he’s terribly picky.

He wants retakes.

This is what happens at thirteen.

Heaven help me when my daughter hits that age!

The water park was all kinds of crazy fun.

I had very low expectations going in, but we had a blast.

We opened and closed the park.

When the kids fell asleep on the ride home, I knew it was a very good day.

(That photo was sunset on the Erie Canal. Nothing to do with the water park.)

Can we talk about school supplies for a second?

They killed me. Dead.

I can buy a 1 inch binder for .99 cents, but my kids need 1 1/2 inch binders.

That cost $4.98 each. I needed eight.

I felt like poking my eye out with a pencil.

It’s because of the binders that I had to walk away from these.

My heart broke a little.

I’m not sure if the right word would be lust or covet, but I’m pretty sure I’m doing both.

I’m also praying every day that Target will still have a pair of these in a size eight when I finally have money to buy them.

Please God. Please.

I’m not sure God thinks I need a pair of red, shiny heels,

but I’m going to attempt to convince Him otherwise.

The poochy lip says it all.

Are these too many pictures for you?

I can’t stop taking them.

My husband thinks I’m nuts, but click, click, click…there I go again.

Charlotte is quite the little handful.

We’re teaching her to stand up tall on her hind legs for a treat.

My daughter is perfect the high-five with her.

She mainly does two things – eat and poop.

I’ve never seen a more greens consumed in my life.

I’m wondering if all vegetarians poop as much as Charlotte.

Must I explain?

My husband bought me roses.

I was quite surprised and delighted.

On that happy note, we’ll end.

I’d love to have you follow along on Instagram.

Linking to Life Rearranged for Insta Friday!