New Blog

It's time to say goodbye to World Within World--
Come join the fun at my new blog, Coffee and a Cardigan!

Daily Breadwear

Hat: Forever 21, $7
Necklace: Forever21, $6
Tank: Old Navy, $4
Skirt: Gap, $3
Booties: Seychelles Spectacle, $16 used

Rowena's handmade dress: $4 from Goodwill

Rowena's shoes (made in France!): $4 from Goodwill

Moving!

Greeting minions!

My new blog address is coffeeandacardigan.blogspot.com! Click here.

It's a work in progress. I have been having some wonderful adventures in my new village of a city, Mount Angel. Come follow me!

Spring has not Sprung

It's that time of year again...

At the first hint of spring I pack away all my warm clothing so that I am freezing until June. Seriously. Right now I am wearing a knee-length brown jersey skirt, a purply-red tank, a hoodie, and my favorite orange mary janes. I am suffering, lemme tell you.

It is also that time of year when I break out my favorite book, The Blue Castle. This book just makes me happy. I laugh and cry and laugh and cry every time I read it. It is written by the much-loved Canadian author L.M. Montgomery who is most famous for her "Anne" stories, which are also very good. I read it every year without fail and I need a new copy. For one, the paperback cover is falling off. Secondly, this mass-market publication is riddled with minor typos. Thirdly and Most-Importantly, the cover. The godawful cover:


It looks like a trashy romance novel! First of all, the main characters are not fashion models. That is a vital point of the story. It takes place waaaay before the 80s, so that fella needs to cut his hair and actually wear the sweater. The cover is painfully deceiving. Full-o-Angst. And it looks like it is the stupidest book ever written. Which it is not. And that is why it is my favorite book.

Alas, The Blue Castle is now out of print! I really want a hardbound version, but the cheapest that I have found is forty bones. I gave one of my two copies to my mother-in-law because she enjoyed it so much. I am glad I did, because she takes care of things extremely well.

I am moderately cold. I am going to swallow my pride and pull my garishly-plaid flannel pj's out of the depths of the wintry boxes. Sigh.

Let It Snow, Baby

Portland hasn't gotten any good, sticky, staying snow yet this year. Boo! Last year in early December, we had the most splendid snowstorm that the news referred to as "The Arctic Blast". Portland has no way of dealing with snow--- no salt, gravel, sand, or effective snowplows-- so the entire city completely shuts down. Darin, Rowena, and I had a wonderful week of baking, starlit walks in the empty roads, no work obligations, hot chocolate and cider, and togetherness. Oh, how I wish the snow-angels would pay us a visit this year!

To tide me over, I browsed through some of last year's snowy photos:

Our beautiful 1978 Civic, Doris:

Rowena in awe of the patio

I love my long puffy coat- it's like wearing a cute sleeping bag.

I have some jalapeño chicken sausages

and hot cider waiting to be devoured.

Cold-weather delicious food is always on the menu for me,

no matter what the temperature.

I Learn the Hard Way

The last day of Christmas came and went, and our dead Christmas tree needed to be disposed of.

"I'm going to burn it!" I said. Darin mildly protested, and I got my way. I put it on the patio and tentatively put a match to a middle branch. "I really shouldn't do this," I thought, but my hand didn't obey. As a result, the tree burst into flames. I panic.

In true Louise-luck-fashion, the doorbell rang when the fire reached its peak. Why, hello! Enter Karen and her husband, two clients of Darin's here to drop off their virus-ridden computer. So utterly embarrassing.

Fifteen minutes later, a fireman knocked at our back door. I ran past Darin so I could take the blame for the fire. After apologizing profusely, "Mr. Fireman" (which I so stupidly called him) kindly told me that backyard fires are illegal but he would not fine me. He even waved goodbye enthusiastically to the very interested Rowena before he and his two friends took their leave.

The best part? For your viewing pleasure, we got the burning on tape. You can hear poor Rowena's protests, my panicky I-shouldn't-have-done-thats, Darin's stern you-shouldn't-have-done-thats, Karen's hilarious reaction, and there's even a ball of fire headed towards the house combined with a bleeped-out curse word from Darin! Enjoy.

Disclaimer form Darin: He wanted to delete the sound from the video because of his harsh demeanor, but rest-assured that he was very supportive after the firemen left, comforting me each time I frantically ran to the window in fear of more authorities (which was every ten minutes or so).

Straighten Up

We recently had a Pizza & Game night with our Portland pals Patty and Keenan. It was great to catch up after the crazy holiday season. And what better way to celebrate than with experimenting with my hair straightener?

Patty's beautiful curls before:

And the after. Rowena (who was too excited to sleep just yet)

was very content to cuddle with "Pappy".

Isn't this a gorgeous picture? Sheesh.

To no one's surprise, Keenan wanted to get into the action, too.

Just look at those shiny tendrils!

The unfortunate result:

Keenan is such a good sport! He even wore one of Roey's little pink clips to keep his bangs back during Whoonu.

Good Intentions

So, I almost wrote a great blog for today. I had a fancy article planned regarding how to turn a spring nightgown into a winter dress. Unfortunately, none of the pictures turned out and Rowena kept running in front of the camera. (How does one take pictures of oneself in the mirror, anyway?) I'll have to have Darin take some pictures later. After a month of crunches.

Random food note-- We had meatloaf last night. I make it with steel-cut oats as the binder, and it works out so much better than the regular stuff! I discovered it accidentally a while back when we didn't have any quick oats on hand.

'Til next time!

Disturbing Behavior

My brother David (who gets home from Iraq today for a 2-week visit- YAY) gave me a candle tin a few years ago. Inside this tin was not a candle, nor anything scented or soothing. Nestled inside was a dirty doll head with matted hair and freakish blue eyes. I have always kept this trinket for sentimental reasons and it's just so funny to see people's perplexed reactions when they open it.

Darin took some interesting pictures of Doll Head today with Rowena's assistance. I just had to share them.

"Can I have a hug?"

This last one is very dark and blurry,

which makes it all the more creepy.

Well, have a weirdly wonderful day!

We are having some friends over for dinner and an "Inglourious Basterds" viewing.

See you soon!

Brownie Sunday

I had all these nuts and cocoa powder in the pantry that I had to use up, so I whipped up a batch of my favorite brownies. This recipe is so easy and non-chaotic that you'll never resort to boxed brownies again.*

I actually ground up the hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts, and cashews in my not-so-Magic Bullet and it made this crumbly sort of butter. I simply sprinkled the concoction on top of the batter after I pried it from Darin's grasp. The brownies aren't done yet, but the house smells so good right now-- chocolate and nuts swirled with the omnipresent spice candle.

* Disclaimer-- My sisters Lili and Faith do not like this recipe. For unknown reasons, it did not turn out well for them. I think that they must have been distracted when baking, because I am a lesser cook and have made these brownies successfully several times.