food coloring (optional- we didn’t use it)
sauce pan
cookie sheet
plastic wrap or wax paper
scissors
extra butter
Every Monday, I look at a person or company doing something cool online. Got an idea? Let me know about it!
A couple months ago, I noticed Larry Literal on Twitter. He had recently moved here and I saw he started following a bunch of us Twitter users in the Bar Harbor area. I sent in a few questions to see how social media was helping him settle into a new area. Here’s what he had to say:
“I moved to Bar Harbor slowly, starting in September of last year. My godson visits quite regularly and always spoke of the area fondly. I’d visited in the past but not very recently. My brother-in-law owned a vacation house in the area and I decided to go along with my godson when he invited me last summer. I had recently retired and had a lot of time on my hands. Shortly after my visit, my brother-in-law was offered early retirement. This meant he would have to sell the vacation home. I decided instead to take over the payments, he’d already paid off half of the house, I’d make the rest of the payments and we would share it. Upon another visit in September I decided to make it my permanent home. I spent the next few months living part time in Maine and New York and I only finally moved all my stuff up here a few weeks ago. My beloved wife had loved the area in her youth. I wanted to retrace her steps and live for myself the memories she had shared with me from her childhood.
Before I moved I used Facebook a bit. I tend to keep to myself and my godson set me up with a Facebook account and then my Twitter account to make sure I would keep in touch with everyone. Bar Harbor is very quiet in the winter and I love that about the area.
I write about whatever I want on Friday, because it’s fun. And I can.
I thought I’d take some time to answer a few FAQs about my new addition. Gidget became my dog at about 11 pm on Wednesday night when she, over the course of half an hour, crawled out of her airline crate and accepted a Greenie from me. Here’s more about the whole scenario.
Why Gidget?
Gidget was originally named Corky on the website she was listed on. When I asked the animal shelter director if she’d mind if I changed her name, she didn’t skip a beat. “I mean Corky the Corgi? Were we even trying that day?!?” And everyone I met agreed that this name could not stay, which only reaffirmed what I was going to do anyway.
This week’s biggest news has nothing to do with my business bottom line but will effect things from here on out. Last night at about 11 pm, I got a dog.
Gidget is a 30 pound Corgi mix that’ll keep me company while I work, force me to take exercise breaks, and otherwise up my overall quality of life.
Besides getting a dog and probably paying way too much attention to her, here’s what’s been going on this week:
I talked someone out of spending a lot of with me.
I usually get a few website inquiries a week and I’m lucky if 10% of them turn into actual sales.
When a woman I volunteered with a few years ago contacted me about a website this past week, I would have really loved to have done the work, especially when she said she definitely wanted to hire me (Awww).
Too Cute Tuesday involves a craft, a cocktail, and friends. It’s different every week which means no one is the crafting star and we always get to try something new. To see more posts, check out www.toocutetuesday.com (it’s just a link the ‘too cute tuesday’ posts on this blog) or check out www.facebook.com/toocutetuesday.
Here at Too Cute Tuesday, we look for inspiration everywhere. When I saw this on the Readymade website, I thought it looked fun and relatively simple, not to mention gave a way to use not-so-rockin scarves in a second life.
Add some friends, ditch the sewing machine, and you’ve got yourself a fairly relaxing evening… well, until the last step anyway.
Materials
Silk scarves (think the old granny kind) or fabric
Plain white fabric
Markers
Needle and thread
Poly-fil
Scissors
Washers or pieces of miscellaneous hardware that’ll add weight to your parachute dude/lady
Cocktail of the Night: Modified Dogsled (2 oz. whiskey, 1 tsp grenadine, 1 tbsp. lemon/lime juice mixture, fill with lemonade)
Note: If you want actually detailed, useful directions, check out the original post here.
1. Attempt to print pdf of the instructions only to find your printer needs new cartridges. Try to fool your printer by taking out your existing cartridges and just sticking them back in. Apparently your printer is too smart for this. We’re reading off the screen tonight I guess!
I write whatever I want about at the end of the week. Because I can.
Now that it’s finally sping in my corner of the world, I can advocate walking again.
I mean, we all know that it’s great exercise and doesn’t waste fossil fuels like driving, but these last few sunny days have made me think about the actual reason I enjoy walking: You notice funny things that you never notice when you are driving a car.
I could show any number of lovely photographs of some of Bar Harbor’s more famous landmarks at this point but instead here are some things I’ve driven by a million times but just noticed when I was out walking the other day.
It makes me wonder what else I’ve missed, and makes me think of walks past, like my walk to school on Vinalhaven, my walk into town from my French apartment, or the nightly walk my dog and I used to go on around the block.
This week was all about helping friends (and having them help me out) in both my personal and professional life. Here’s how things went.
I attended my friend Ogy’s first webinar, and he did a heck of a job.
I love attending webinars but I’ve never given one myself. Giving one must feel an awful lot like being on the radio. You are talking to yourself and not sure about what your audience is thinking because you can’t see their faces or get any other feedback from them. Meanwhile, you are trying to get through your slides and read everyone’s questions all while being an interesting and engaging presenter. In short, I’m sure it’s way harder than it looks, which is why no matter what, I was going to attend my web designer friend Ogy’s first webinar.
Turns out Ogy did a great job, and the good news is he has more coming up. (Did I mention they are also free?) Seeing Ogy do this actually encouraged me to go public with a few projects of my own I’ve been a bit nervous about.
Matt came over and we set up the screen and projector.
My friends know that while I love the internet, I am completely nervous about setting up anything physically. Everything from operating a dog crate to a sewing machine for the first time, I usually try to get a friend to help me by offering to cook them food. I have a profound fear of breaking things and get easily frustrated.
Sometimes, you have to change plans at the last minute. TCT will resume it’s regularly scheduled program next week but this week, we’re giving one of our own a little TLC and taking the day off. Jodi, a TCT fan who has her own blog Living the Road Less Traveled, was kind enough to share her cream puff triumph as a guest post.
If you are looking for a cocktail, may I suggest a pre-Saint Patty’s Day treat of green beer? Just sayin…
This is a recipe I’ve had sitting in my box for quite some time. It originally comes from my Great Aunt Violet.
Bring 1/2 cup of water to boiling point and add 1/4 cup shortening; stir until melted. Bring back to boiling point and quickly add 1/2 cup flour and 1/4 tsp salt; cook, stirring constantly for about 2 minutes or until mixture forms small, smooth balls.
Cool slightly. Add 2 eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each. Beat for 5 minutes until mix is thick.
Shape dough into balls and place 2″ apart on a greased baking sheet (parchment paper would also work). Bake at 450 for 10 minutes; reduce heat to 350 and bake another 20-25 minutes.