40's Suit and Some More Doctor Who Pumpkin Pics

Today I sang Revelation Song at all three services in church.  I first learned this song at College because we sang it all the time during our daily chapel services. 

"Worthy is the lamb who was slain Holy Holy is He.  Sing a new song to Him who sits on Heaven's mercy seat.  Clothed in rainbows of living color.  Flashes of lightening, rolls of thunder.  Blessing and honor strength and glory and power be.  To you the only wise king. 

Chorus:  Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty.  Who was, and is, and is to come.  To all creation I sing, praise to the King of Kings.  You are my everything, and I will adore you."

I  just think it such a beautiful and truly powerful song.  But of course, my allergies had to attack me all weekend long, so I sang with a very stuffed up nose. Attractive.  I wish I could just karate chop my allergies right out of my body...but I have yet to be blessed with those super abilities.

This is the same 1940's suit I wore to the annual meeting/party that took place last Tuesday.  I found this at the flea market for $10 because it was missing buttons, which was a super duper easy fix. I'm not really sure what type of fabric it is, but it has a very nice feel and quality to it.  The fabric is a very very thin white and grey line design.  And yes, my shoes are plum.  It felt so boring to wear a grey suit and black hat, that I wanted a pop of color.

It was weird at church today, though, and I don't know if its because I was singing so more people saw me or what, but I kept getting asked why I was so dressed up.  And really...do I need a reason to look nice?  I mean I always wear something nice to church, (and on most days except for at work) and this was no nicer than usual, but it was just so weird.  It felt like people were  accusing me of something horrid lol.  I know they weren't, but it just felt so odd. I think church has become almost too casual for me (in my opinion), and some people like that, and that's fine, but I always feel like the least I can do is look nice and proper for someone who died for me. 

I did feel like a kid magnet though.  Kids for some reason (probably because of me teaching little kiddies Sunday School) were popping up out of nowhere today to give me hugs and tell me they liked my outfit.  Well, at least we know the little people have a sense of fashion :D

Oh, and I got some cool pictures of my pumpkins lit at night.  The David Tennant one didn't come out too great, but the cyberman and Matt Smith came out fabulously.  Hopefully tonight I can get some better ones of all three.

See what I mean.  I think the poor Doctor's candle was not lit proper, or had too much wax in it or something.  That must be fixed!  Though the sky was beautiful!

Insert Totally Awesome Title Here about A Housekeeping Post

Well this post is going to be a housekeeping post.  Bare with me.
I have totally been MIA lately.  The annual meeting/party I was planning for a nonprofit finally happened last Tuesday and went splendidly and that had sucked up most of my time.  But, that is over so I have a lot more free time now.  I started sewing  a dress... I haven't sewn in over a month.  Yikes.  I definitely miss it.

I finally got to wear the permapleated skirt that I got from FabGabs a while back and my new shoes from Urban Outfitters.  I need to figure out how to take it in about an inch or two, because right now it fits right at my hips and not at my waist like it should.  And, I never thought to use our one set of stairs as a place to take pictures.  What do you think?  I guess you can't really see them, but the wall is lined with old family photos.

Last week, my Uncle and his wife came to visit with their new baby girl.  They went with my parents to the Ohio State game and I babysat little Rachael all afternoon.  She is just the sweetest little thing, though she was a little cryie because she was teething. 

I have now started a youtube review site where I am going to be reviewing individual episodes of my favorite sci fi/fantasy shows.  I named it after my etsy store.  Right now I only have an introduction about myself and five episodes of Supernatural up, but I am going to be eventually reviewing the following shows: Doctor Who, Pushing Daisies, Firefly, Legend of the Seeker, Dark Angel, among other shows.  I will also review books I read and scifi/fantasy movies/miniseries like Children of Dune and Serenity.  So if you want to go check it out I would love for you to:D

And, I finally got my pumpkins carved for Halloween this year.  I never really have anywhere to dress up in a costume but I do like to carve a pumpkin or two...or three like I did this year.  Like I said, I go to this awesome sci fi site (I truly am a scifi geek as much as I try to convince myself otherwise) every year where they have scifi/fantasy templates for carving pumpkins.  I like to do things in themes, so I have entitled my pumpkins: A Very Doctor Who Halloween.  I hope you can tell what they are.  I wrote this on my facebook page:  "trying to decide if I like David Tennant or Matt Smith more as The Doctor is like trying to decide whether I'd rather have my chocolate given to me in a cookie or a tuffle"  and its true.  So instead of showing my love for one doctor over the other I just carved both.  I think the David Tennant's 10th Doctor is probably the best.  The middle picture is Matt Smith's 11th Doctor.  And, the last one is a cyberman.  I think that one is a little hard to tell.  I would have liked something a little more iconic like the Daleks, but I took what they had.

I think that is it for now.  I am off to sew, to see if I can get it finished in time for tomorrow.

Daily Outfit

And...my mother's birthday celebration continues!  Church today we had one combined service to send off our retiring senior pastor.  It was quite a lovely service, but very long.  The orchestra played 2 songs, so I was sitting with them the entire time.  I also sang with the choir for the first time this year.

 Because of my respite care job, I have not been able to attend rehearsals.  Boo.  I didn't realize how much I actually missed it until I was up there on stage with my choir friends singing.  I heard from more than one member that they wouldn't mind if I just showed up for the practices we have on Sundays right before the service, so I might just do that.  I do truly love singing.  It is my favorite form of worship.

 After the almost 2 hour service we had today, we had a small family lunch at the nicest place to eat in Marysville.  I ate a yummy Lobster Bisque and sweet potato fries, and it was quite delicious and quite unhealthy, thank you very much.  I don't do healthy, as if you couldn't tell from my ravioli post.

My outfit today I found at an antique mall, where I find most of my clothes.  It is a 1940's party dress.  I love the simple detailing in it, like the gathering under the pockets, and the pink under the black lace.  And I love the silhouette shape of it.

 Welpers, that is it for now.  I'm off to finish season 4 of Doctor Who.  Sad day...David Tennant why did you have to leave (even though I am totally in love with Matt Smith as the new doctor)?  And I am going to decide what I will carve on my pumpkin this year.  I found this totally awesome scifi site (if you like scifi) that has pumpkin carving templates of different characters from scifi shows.  Talk about a difficult decision. 

Suzy Homemaker, The Baking Edition

My mother's birthday was yesterday, and as tradition I made her dinner (well, her, me, and my dad).  I decided to try something I had never done before:  I attempted to make ravioli from scratch.  Pumpkin ravioli to be more specific.  My mother also requested a Pear Gruyere Pie (recipe here), which I had made last on Mother's Day.  I have never made pasta from scratch before, so I ordered a pasta roller just for this occasion, though I know it will be getting much more uses than just today.  When I was searching for a recipe for the pumpkin ravioli and sauce, I found about 11 very different recipes.  So, I picked and chose what sounded good from each and made my own recipe.  It turned out pretty good, though the pasta recipe needed some tweaking.    Here we go:

I would make the pasta up first because it needs to sit for about 30 minutes

2 1/2 Cups Flour

(The recipe I was using called for semolina, but that must be too fancy for my Kroger's to carry)

3 eggs

1 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt

Sift the flour and salt in a bowl.  Make a well in the middle.  In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and olive oil together.  Pour the eggs into the well and slowly incorporate the flour. 

Flour your working surface and knead the dough for about 4 minutes.  Put mixture back in bowl and let sit for 30 minutes. 

After the 30 minutes, flour the dough lightly, knead a few times and then split in half.  Pass the dough through the largest setting of the pasta roller (though you could easily use a rolling pin too).  Continue to pass dough through roller, on successively smaller settings until it is 1/8inch thick.  Make sure to keep your surface floured.  Your two pasta strips should be relatively even in length and width. (I was sort of rubbish with taking pictures of the rest of assembling the ravioli from here on.)

Pumpkin Mixture:

2 carrots, thinly sliced

1/4 C butter

Sage

2 TBSP real maple syrup

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 C shredded parmesan

13 oz 100% pumpkin Puree (my pumpkin can was 15 oz, and I added the remaining pumpkin to the sauce)

1 egg yolk

Ricotta Cheese

Melt the butter in a pan and saute the carrots until soft.  Cut the sage into small pieces and add to the carrots.  Also add the maple syrup, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.  In a separate bowl, mix the pumpkin, ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, and egg yolk.  Add the carrot and spice mixture to the pumpkin mixture and run through the food processor. 

Assembling:

On one strip of pasta, scoop a small amount of pumpkin mixture in two rows.  I made sure my pumpkin mixture scoops were about an inch apart from each other, and at least 5/8 inch away from the edge.  Whisk one egg together and use a baster to spread it on the pasta dough in between each pumpkin scoop as the "glue".  Place the other pasta strip on top and press down slight on the edges and in between each ravioli.  I used a crimper roller to make the final seal and separation of the ravioli, though any cutting tool I think would work.  I had enough to make 21 raviolis, and much more pumpkin mixture to make even more.  Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add the ravioli.  It is done cooking when the ravioli float to the top.

While the water is boiling/cooking the ravioli, make the sauce.

Sauce Recipe:

1 C Heavy Whipping Cream

1/2 C Butter

1/2 C Parmesan cheese

1/2 C Sweet Wine

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp fresh ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 TBSP flour

Salt

Remaining pumpkin

Melt the butter in a sauce pan.  Add the flour and whisk quickly.  Add the cream, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and remaining pumpkin.  Bring to a boil.  Add  the wine and cheese.  Allow to simmer until ready to serve. 

I forgot to take a proper picture of the ravioli and sauce until I was half way through eating, but here is a very messy picture of what it sort of looked like.

Also during this time, I was making a Pear Gruyere Pie.  Oh Pushing Daisies, how I miss thee so much.  I still mourn your adorableness that we lost.  I believe, super duper delectable(I wish you were real) Piemaker Ned and lovely charming (you make me have wardrobe jealousy) Chuck, this is the very best pie you created.  The only thing I adjusted from the recipe I linked in the beginning was that I used about 5 or 6 oz of Gruyere cheese instead of 3 and I used red pears instead of Bartlett Pears.  I really like the nuttiness of the flavor with the pears.  I kind of went mad during this process of trying to make two separate things during the same time.  I spent 6 hours baking today and was super duper tired at the end, but here is a picture tour of said pie making:

(I sliced my lovely finger while cutting the pears.  Lovely)

(The only love of my life)

I really must try to convince sweet baby Dexter that he is not really helpful to me sleeping under foot while I'm baking.  It truly is not convenient and I continually accidentally step on him and then feel horrid for the rest of the day.  But it is lovely to know he will always be my little faithful companion, even when I'm baking human food. 

 

Pendleton 60's Men Shirt: Estate Sale

Sun, I Almost Forgot About You

Is it sunny and warm where you are?  Jeepers, I thought it was forever Autumn now, but the weather decided to back track on that idea this weekend.  Goodness me, has it been nice the last few days.  I do so hope and wish it to continue, though I know it won't.  I felt a little odd wearing pink and white check dress in October because it is so cheery and summery, yet October is usually so gloomy and fall-ish.

 I only realized this morning that I don't have any white shoes.  Yes, I know the rule of no white after labor day, but honestly...who created that rule and why.  Why can't I wear white after the beginning of September.  It's still Summery in September.  Stupid rule.

I don't usually do my hair in a 60's style, but my dress was definitely a homemade 60's special (that I had to basically resew because all the seams had come undone).  So, I pulled out my handy dandy vintage hairstyling book that I know everyone has and found the Receptionist (I believe) hairstyle.

Well, it called for large hot rollers, and I only have about 6 large hot rollers, and I am always pressed for time in the morning before church, so I set it in Velcro medium sized curlers last night.  Don't ask me how I slept in them, I'm really not sure myself.

Plus my bangs are at this awful length where they are about and inch or so below my eyes, so its too long to have down and too short to tuck behind my ear.  It gets quite annoying, so if anyone has any tips on what to do with the bangs please let me know.  I followed the instructions pretty closely, though I have lost my rat tail comb, so I had to use a normal comb to tease the sections.  My hair isn't quite long enough to actually do a full twist so I had to kind of make up some of the embellishments as I went along.  I don't think it turned out too bad.

Now I need to get back to sewing.  I have my own beautiful (and still relatively neat) sewing room to use, and I haven't really sewed anything in weeks.  I must be sick or something.  That never happens.  I also finally cleaned out a section of the closet that was holding about 14 years worth of dance costumes and 4-H sewing projects...that was a job.  Speaking of job, I think I mentioned I got a temporary respite care job about 4 weeks ago.  I was under the impression that it was only going to last about 6 weeks, but the mom just told me she wants to keep me permanently.  Yay!  It is in the evenings and is a very relaxed environment and pretty easy job, so I was super excited about that.  Even if I find a full time job instead of my other 2 part time jobs, I will still be able to do the respite care job.  That's all my news for now, I believe....oh wait.  What's everyone going to be for Halloween.  I'm not sure if I am actually going to have anywhere to go on Halloween, but it's fun to think up a costume.  And, I listed about 25 different sewing patterns in my store if you like to sew, check them out.