home life – marginalia and such

Or, what happens when I go on a painting and crafting frenzy. Really, apartment therapy and DIY goodness was the goal of my holiday break and I think it was a task well done. Some of you gentle readers may recall last year’s post on moving out and moving in… and all the IKEA fun that ensued. Well, I’m not planning on moving anytime within the foreseeable future, so some decorating and freshening up was in order. My color scheme: Valspar paints in Exaltation, Paramount White, and Brushed Lavender.

This whole project required more paint than I imagined, but that was due to the highly porous nature of my walls, rather than the actual size of the rooms oh well, work with what you can.

It’s small and a bit cluttered (a bit? ha!) but it’s full of comforts, books, and kitty cat love [note: kitty cat rules all. just look at all those cat toys… and by cat toys, I mean random junk he enjoys playing with in the middle of the night].

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Little things everywhere…

My kitchen counter still needs work, but at least I have a table now and can shift stuff around.

I’ve been painting stuff I already owned and adding personal touches on the cheap to perk up the decorating, which led to a round of Sharpie-inspired crafting. The & is on the door to my tiny linen closet, while the G hangs outside my bedroom door.

Don’t mind the off-centeredness of the type in the framed quotes, I’ve never been known for managing straight lines while drawing.

My writing and reading corners are both in my bedroom (it’s not a short desk, my bed is just ridiculously tall).

Yes, that is an ancient iPod from many moons ago atop the shelf. I’m cheap and careful with my stuffs.

So this is what I do when I’m not worrying about work or writing….

I started my meal prep yesterday… I’m going for a small, alternative Thanksgiving feast.

My menu: Turkey Lasagna with Spinach and Pumpkin Tiramisu

I made a few alterations, adding cream sherry instead of rum to the tiramisu, and some red peppers and olives to the lasagna’s meat sauce, but stuck to the rest of the ingredients.

The tiramisu is extremely easy to make, just takes some time for the whipping cream to turn into… well… cream. Other than that, it’s just a matter of layering it all nice and pretty 🙂

I used my trifle dish instead of the springform pan listed in the recipe, and sprinkled chopped pecans instead of cookies for the presentation.

I just finished the meat sauce for the main dish, but I’m going to prepare the layers later today and then cart myself over to my mom’s house for the actual baking. Should be quite impressive when it’s all put together.

Here’s the sauce… it’s a lot thicker than I expected, which is good. I was concerned that it would be too watery.

And because I can’t help myself, there will be a traditional pumpkin pie… just waiting to bake it at my mom’s place. There will also be some extra dishes courtesy of the boy.