Happy Zombie

… that he wanted to come visit me. My little birdie friend is named Oscar, and he visits me via his 5th grade boy Cole. Oscar is traveling all over the globe for Cole’s class project at The Overlake School in Redmond, Washington. Cole’s class project is called, “Travel Owls”. The school’s mascot is an owl.

Oscar’s visit to Astoria was full of excitement, fun and learning new things - like quilting and blogging. Oscar would like to write his first blog post and will be guest blogging for me today. Oscar… take it away!

My very first blog post! And I did it on an Apple. Shhhh. Can’t let anyone back up in Redmond know that I’ve used a Mac. My host made me do it. Just saying.

Anyhoo…  AnyWhooWhoo…

I carry with me a passport and travel journal. There are lots of interesting facts about me, as well is important stuff my host family needs to know about while I visit with them. Like my allergies. Since I am allergic to canned tomatoes and soy milk, I will never get to taste the soy milk tomatoccino smoothie my host Monica made for me. Oh darn. I arrived in Astoria, Oregon with a passport stamped full of the exciting places I’ve been, and the wonderful friends I’ve met there - The Long Beach Peninsula, Washington; the island of Maui, Hawai’i; Bend, Oregon and most recently, from sunny Orlando, Florida.

It was quite the climate change from sunny Orlando to cold, wet Astoria. My host Monica thought it might be a good idea to warm me up with a cozy quilt, and thought I would enjoy making it myself. My host taught me how to design, draft and cut. Well… she did the cutting for me. That rotary cutter is heck-a SHARP. I picked out some really yummy green fabric (it’s my favorite color).

My host suggested I add in some blue - this way I could show my team spirit should I ever go to a Mariner’s game with Cole, as well as keep warm at Safeco - cuddled in my quilt.

Look at me, look at me! I’m sewing! This is so easy, I just don’t know what all the fuss is about. Easy McCheezie.

Ooops. I spoke to soon. Why. Why. Why. Why did I sew those two pieces with the wrong sides together. Something else new to learn… how to use the seam ripper.

Sewing and quilting was fun, but I needed to go out and spread my wings a bit. My host and I met up with friends Robin and Karen (aka Cole’s Aunt Karen) for some antiquing at Farmhouse Funk and lunching at the Cannery Cafe, both in Astoria. Antiquing is fun, but boy is it exhausting!

The yummy Red Room at Farmhouse Funk. Bet you can’t find me in this photo!

Seriously. I bet you can’t find me. My host didn’t get me in the shot. I think she was too busy being under the influence of cute stuff to pay proper attention to my photographic needs.

Lunch time! Sniff. Sniff. What’s this??? Mmmm. Krumkake.

Cole’s Aunt Karen gives me a bite. Mmm… lingonberries. They remind me of Sweden, where I was born.

With lunch time over, it’s time for me to protect and serve the county I’m being hosted in. Evil doers beware. Deputy Oscar is on patrol.

So this is what riding shotgun means.

“One Adam 12. One Adam 12.”… I have no idea what that means, but my host dared me to say it over the radio.

With the county all safe and secure, now it’s time for me to guard the coast for a bit.

Ensign Oscar, reporting for duty.

This is my kind of flying!

That was my big adventure in Astoria. My host has more photos of me in a flickr set here. In a few days I’ll be going back home to Cole. I’ve missed him so much and can’t wait to tell him about all of my most excellent travel adventures. Hmm… I wonder if Cole will have adventure stories of his own to tell me???

Trying to play catch-up, but I keep landing on the Sidetrack Express.  Sidetracking instead of working… something in the paper caught my eye.  I took it as a sign…

and then I declared it Staff Appreciation Day!

Be good to your “staff” too! Seriously.

Idol chatter… I gotta talk about American Idol. Just gotta. I see stars! What an amazing group this year (and some not so amazing to me - Cruella de Rocker). I adore David, though last night’s performance wasn’t his best I thought, bummer - but I trust he’ll bounce back. I also think Brooke was amazing and I think she’s got a pure and true love for singing. I had leaky-eye listening and watching her (and I loved how she took a shoe off to play the piano… just like most of us do when we sew on the sewing machine!). Loved Chikezie’s performance, song and style! Plus, I have a fantasy he’ll make it really big and will take on a duet partner named Macaroni. My other faves are Carley, Michael and Jason. I like Syesha too, and think she’s as cute as a button. She’s Hello Kitty come to life (you’re shakin’ your head agreeing with me).

I’ve been meaning to post about my quilt in the latest issue of Quilts & More, but have been under the weather with that cold that’s going around. You’ve either had it, are having it or you’re about to have it. It’s a doooooozie! Luckily I have my very own publicist and cheerleader who cheered me on even before I got an issue myself (how does Pam always get things first???!). Giant mahalos to my other cheerleaders on the squad too. Thank you Nanna Jamma, Cyndi, Connie, Lisa, Wendy, Anna, Vickie and Amy!

I see stars… do you? Maybe if you click on my graph drawing you can see them. Q&M has named my quilt Spice is Nice (which I think is a great name), but I’ve named my quilt Peek-a-Boo Stars. I love the fabs I used, but kinda hard to see the stars hiding in there. Olly olly oxen free!

Another change made for the issue was going from row construction instruction to block construction instruction (makes me wanna sing Conjunction Junction, what’s your function after typing that). For this quilt I set it using row construction. Much easier to get the stars where they belong and still keep all the hair on your head. If you look at my graph drawing, you can see my row setting. E-z cheezy, macaroni and chikezie.

And other stars… some hometown loggers are starring in AxMen on the History Channel. I’ve been obessed watching the loggers log the storm damaged forest across the street from me, and now I can watch on tv some other parts of Clatsop County being logged too. Who knew loggers would be tv stars! Well, I did, actually.

Hmmm… interesting epiphany of mine. Thom Beers the creator of Deadliest Catch and AxMen… features many of our local fishermen and loggers - just like our local high school mascots… Astoria Fishermen, Ilwaco Fishermen and Knappa Loggers. Are the Seaside Gulls next? Sorry Mr. Beers… I beat you to the punch. Ga-head, the Tillamook Cheesemakers are all yours.

Feeling a little Perez Hiltonishy with this post.  And now I must nap.

I made bagels. Real bagels! Bagels that taste like I remembered from Bagel King in Walnut Creek a lifetime ago. I base every bagel I ever try to the Bagel King bagels, and so far nothing compares (Noah’s comes close). I live where krumkake and lutefisk are as common as bagels in NYC - so finding a good bagel in my area that comes even remotely close to my Bagel King comparison is non existent. Until now - and it’s right out of my own oven.

When I saw this post over at My Paper Crane, I just KNEW I had to try it. And check out that carrot cake she’s got too. Way too advanced for my limited cooking and baking skills… but it’s sure darn pretty to look at!

Not being one to follow directions, I used regular flour instead of bread flour (didn’t even know there was such a thing). You’re also supposed to kneed the dough for 15 minutes. Yeah. I gave it 5. But no matter… it all worked out for me!

Newest member of the staff - Henrietta. Isn’t she cute! She’s an egg cooker thingamabob. Way cool and she makes perfect soft, medium and hard boiled eggs. I really miss my chickens, so Henrietta is doing the egg thing for me now. Henrietta inspects the just rolled bagels. She’s got that I danno… they don’t look like bagels to me look.

Time to tuck in the bagels for a nap. I let them sleep for almost an hour, and then gave them a boiling quick bath right before they went in the oven.

Someone wanted to help… and make a flat bagel.

Golden and happy. Happy bagels. Happy me.

Omega 3 bliss. I was too eager to eat this that I skipped the tomatoes and the poor-man’s-caviar (capers).

If I can make these bagels… ANYONE can!  Ga head… lick your monitor. No one’s looking. Guten appétit!