Librocubicularist March 2017

For whatever reason, it feels like this month has just flown by. I know part of the reason is that so much of the beginning part was filled with preparations for the big Pi Day party but it still seems crazy how fast it has gone. Not a lot of crafting has been going on although did buy supplies for a few new things, including finally getting an album for scrapbooking (even though I posted about making my first pocket page over a year ago). The husband bear and I have also been keeping ourselves entertained by discussing a pair of married Dungeons and Dragons character who have a follower that acts as a nanny for their children. I'm still not involved in a game right now but we are attempting to negotiate something. At the moment I'm just amused to think about ways that DnD skills could be used to entertain children. Currently, the nanny is a bard with perform- storytelling and singing for lullabies. I've also been working hard to gather Magikarp candy during the special water event this past week in the hopes that I can evolve a Gyarados without keeping a Magikarp buddy for forever.



How to Celebrate Everything: Recipes and Rituals for Birthdays, Holidays, Family Dinners, and Every Day In Between by Jenny Rosenstrach

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


How to Celebrate Everything is about creating your own rituals for everything from widely recognized holidays, to birthdays, to celebrations that are completely made up and unique to your family. As it is mainly a cookbook it focuses on making connections and memories through food. There is an entire chapter devoted to ways to make regular everyday dinners more meaningful. Also included is a birthday chapter, with suggestions for birthday breakfasts, cakes, and special dinners. There's even a short section about hosting kids birthday parties complete with game and craft ideas. Every ritual and recipe has a description of how it came to be a part of their family's story so that you can get ideas of where to create rituals for your own family. While I understand that technically my husband and I count as a 'family' and can and should have our own rituals, this book makes me really wish that we had kids.


Soup Swap: Comforting Recipes to Make and Share by Kathy Gunst

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The premise of this book is really interesting. It offers tips and suggestions for hosting regular soup swap parties. It sounds like a great way to share food with friends and try new soups. The basics are that everyone brings a soup to share and ends up with leftovers for later, a great way to have a variety of warm winter soups without so much cooking. The fact that I already own several cookbooks focused on soup means that I already had recipes for most of the types of soup. However, the tips for toppings, sides, and transporting the soups are pretty cool. Grilled cheese croutons sound particularly tasty and awesome.

Thug Kitchen: The Official Cookbook: Eat Like You Give a F*ck by Thug Kitchen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The first thing that you need to know about this book should be obvious from the title, there is going to be cursing. In order to enjoy this book, you need to be alright with it, or at least able to overlook it and get on with your life. Once you are able to either embrace it or look past it there is a ton of great stuff in here. Thug Kitchen is all about how to eat healthier and the recipes in this book are completely vegan. It includes basic information about how to cook a variety of grains and tofu. We are most definitely not vegan but certainly could use some healthier recipes. Some of the recipes just aren't going to make it into our rotation, there's just something off to me about enchiladas without meat and no way I can convince my husband to switch to biscuits and lentil gravy for breakfast. Other things, like the soups and spinach mushroom lasagna sound really good. Several of the breakfast or dessert recipes only change from regular milk to non-dairy milk. If that's all it takes to make a start eating healthier than that seems like a good idea. One final thing here, this book is funny. It is filled with little things to make you laugh such as calling salads, plant nachos. I need more plant nachos in my life.

Eat Like a Gilmore: The Unofficial Cookbook for Fans of Gilmore Girls by Kristi Carlson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


If you are a fan of the Gilmore Girls series and food, then this is the cookbook you've been waiting for. It provides recipes to recreate your favorite recipes from the show. Each recipe is marked with an icon showing where it is served, most are either made by Sukie for the inn or Luke's dinner. Between the two there are a generous amount of delicious sounding breakfast options. Also included are meals from Sunday night dinners at Emily's and around the town. The recipe that I'm most interested in is the chocolate chocolate chocolate ice cream from Taylor's ice cream shop.

Top Secret Recipes Unlocked: All New Home Clones of America's Favorite Brand-Name Foods by Todd Wilbur

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Not as many recipes I was interested in this volume. There are quite a few Starbucks copycat recipes if you're interested in that but I'm not a big fan. Also lots of burgers which I rarely feel like I need a recipe to re-create.


While I was putting this post together I realized that the books I had done extensive reviews for made it seem like all I read this month was cookbooks and that's really not the case. Here are some other things I've finished this month.


Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a story about hunting for hidden books and secret codes. The characters are fans of an imaginary game called Book Scavenger and discover a new game. Book Scavenger sounds like it would be super fun to play if it existed in real life. Players hide books for others to find using clues. There are references to many codes and codebreaking methods mentioned in the book and it would be a great starting point for a kid who wants to learn about creating their very own secret code.



Make Your Own Ideabook with Arne & Carlos: Create Handmade Art Journals and Bound Keepsakes to Store Inspiration and Memories by Arne Nerjordet

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This book has instructions for how to make very simple scrapbooks or journals. It includes a variety of ideas for how to use the books such as garden journals, records for family tree research.


Mr. Ferris and His Wheel by Kathryn Gibbs Davis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede

My rating: 4 of 5 stars






As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes

My rating: 4 of 5 stars





Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files: Wild Card by Jim Butcher

My rating: 3 of 5 stars






The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Beats Up the Marvel Universe by Ryan North

My rating: 5 of 5 stars






Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu

My rating: 4 of 5 stars






Apparently, I feel like I've been in a bit of a food rut, hopefully, we are heading into warmer weather and can change things up a bit. I do have some ideas for my next project in the works and plan to be more productive over the next few months. Wish me luck in sticking to that resolution.

Pi Day 2017

The last two week have been a bit crazy, both in terms of busyness and weather. Last week we were having beautiful sunny days, tempatures in the 70's, and flowers starting to bloom everywhere. Then last Monday we had storms roll in complete with high winds, crazy lighting, and tornados in the area. Some parts of town lost power, including my husband's office. I was super worried because I had visited our local library to start the 3D print of our trophy for Pi Day and their internet went out while I was there. The print took 8 hours and I kept my fingers crossed that they wouldn't lose power overnight. (Everything turned out okay and it printed great.) Finally, we woke up on Saturday to find it snowing. Suprisingly enough this is actually pretty typical weather for us durning this time of year so we are well prepared for the sudden changes.

Just to clarify, in reference to the above photos, tornado warnings aren't something to be thankful for but they are a sign of the coming spring and I am definitly looking forward to some warmer weather. As long as it stays nice out, I can let Gil play in the backyard while I sew or work on other crafts without worrying about him grabing things he shouldn't have or feeling gulity about keeping him in his kennel.

As far as the busyness these past weeks, we started out with 3D printing our party favors the weekend of the 26th. Unlike other years where each person got their own glass, this years favors were one per household so we didn't need nearly as many, thank goodness. We were also printing favors on March 5th during the library's Stay Home and Read a Book Ball. I ended up forgetting to share it at the time but I did snap this photo while reading with the cat before heading out for lunch and our printing appointment.

 Then there was a bunch of shopping and general party preparations, including getting the house cleaned up. Our house never looks as good as it does right before a party, its enought to make me think we need to have them more regulaly just to help keep things from getting cluttered up again. Then there was also the overnight printing for the trophy, plus sanding it a bit to smooth things out and painting.

Our third annual Pi Day was a success, even though I was decorating cookies right up to the start time and we had a cookie set that didn't get made at all. We made Pi sugar cookies and had planned to make some coconut cutout cookies using a d20 cookie we also 3D printed.

Favors and the trophy, dubbed the Irrational award, were on display as guests entered, along with paper and pens for guest book notes that I plan to add to a scrapbook page about the event soon.

We had a vast array of drinks including Health and Mana Potion Punch. For anyone who's curious they are really easy. The health potion was a jug of berry blend juice, and one bottle each of lemon and lime flavored sparkling water. The mana potion had a bottle of coconut sparkling water (really suprised actually at how much coconut flavor it had), a large can of pineapple juice, and a 2 liter bottle of blue raspberry Fanta. (Altough I did add a bit of blue food coloring to make it bluer, it would have been alright without it, just a greenish aqua blue.)

We had pizza and breadsticks delivered to go with the cookies and pretzel bites that we'd made. This was supplemented by other foods provided by guests.

We had several games set out but the star of the show was Superfight. It's the game that we used to determine who would become Pi Day Champion and win the Irrational Award. Here are some of our more memorable matches.

This one got a bit blurry but its Darth Vader with two extra arms and is a horder vs a swarm of killer bees that are radioactive and use the force.

We didn't play this exactly according to rules because instead of seeing who was left standing at the end, we kept score of how many rounds each fighter lasted. The idea was that way if people wanted to drop in and out of the game they could still be equally in the running. We hadn't started with a concrete plan of how long we were going to play but decide mid-way to play first to 10 rounds wins. Everyone played the entire time, about two hours, and had a great time.

Our winner for the evening received the trohpy and a $10 gift card to Village Inn to stop by for pie.

Everyone left with their own Pi cookie cutter as a party favor.

We actually let the cats and dog stay out for much of the party, which is an unusual thing for us. Everyone went to private rooms during the main pizza eating but were free for much of the rest. There were only a few instances of needed to scare a cat away from the table to prevent spilled cookies and Gil did minimum jumping up on guests. He did crowd his way on the couch to attempt to give puppy kisses quite a bit. Overall though I was pleased with how well behaved they all were.

Hey, what's that you're eating? Can I have some?

Happy Pi Day everyone enjoy your celebrations and whatever nice weather might come your way!

Librocubicularist February 2017

I have to admit that I haven't read much this month. The bronchitis made me want to do nothing but sleep and take hot baths to try and help my muscles relax after all the coughing. After that, I feel like I've been playing catch up with my life. Laundry that didn't get done, all the thing that needed doing for our Pi Day party (still feel like I'm running behind on this), plus, it started to get warm and we have yard work that needs serious time and attention. But here are a few things I did manage to read and quick reviews. I really hope that March is a better month around here, that we can be a bit more intentional about what we do and how we spend our time for a more productive, meaningful month.



Table Manners: How to Behave in the Modern World and Why Bother by Jeremiah Tower

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This was a surprisingly interesting read. There's a large discussion about social media and when it is acceptable to use and when it's not. There is also a section titled 'Pretentious or Not' which was funny and entertaining. There are also funny exceptions, like the fact that it may be okay to slather a warm muffin with butter and eat half of it in one bite just because warm muffins are fantastic and other people will understand.

LEGO Star Wars: Small Scenes from a Big Galaxy by Vesa Lehtimäki

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is basically an art book full of Star Wars Lego photos. They are scenes set on Tatooine, Hoth, and Endor. There are captions for each photo that discuss the techniques used to create the effects in the pictures, such as how the artist created falling snow.


Sneaky Art: Crafty Surprises to Hide in Plain Sight by Marthe Jocelyn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A fun little book about making art so that you can sneak in and hide it to surprise people and brighten their day. Most of the projects are super simple and use only a few supplies. I like that it makes a point of stating that sneaky art is 100% removable, that it doesn't damage or harm the place where it's placed at all. I think that finding one of these projects hidden somewhere would make me smile and that that smile could inspire a little artist to make more stuff and that'd be awesome.

What happened here?

I don't know what happened to the end of January, seriously it just blew by. I made the giant list of projects to try to make decisions about what to work on next a bit easier but then my spare time seemed to evaporate. I know that January's final week was spent preparing my husband for a sudden business trip. He needed a bag and a haircut and who know what all other little things we had to rush to get ready. Then he was gone for most of the next week which, in theory, should have given me loads of spare time to do stuff. What really happened is that I felt sorry for our puppy and couldn't bring myself to but him to bed for craft time when he was feeling a bit stressed by the situation. Gil actually did really well with the separation except for checking outside several extra times a day looking for someone.

I wasn't completely idle in that week, though. I did some work getting ready for our Pi Day party, working on invitations and such but I don't want to share that here until closer to the event. I also downloaded the Project Life app and tried it out, making a quick page about Gil and I hanging out watching tv together.

I had lots of things I was going to work on but then Gil was doing so well and getting along with the cats and I didn't want to make him go to bed just for me to sew. The second week of February I was going to start sewing my Wonder Woman shorts but for some reason, I didn't do it at the beginning of the week. I also intended to try making a hat for our bear head to wear on Pi Day but then at the end of the week, I got sick. I spent all weekend achy and coughing and finally went to the doctor on Tuesday to find out I have Bronchitis.

I am finally starting to feel better but still get tired if I try to do anything real active for a long time. I have about a week of antibiotics left to take but I'm not coughing anywhere near as much. I can also sleep in my regular position instead of propped up almost sitting and I can eat and drink without it making my throat hurt.

Librocubicularist- January 2017

This time of year is always slow for me, things at work aren't as busy and my hours end up being cut way back. Yet somehow I never seem to get anything done. I had three full days off last week and it seems like I accomplished nothing but doing laundry. Granted, it was a giant pile of laundry but that doesn't really make it feel any more productive. I think that the combination of needing time alone to recover from the bustle of the holidays and daydreaming about things that I hope to accomplish in the new year prevent any actual forward momentum.

However, I've noticed one area where I seem to excel during this season and that's reading. It's a combination of having time to finish everything I started reading at Christmas but was too busy to actually complete and, as mentioned before the need for quiet, introverted time.

Sticky Fingers: DIY Duct Tape Projects - Easy to Pick Up, Hard to Put Down by Sophie Maletsky

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I checked this out because I was curious about all the duct tape stuff and I've never made any. This book has a fairly extensive section about basic techniques such as make strips and fabric, also various types of closures you can add. Then there are a ton of different projects you can make. As someone in my late 30's I doubt that I'm going to start carrying a purse made of duct tape but some of them are kind of cute. I'd be most likely to use the instruction for smaller things like flowers for the end of a pen or a desk organizer. However, even though I'm not super interested in the projects I still think that this book is well done and the instructions seem good and easy to follow so if you're interested in making your own tape creations it's definitely worth a look.


Cat Castles: 20 Cardboard Habitats You Can Build Yourself by Carin Oliver

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a great little book about building cat houses from cardboard. It covers everything from regular cat towers and scratchers to rockets and pirate ships, and even an actual castle for your kitties. Everything looks fairly easy to build and really sturdy. The only thing I question is how well they'd hold up to my nearly 20-pound cat, particularly those with multiple levels. Overall I really feel like they would hold up well and last a reasonable amount of time compared to the time they take to build. That being said I probably won't be making on anytime soon, mostly because I feel like my dog would try to eat the box and wreck everything... He really is why the poor cats can't have nice things...but he seems to be at least starting to grow out that phase.


Artist's Journal Workshop: Creating Your Life in Words and Pictures by Cathy Johnson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The first couple of chapters deal with figuring out what you want out of a journal: what do hope to get out of keeping one?, how often will you write/draw in it?, what will you write about, etc. This section also contains ideas about what format or book style you might like and supplies to try out. There are examples of journal pages provided to show different results using each material.
The second section deals with different types of journals you can keep from nature or travel journals to integrated journals where everything mixes together. There are numerous examples and ideas of what kinds of thing to include for each type.
The final section is all about tying everything together. It provides tips for keeping yourself motivated and evaluating what's working for you and what's not.
The whole book is filled with examples of pages created by a variety of artists, which I think is really helpful in an introductory book like this because it showcases multiple styles. It can be easy to feel defeated by a new project sometimes if your results don't match up with what's pictured and I think seeing multiple people's take on a project can relieve some of the pressure leave you freer to experiment with your own ideas. There is also a fairly extensive resources section at the back that includes information about all the artist who contributed and where to see more of their work as well as listing other books about journaling. The final bit to mention is that this book has extra content available online where you can download PDFs of extended interviews with some of the contributing artists.


World of Warcraft: The Official Cookbook by Chelsea Monroe-Cassel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Nearly everything in this book looks delicious (not a big fan of seafood in general). While I did play Warcraft for a little while it wasn't long enough for any of the foods to make a big impression on me. My husband, however, has played almost continually for a very long time and he vouches for the fact that they are accurate, at least as far a possible for 'imaginary' foods.

I guess that I haven't been completely ignoring my crafting goals. In the last few weeks, I've been looking for tips for sewing with knits since I have two separate projects I'd like to make with knit fabric but have never sewn with it before. I've also looked up what exactly a capsule wardrobe is even though I don't REALLY need to know. I have plans to make a mini vacation wardrobe so that I can feel like I'll look good in pictures without having to stress over what to wear each day. I just was curious to know the actual definition before I claim to have created one. So now I know and I'm working on figuring out what I have that works together and what I want to sew. I know that part of what I want is to sew the DC Bombshells version of the Wonder Woman costume. I doubt that I'd wear it as the whole thing together on vacation but the shorts could be cute with a tank top or one of my Wonder Woman tees. At least there are some things in the planning stage if no actual physical progress on anything yet.

Crafting Resolutions

With the start of the new year, it's time to reflect on the past and make plans for the future. I started the Eclectic Otter almost two years ago as part of a new year's resolution to ACTUALLY finish some of the many crafting projects I had purchased materials for and either never completed or in some cased even started. I hoped that the need to have something to write about would provide some much-needed motivation and accountability for me. This past year I've completed several craft projects for our pets that were new additions to the ever growing craft to do list and checked off a large project by finishing the Zelda string art that was previously only a vague idea in my head. I also had the opportunity to help my husband decorate his cube for Christmas and we turned it into a Hoth themed winter wonderland.

 It's hard to tell in this picture but there are snowflake ornaments hanging from the ceiling. One the shelf on the left we have Lego Minifigures around the Christmas tree, plus a wampa of Perler beads in the background. Snow blanket on the desk and icicle trim on the shelf along with the icicle lights, complete the theme.

There's also a Lego snow speeder, Perler AT-AT, and some festive signs. Oh, and the Vader mug that's always there.

I've spent the last few weeks trying to get my thoughts into some kind of order concerning my goals for which projects I want to tackle in the upcoming year. I admit that I'm still a bit at a loss. I have a stash of fabric that continues to grow because it's hard to pass up cute prints when you work at the fabric store and see them daily. I have several things that I bought without a plan for I wanted to make. I'd really like to make a dent in the stack since it's starting to take up more room than I have available for storage but I don't feel like sewing posts are particularly entertaining for people to read. Of course, the other side of the argument is that I'm keeping the blog for my own motivation not the entertainment of others. Although, I am thinking of making a mini wardrobe for an upcoming vacation that might become Wonder Woman themed so that could be interesting if it works out.

I also have plans to try and rebind one of my husband's old Eye of the World books and try out some new techniques such as marbling my own paper. I also want to finish redoing our little entryway nook but that's also a bit cost prohibitive because I feel like I need some new tools to really do it right. So right now those are my very general craft goals for the year. As part of the reflection process, I saw someone on one of my Facebook groups talk about reviewing the books they've read and choosing a top and bottom five for the year. I like that idea and think I might make a list for my book post this month.

In other news, our pup, Gilgamesh Wuffenbark, had his first Christmas and also turned one over the weekend. He got a peanut butter and jelly filled bone and brand new tennis ball for his birthday.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and wonderful new year.

Christmas Librocubicularist 2016

Since Christmas day was Sunday I am posting a day late. We had a great time. I worked on Christmas Eve and then we spent the whole day Sunday doing nothing. We exchanged presents in the morning, including a gift for Gilgamesh's first Christmas, had brunch, and watched movies all day (the final Harry Potter movies and Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer). I got a couple of ponies and a Lego mini figure pack, a Wonder Woman decal, the Jurassic World pack for Lego Dimensions, and angry panda socks to wear when I'm having a bad day all in my stocking. Then I got a cool coloring book and the best otter shirt ever as gifts from my wonderful husband. Plus a gift card to get a pretty book from Barnes and Noble, there is also a Zelda phone wallet still coming in the mail.

I'm upset because I have a few days off in a row and ended up with a sore throat. I'm trying to sleep and rest and feel better but it doesn't seem fair that I have to spend my holidays sick. It's extra frustrating because I can't keep a kleenex around without the dog trying to eat it. Then Monday we had Christmas dinner with my brother and sister in law and their roommate. We grilled the turkey and it turned out awesome. From them, I got a Wonder Woman coloring book and a LOTR Lego pack with Gimli.

Anne of Green Gables Cookbook by Kate Macdonald

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This cookbook is a collection of recipes that Anne made for various teas throughout the books. It starts out with some cooking tips and an overview of cooking terms. While I probably won't be making tea biscuits or raspberry cordial anytime soon the recipes seem easy to follow and good for kids to try. For me, this book is mostly about fond memories for the books. The cookbook is sprinkled with quotations from Anne and others in the series.


Cattastic Crafts: DIY Project for Cats and Cat People by Mariko Ishikawa

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book contains fairly simple crafts to make for your cats such as catnip mice or small shirts. My favorite cat project is a cat tower designed like nesting end tables, so you can spread it out to give your cats more room to play or stack it together to make room when you have company over for dinner. There is also a section of things to make for yourself that either look like cats (cat shaped tissue cozy) or use pictures of cats (cat t-shirts).

365 Things to Do with LEGO Bricks by Simon Hugo

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book has all sorts of cool things to do with Lego bricks. There are games you can make for both single or multi-player, as well as building challenges you can try. There are all sorts of things you can build for yourself such as a weekly planner that uses mini figures for each member of the family and a working mini battleship game. There are accessories for your home, some more practical than others. There's a desk organizer that looks very useful but also a kitchen utensil holder that makes me cringe a bit when I think of trying to keep it clean. There are also various Lego contraptions to make which sound like they'd be super fun for kids. Heck, I'm 37 and I think a paper airplane launcher would be fun to play with so it should be even better for kids. Overall, I think if you are a fan of Lego that this book will provide you with plenty of inspiring ways to use for collection.

DIY String Art: 24 Designs to Create and Hang by Jesse Dresbach

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book starts out with a very nice overview of materials, tips to prepare your board and pattern, and even a few creative tips for planning out your design. After that, it runs through 24 projects, each with a pattern you can print. They are rated in difficulty from 1 at the beginner level to 3 for more complex projects at the end of the book. The basic designs tend to be either outlines or filled shapes, while the harder projects include spirograph style circles and spirals.