krismulkey.com

I started blogging one year ago today. It started with a blog about pork chops. 249 posts later I'm still here. And still pretty much just writing for a handful of folks, but I love it anyway. Thanks to my friends and family for humoring me by showing up every once in a while. I love you all! -Kris PS. Please scroll down to the Book Club post. You don't want to miss the link to the BEST FROSTING EVER!!

 4/1/10 Book Club Update:  my good friend Kerry, who teaches 3rd grade in Connecticut, just told me this is a 5th grade level book. Oops. She asked who picked it out. Uh, that would be me and Elli. What do we know?  So now I am SUPER DUPER PROUD of Elli for finishing it. She's a rock star!!   We successfully hosted book club at our house last Sunday. So now I can quit stressing about it. First, Elli and I had to finish reading the book we picked ( Mrs. Frisby and the rats of NIMH .) It was a great story and we really enjoyed reading it together. However, it was kind of long, and a little bit hard for Elli to read and understand. So it took F-O-R E-V-E-R to read. It was painfully slow sometimes. I admit, I read a few chapters outloud just to speed up the process. Only two of the six girls actually finished the book. That's not good. That means the book was a tad hard for everyone. I have no regrets picking it though, because everyone, mom's and daughter's...

Last Saturday we spent the day at Pollin's (our store) getting the showroom organized. We get tons of new fabric samples all the time and we only have so much space. So we had to decide what is in and what is out . This is not a fun activity for Elli, or the dogs, but they were there, hanging with us, even taking in some sun out front. Now, we have tons of pillows at the store that Elli could use to rest her weary head. But none are as cuddly as Mr. Sam, though. Elli and Sam are buds. He has a lot of patience. Lots of patience. He would probably let let her lie there all day, Ok, Sammy. Let's go. Want a dog like Sam? Go to Golden Gate Lab Rescue to see how you can adopt a fabulous lab just like Sammy.

Today is going to be one of those days. I can just feel it. It's already been a little strange. Most of it has nothing to do with me. But I can feel it in my gut. Something is in the air. This morning I saw a lovely gentleman, driving a Bentley, drop off his daughter at school. I can just imagine the conversation this morning. "Good morning, Sissy." "Good morning, father." "Should we take the Bentley this morning? he says. "That sounds lovely father, should we call someone to bring it out front for us?" "Of course dear, now gather your things. It's time to go to school." Ok. Ok. I know what you're thinking. She's lost it. And maybe I have. Because these are the conversations that go on in my head. Really they do. And now I've written it down and shared it with you. This is definitely cause for concern. So after this conversation ended. (The one inside my head.) Another one started. I'm still in t...

Last week we bought eight new tires. Why is it that everything always wears out at the same time? Both cars needed four new tires at the same time.  Actually, that's not quite true. We pushed it to the max with the tires. I was starting to see stuff in the rubber that you're not supposed to see. Zoinks. We don't normally wait that long to replace important things like tires. But our cars don't take just any old tire (of course) so we had to wait until we could afford all that rubber. I was driving around holding my breath - which is totally not cool, and slightly exaggerated. But true nonetheless. So we made the purchase. And now we're eating bread and butter for the next four weeks. Just kidding. (I'm giving Elli some turkey on her bread.) The weird and funny thing was how happy Don and I were to have our new tires. Relieved mostly, but happy. We don't have to worry about what could happen driving to Napa on tread-less tires. Life has been ve...

This weekend I made homemade granola for the first time. Wow, was it good. I found the recipe on TheKitchn , one of my favorite sites for recipes and kitchen ideas. They got the recipe from Melissa Clark , a New York Times columnist. Now here I am sharing it with you! It is so easy and tasty. And you can totally make it your own with whatever ingredients you have, or with what you like. Because that's what I did and it works. It's sweet, crunchy, and full of yummy flavor. Don poured himself a bowl and we had to pry it out of his hands. It tastes great on it's own, and it would be delicious with some yogurt or with some milk in a bowl. So far all we've done is snack on it right out of the jar. Even Elli's friend thinks it's good and she said she doesn't like granola. So there you go. It passed the picky 7 year old test. This recipe is a keeper! Olive Oil Granola adapted from Melissa Clark 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats 3/4 cup pure maple sy...

It's done! Elli's hair is cut and it's so cute. Jamie, at Edwards Salon, treated her like a queen. And her friend Lili was there to cheer her on. Not that that was really necessary. Elli was cheering herself. She was ready to be rid of tangles. She feels like a new girl. And she's got the sassy attitude to go with it. Lucky me.

One of Elli's good friends at school decided she would grow her hair out and donate it to Locks of Love , an organization that makes wigs for kids with cancer and other illnesses. Her friend grew her hair out and recently got it cut into a super cute bob. This inspired Elli and some of her friends to do the same. The hair has to be cut in a ponytail, and must be at least 10" long. Elli's hair is finally long enough, so on Friday we are getting it cut. She is so excited she can barely stand it. I thought I would look up a few hairstyles to give her some ideas on how she could get it cut. She likes to have some time to think about her decision - she's not big on spontaneity and this is a big decision. I found a site called shorthaircutstrends . They had some good pictures that I saved to show Elli. Here are my top three. A - little bit of bangs B - no bangs (this is Don's pick.) C  - lots of bangs It will be interesting to see which one...

I am always up for a good laugh. So when I stumbled on this website called CandyBoots on Friday I KNEW I had to share it with you because that's the kind of gal I am - I love sharing a good laugh. And this one had me dieing laughing. First, it had been an incredibly long week and I was desperate for a laugh. Second, anyone that thinks cabbage should be jelled or beef bouillon makes a "refreshing drink" is just ripe for me to poke fun at. So the writer of this site found these old Weight Watcher's recipe cards at her mom's house. They are from 1974 and they are hilarious. I can picture these items getting served at our church banquets and birthday parties. No wonder us kids thought that hot dogs and macaroni and cheese were the bomb. Who would want to eat this? Or this? Or this? Blech. Or drink this? Holy cow. How did we all survive the '70s? You have to click on ...

I have a sensitive palate when it comes to French wines.  But this morning I am a bit perplexed. Last night we opened a bottle of this Ch. Ballan-Larquette Bordeaux . It smelled like barn, hay, horses -- and tasted the same. Blech. So this morning I decided I would write about it. I don't think I've ever had wine in the morning. But I wanted to describe the barnyard aromas and taste so I poured a teeny, tiny bit in a glass so I could smell it and taste it for a description. And much to my surprise it had a lovely blackberry smell, with just the faintest whiff of earth. And the taste is fruity, like blackerries. hmmmm. Where did the horse and barn go?  Maybe this wine just needed to open up and breathe. Or maybe because I'm tasting wine at 8am I have a fresh palate? I wonder when the best time of day is to sample wines? I asked Don if he would smell it and taste it to confirm that I'm not crazy. He looked at me like I'm crazy. "No." was his sho...

Happy Friday! It's dinner and a movie night. And my recommendation is Alice and Wonderland . Yep. We saw it last weekend with Elli and her friend Susana and it's fabulous. It's not too scary for kids. I'm not sure I would take toddlers, but our 8 year olds did just fine and loved it. I don't know how they do the live action and animation, but it's pretty incredible. And the costumes. I couldn't stop staring at the incredible dresses that Alice wore, and the red queen and the white queen, and Johnny Depp - - everyone actually. It was simply amazing to see. Colleen Atwood is the costume designer. Wow. She is one talented lady. She's won a couple Oscars already. I believe there is another one in her future. Here's the trailer in case you've been living in a hole and haven't seen it. ha. Get it? In a hole. WAHH. Alice in Wonderland I might just have to see it again. Photos from movieline.

Phew. I made it to Thursday. One day to go before the weekend. Then FREEDOM for two days! Freedom from what you ask? Am I in prison? In a "help" center. No, just work. You know, ordinary stuff that's causing my head to spin like the chick in the Exorcist movie. Last year it caused my third eye to twitch. This year I feel like I'm getting punk'd everyday. Where the heck is Ashton Kutcher? I get it. I'm a dope. I've had it with..... Making sense of it all Turkey sandwiches and carrot sticks. Blah. Biting my tongue and holding my breath everyday.  Cursing Being paranoid Anxiety attacks  Panic attacks Things that attack me Spreadsheets Lists Cyclists in the city. Are you trying to get run over? Flakey tourists. You too. Are you trying to get run over? Get back on the sidewalk. Doh! My treadless tires. Gas that costs $3.19 gallon And that I can't figure out how to get the messages sent in Hotmail on my iphone. grrrrrr. Thank go...

Let me just say right up front, I love the furniture at Roche Bobois . When we lived in Connecticut there was a Roche Bobois store down the road in Westport that we'd go visit. We loved the modern furniture, the sleek lines, and contemporary feel. We knew that someday we would buy something from them. It was just a matter of money. Ha! Their furniture is expensive. $$$ But the style and quality of the workmanship was exactly what we wanted. We just had to figure out how to pay for it. Fast forward a few years....we finally had the resources to buy a couch from them. It was a big investment. And I mean big. I think you could buy a small car for what we paid for that couch. We chose a chenille for the cushions and ultra suede for the base. We didn't want leather. We'd been there, done that. We wanted something cozy, yet still contemporary. But that was back when things were quite different in our lives. Elli wasn't in the picture yet. Don was working in NYC for a...

A few of our friends invited us to join their book club for 3rd graders. We went to the 1st meeting a week ago.  It was really fun chatting with the moms, having dinner, drinking some wine, then listening to the girls discuss the book. I don't hang around moms much because I'm always working. So it was fun getting out. Last month's book was perfect for Elli, Hearbeat by Sharon Creech. Not too hard. Not too long. "An easy book" according to all the moms.  Hmmmmm So at the end of the evening as we're all trying to leave, one of the mom's asks who wants to have it at their house next month. Somehow my name got tossed in the ring because they know we have a clubhouse here and before I knew it I said "Sure, I can rent the clubhouse. We can meet there!" What they don't know is that I immediately started to panic. What book would I pick? We joined the book club so that Elli would learn that reading is fun and that she needs to start reading h...

Last Friday we were editing a radio and tv spot in San Francisco.  Our voiceover talent asked us if we had seen the video on You Tube of "When Harry Met Sally" remixed as a horror flick. None of us had seen it so we immediately clicked on You Tube to watch it. We were all dieing laughing. It turns out there are several trailers like this "The Shining", "Mary Poppins" all remixed to be the opposite of their original genre. I emailed it out to a few people, including Don, because I thought it was hilarious. So when I got home I asked him if he watched it. His response? "It's not new ya know. I saw that when I was at Ogilvy." And that was that. He left Ogilvy in 2005. Well. I don't care. It's new to me. And I think it's funny. So I'm going to share it with you guys. And if you too saw it YEARS ago, keep it to yourself. Just humor me and watch it. You don't have to like it, or think it's funny. Just pretend it is. ...

Elli and I have been having a conversation about advertising for about a week. Elli watches two channels on tv. Channels 53 and 55.  For those of you that are not our neighbors, 53 and 55 are Disney and Nickelodeon . (Elli refers to them by number for some reason.) She started complaining about the Nationwide Insurance commercials a few weeks ago. "Mom, why is Nationwide on my channel. I can't drive. I'm not buying insurance.  That's, you know, the D word." That would be dumb. Then on comes a car commercial. "Mom, I can't buy a car? Why are they on the Disney channel? We can't buy cars. We're kids." mmm hmmmm. Good question Elli. Then a Walmart commercial comes on. This she gets. She understands Walmart commercials,  Save Money. Live Better. She has the tagline memorized and she's fascinated by it. Especially since we have become much more money conscious lately. We've been watching every penny and I'm teaching her ...

We recently redid a chair for one of our friends in Mill Valley. Most of our customers are up in Napa since that's where our business is located. But we're slowly doing more and more work for friends here in Mill Valley, and San Francisco, which is awesome. The style of homes in our area is much different than in Napa. There are a lot of mid-century modern homes, and furniture, which is a cool, funky style to work on.  My friend loves mid-century modern furniture and has a thing for finding "treasures" at flea markets, yard sales, etc. The problem is that they are often not in the best condition.  And more often than not are funky in color and fabric choices. She has a blue chair that she found years ago which had seen better days. Apparently her mom kept asking her why she didn't throw it out. She had plans for this chair. She knew she could repair it, and reupholster it, and it would be better than new. That's where we come into the picture. Here...