the goddesses

MANGOS?
This blog started as a recipe exchange. While I was typing in various phrases to find a URL, my 2-year-old came into the room with her little friend who was over playing and announced, "Mom, we need mangos." Dried mangos are a super-special treat. Don't we all like super-special treats sometimes, with our food, clothing, and homes? I think so too.



We are sisters who live at opposite ends of North America: 
Trina in Connecticut, USA and Mindy in Alberta, Canada. 


TRINA
Operation Domestic Goddess began on 1 September 2006 when I quit my office job to stay home with my new baby girl. I didn't know how to cook or sew or decorate or fix anything. My husband Adam pronounced the beginning of Operation Domestic Goddess because if I was home with the baby, could I please at least make dinner?

I set a goal to learn 50 new recipes and it took me a year and a half. When I went for a second round of 50, I started this blog as a recipe exchange. The group effort didn't last very long, but Mindy and I are obviously still here ten years later.

I still try new recipes all the time and have branched out into different ethnicities in menu choices. Adam gardens and we participate in a farm share. We can and freeze lots. I bake all of our bread.

Operation Domestic Goddess has expanded WAY beyond just learning to cook.

Oddly enough - considering I actively hated and avoided it as a kid - I started sewing in 2011. I talked about it for a while, until a friend ordered me to bring fabric that I had for a project to her house. She cut it out for me, and parked me at her sewing machine. It was a Christmas tree skirt, and sewing exploded from there. Christmas decor, tote bags, bedroom curtains, sooooo many clothing items for my five girls ... I am addicted to Oliver + S sewing patterns - I have more than 20. I started making quilts in 2015 and LOVE it even though they take FOREVER.

I tried knitting and crocheting, but they didn't really take. I'm still a coward about making clothing for myself because ... bust darts. My latest ODG sewing endeavor is learning to embroider.

And it's not enough to dress up my five kids and my furniture - my house needs it! So there's some of that mixed in here too. 


Fat quarter love!

MINDY
Like Trina, I've done multiple recipe challenges to find new recipes for our regular rotation, and enjoy cooking.  I'm very artistic and have drawn portraits for years, but my current passion is sewing.

I was given a sewing machine and a small stash of fabric for my 30th birthday.  A hat, and a few tote bags later and I was comfortable with the machine, but it wasn't until I made a simple Christmas dress for my daughter that I was hooked.  Art you can wear!  I love making unique clothes for my two young daughters, known here as Cupcake and Snowflake.  A few years later I have dived head first into quilting and I adore it.  My to-make list is always being added to.

My sewing corner is a small desk in the corner of the living room in our tiny two-bedroom apartment, and I iron on a collapsible TV tray.  I try my best to keep my fabric stash small, even though my husband has never complained about it.  It doesn't help that I'm incredibly lucky and have won a few different giveaways so I've had quite a bit of fabric come from those as well. (Don't worry, I share with Trina.)


Trying on wedding dresses and veils for fun, 
when Tawnia was buying a wedding dress for real. 
We sew a lot, but we're not ready for wedding dresses yet!


TAWNIA
Tawnia, another of our sisters, does not participate on this blog. But she does deserve a shout out for being our biggest supporter ... for this story alone. She works for a school district in Idaho and has summers off, so she has graced us with her presence for extended summer trips. One year, she visited Mindy in Alberta, Canada, who loaded up her car with huge plastic bags full of fabric to take to Trina. Then she drove to Connecticut, USA. When she got to the border crossing, the Customs agents were not impressed about needing to inspect these massive bags. "What's with all the material?" We don't remember how many years ago it was, but it still makes us laugh. And she received the first joint quilt project we did together as a Christmas gift.

(text/photos: 2018)

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