The company, rather, our project

Steve and I decided to do a little larger scale gardening this year.  His company has a large grassy area that's fenced in to keep the public out.  Eventually the area will be used for expansion but for now it'll be the new company garden. I have been buying seeds for it every time we get near a gardening center. Pumpkins, watermelon, cantelope, lima beans, beets, tomatoes,  peppers, corn, onions,  green and yellow beans, radishes, zinnias, carrots, cabbage,  lettuce,  squash, and zucchini.  Whatever comes up,  the employees will be allowed to pick and take home for their family. Steve did all the tilling but it will be me planting, weeding, and picking whatever doesn't get picked.  Hopefully the employees will get a little more involved but for now the sign up sheet is blank. No matter, I'm excited for the fresh produce.

First nibbles

The last four nights we've had a light frost so we covered up the garden.  Today the threat of frost is gone so we uncovered and checked on the plants.  Quite a few of the radishes were ready so I got a tasty treat. Can't wait till the tomatoes start producing.

Meet Kiwi

Carley brought home a little 9 week old kitten yesterday.  She named it Kiwi and gave it a home in her room.  Zipper was thrilled to have a new four legged friend to play with.  He cleans Kiwi's ears and nudges her along to where he thinks she should go.  Surprisingly Kiwi tolerates Zipper and doesn't claw him up...yet. 

Quilt cockeyed square

As you can see, my sewing leaves a lot to be desired.  It's not even close to good. But I'm going to leave it as is because this is a personal experiment that will sit on my bed and rarely get seen.  You don't learn anything by not making mistakes along the way anyway.  I'm going to sew a couple more squares like this and then start hand sewing a blanket stitch onto each one.  Then I'll see what kind of crochet border I can come up with.  I'll update a photo when I get the border on. 

Another fractal doily done

My daughter in law asked me if I could make her this.  I'm not 100% sure she'll actually use it but I made it anyway.  Hers was made in white and the one in off white is mine, but I already posted that one last month I think it was.  

I'm kind of glad I bought this pattern because I've really enjoyed making the doilies.  I've also received an order for one in bright green (yuck!) from my husband.  He wants to use it on the company coffee table in the lobby.  

Plaid afghan done

Today I finished up Ty & Courtney's wedding gift.  They are getting married in August.  As usual I changed the pattern just slightly.  Instead of making six rows of squares like the pattern states, I made seven because I wanted a bigger blanket.  That of course meant I needed an extra skein of green.  I also attached the squares row by row as I went rather than sew them by hand later.  If you don't know how to do that technique you can probably find a tutorial on you tube.  The chain three thing I also did away with, I learned another technique on you tube that I've been using for a while that makes the ends look so much nicer.

Here's the pattern link if you'd like to make one for yourself:

http://www.alpacabytes.com/2010/06/04/fiber-arts-friday-flannel-blanket-pattern/ 

Possible quilt

About a month ago I was wandering inside a resale shop and an antique piece of fabric caught my eye.  It's a heavy piece that I think was used to make curtains or maybe cover a chair of some sort.  Because its old it has softened with age.  When I bought the fabric I was thinking I'd stash it away until I found enough similar colors to make a quilt for my bed.  

The other day I was searching for a crochet pattern on google and came across a picture that made me have one of those, "ooooh!  I want one!" moments.  It was a summer comforter that a store sold.  The comforter had square blocks and each block had a crocheted edge around it.  The whole thing was connected by crochet.  Very pretty I thought but it was all the wrong colors and I couldn't figure out where the comforter was for sale anyway since it was just a picture.  The photo sat in my mind for a couple of days until I remembered the fabric I had purchased.  

I spread the fabric out to see if it were possible to use it to make something similar.  The fabric isn't quite big enough but I've been thinking about it all week now and I think maybe it can still be done if I just make a larger crochet border around each piece.  I think.  

This may be my most challenging project yet.  I'm not a sewer, nor do I have a pattern, don't really know how to quilt, and don't have a crochet border pattern.   All I have is a photo in my head because I forgot to save the photo that I found online.  

This should be a fun project. I'll keep you updated as I figure things out and make some progress.  In the meantime you can take a peek at my antique fabric. 

It must be jelly cause jam don't shake like this

A long time ago I remember seeing a canning page where the woman made a huge variety of jellies every year and I remember seeing a picture of violet jelly.  I thought that was interesting but none of my yards ever had violets until this yard.  1/4 of my back yard has violets growing among the grass.  As you know I was bored last night so I started picking.  After the violets were done I decided to see if maybe dandelions could also be made into jelly.  Turned out there are tons of recipes on the net for that too.  So I let those sit the night alongside the violets and today I went to the store to buy lemons and sugar.  After each jar was filled and processing in the jars I tasted each jelly.  The dandelions taste like honey and the violets taste like honey with a slight hint of lemon.  Both are very good.  

So far I've heard all the 16 jars pop so I know I did a good job considering I haven't canned in probably 25 years.  I'm kind of excited for everyone to taste it tomorrow after the jars have cooled down.  Steve turned his nose up at the idea as did a friend who owns a local restaurant.  I'm going to take a jar of each into her and demand she try some.  Aren't the jars pretty?

In case you'd like to try making your own jelly this is where I got each of the recipes:

http://www.simplycanning.com/dandelion-jelly.html

http://www.urbanpioneerstory.com/2012/03/foraged-violet-jelly/#comments

Omelet/frittata

Last night one of my Facebook friends shared a recipe that she saw posted by What's for dinner recipies https://www.facebook.com/pages/Whats-for-Dinner-Recipes/284470131684103 

I was hungry when i saw the recipe and I had all the ingredients on hand so I thought I'd make myself the omelet for breakfast complete with baked bacon for on the side.  As usual I changed the recipe.  I used red pepper, onions, mushrooms, and omitted the ham since I was making bacon on the side.  OMG!  I have never had such a light fluffy omelet in my life.  

Oven Denver Omelet

Ingredients

8 eggs

1/2 cup half-and-half cream

1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup finely chopped fully cooked ham

1/4 cup finely chopped green pepper

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

Directions

In a large bowl, whisk eggs and cream. Stir in the cheese, ham, green pepper and onion. Pour into a greased 9-in. square baking dish. 

Bake at 400° for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Note: because I never remember to pre-heat and always throw it in cold, and I used the oven for cooking bacon alongside the omelet the cooking time went way up. Mine took about 45 min.

Roses are red, violets are blue...

I'm bored as heck, and looking for something to do.

With my violets of course and why not those ugly dandelions too?

Come back tomorrow and see what is new.

The roof is on

The north side of the roof was finished up last night.  The south (open) side will be glass and that isn't here yet.  I really want this project to be done because the specialty seeds I ordered arrived today.

Greenhouse updated photo

I forgot to mention here on my blog that my husband and I are building a greenhouse. I put photos on Facebook last weekend of the progress but haven't updated because we haven't had much time to work on it. Since the last Facebook update we've finished the rafters and the last sidewall where the door will go is now up. Tonight we are going to get some of the side walls up. The back, and back roof, will be completely covered since they are on the north side. The rest will get a wall that's only about two feet up from the bottom. The rest of the walls and roof will be glass. The glass panels are going to be ordered today. I can't wait for the greenhouse to be done already. In my head I've planted it 4,000 times already and have lovely plants growing in there. The building needs to hurry up and catch up with the vision in my head.

Two afghans

Here are two of the afghans that I've been working on for the past month or so. The blue scrap one I started in November but put it away because I was tired of seeing little balls of yarn all over the floor. I had the project out until the grandkids came. Didn't want balls all over the house. Scrap afghans are so messy to work on. The plaid green and off white one is for a wedding in August. I was going to put that one off and work on some other projects for a while but then remembered just how warm it gets in the summer. The temperatures will be too warm to sit under as I crochet. So I'm going to try and finish at least the plaid one here in the next couple of weeks.

Yup, I did that

With the grand kids here last week I didn't have much time to work on craft related projects. However, this week I got a needle and thread out and went to work. I almost never buy patterns but when I saw this one posted on Pinterest, I fell in love with the modern look of the doily, and I bought it. Here's the link to the pattern in case you're interested in purchasing it. It cost $4.01 in US dollars. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fractal-2

I used Aunt Lydia #10 off white thread with a #2 needle. The original pattern says the doily should fit a 22x22" table but I obviously don't have the same gauge. My doily measures 36x25.5". I'm quite happy with the size of my doily because it fits a 6 seat dinning room table perfectly.

The pattern was incredibly easy to do but I wouldn't recommend it for brand new crocheters unless you're looking to challenge yourself.

Budding

I see small buds on my indoor tomato plants! These are the ones I started in November. The other tomatoes I started much later because I want to put those outside to grow. These however will stay in the house. I want to see how easy it is to pollinate the flowers myself. I also want to see how long a tomato plant will live indoors. I'm thinking I may have to get bigger pots for them soon though.

A picture of me

It's rare that I share pictures of me because I pretty much hate all photos of me. Mostly because I'm fat and my eyes tend to do funky things when the flash goes off. I'm pretty much the worst subject there is to take a photograph of. So here I am with my husband. Bet you didn't know I was so short, did you? Lol

This photo was taken at aunt Dolls (family) party. Doll is pretty much a fruit cake, as are the rest of the family. Not long after we got there Steve's other aunt, Carol (Dolls sister) was motor boating everyone who wanted to smash their face into her massive boobs. This was before the first bottle of beer or wine was opened.

Last weeks birthday girl

It's hard to believe but Evy turned 1 last week. Steve and I went to Ohio to spend some time with her to celebrate. Actually we had three things to celebrate. Evy turned 1, Easter, and tomorrow Casey turns 21. We had three days to celebrate so we celebrated one thing each day we were there. I still don't have any of the pictures off my camera but I stole this one from Anna, Evy's paternal grandma.

Waiting on a new toy

A long time ago I got rid of my sewing machine because it was more expensive to fix than it was to buy a new one. Problem was, I didn't buy a new one, I just went without. Being around people who quilt often I've been getting the itch to play with a sewing machine again. All the little money earning apps I have on my phone I have finally saved enough gift certificates to order this ((photo below):
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000F7DPEQ/ref=pe_309540_26725410_item

My first project is going to be with my daughter and were going to make a rag quilt for her bed. I figured it would be a good beginner project for the two of us considering neither of us are skilled with the sewing machine. She's never been taught to sew and I haven't done it in years. You can google "rag quilt" if you want to see what it is we will be making. When we get some fabric and the machine I'll post some pictures of our progress.

Rug done

Usually Dorothy weaves 4 rugs on the loom before cutting them off but the strings on the end were getting kind of loose so she snipped it early. No doubt because I'm new to weaving and probably screwed something up. Weaving looks pretty simple but its easy to loose tension on ends or flub something up. I made a couple of mistakes and the ends aren't exactly even. Not bad for my first attempt though.

New Craft

Once a week I volunteer at a local non-profit community place that re-sells goods and handmade craft items. I've really been enjoying myself. Up until today I've mostly hand tied quilts and priced items for sale. Today Dorothy, the crafting director, decided it was time for me to learn how to weave rugs that are sold down stairs. The monsterous looms are intimidating and I'm not so sure I'm ever going to master the craft, but I'm trying. The photo below is the rug that I'm making. What you see took me about two hours to weave. I don't know if I'm just super slow or if that's really how long it takes to make rugs. Dorothy chose the colors this time but she said after this one is done I can chose what colors and fabric I want to use. I have a wall of colors about twelve feet wide by twenty feet high filled with bins of fabric. I don't have a clue what I'm going to pick. I might just choose colors that fit my house and then just buy the rugs myself.

New Craft

Once a week I volunteer at a local non-profit community place that re-sells goods and handmade craft items. I've really been enjoying myself. Up until today I've mostly hand tied quilts and priced items for sale. Today Dorothy, the crafting director, decided it was time for me to learn how to weave rugs that are sold down stairs. The monsterous looms are intimidating and I'm not so sure I'm ever going to master the craft, but I'm trying. The photo below is the rug that I'm making. What you see took me about two hours to weave. I don't know if I'm just super slow or if that's really how long it takes to make rugs. Dorothy chose the colors this time but she said after this one is done I can chose what colors and fabric I want to use. I have a wall of colors about twelve feet wide by twenty feet high filled with bins of fabric. I don't have a clue what I'm going to pick. I might just choose colors that fit my house and then just buy the rugs myself.

Pistons game

A vendor gave my husband VIP tickets along with parking to the game tonight. For two weeks Steve tried to give the tickets along with a full days off so they could travel. Ironically no one seemed to want them or have time to go. So we decided to use them. We're not basketball fans but why waste them? The seats are two rows up from the court so we should be able to see well.

Warning offensive material within this post

Mornings for me generally start out with a diet coke and Facebook. So that's what I did this morning, drink and scroll until I came upon this....

Time to suck today's dick!

I really hate Wesnesdays.....

This is from a 23 year old girl who's goal for 2013 is to remain positive, oh and get on The Bad Girls Club. Such a weird mixture of goals because the bad girls club is no where near positive. It's probably my age but I honestly don't see how relating the day to sucking dick is positive. Perhaps her desire to get on the bad girls club is more important than a positive attitude that she claims she wants.

Reading the 23 year olds comment isn't necessarily a negative for me though, it's more of a reminder to pay attention to my own words and actions. My Wednesday is all about the smile that is on my face and the gentle treatment of others as I go through my day today. How is your Wednesday?

A girl with a kazoo

Evys two favorite toys, a kazoo and a mirror. The kazoo has been in her mouth since she woke up an hour ago and the mirror has been in her hand almost as long. Both toys are pretty gross. There is saliva dripping out of the bottom onto the mirror. She's having fun though.

Miss Goodwrench

As you can see from the picture I'm in Ohio this week. Casey and Caleb broke up and she just needed her mama. So I'm here to help her get some things done and help her figure out which direction she should go next. I really want her and Evy to move into my home but she's resisting. Much to my disappointment. Part of Casey's to-do list included putting her birthday gift together for Evy. Of course Evy had to grab a wrench or three to help. I laughed my head off watching her get into trouble. Every time Casey put a piece on the bike and got it ready to tighten, Evy moved it and Casey had to place it all over again.

Prayer Request

Earlier this week I heard that one of my favorite waitresses showed up for work with a black eye. Everyone who knows her knows that her boyfriend of 7 years isn't all that good to her so we all suspected that he hit her. I haven't been into the restaurant this week so I sent her a message on Facebook asking her if she was okay. Well, she's not. She swears that she really did fall but he is mentally abusive to her. So I asked her to meet me for coffee today so we could talk in person. Her boyfriend monitors all her time so I didn't have as much time with her as I wanted. However I did find out enough from her to know that it's been a long 7 years. On top of that she lost her dad almost exactly a year ago and her best friend two years before that, both during the month of March. She's still grieving and can't seem to pull herself up from the dumps because her boyfriend keeps knocking her down. This is where the request comes in... I'm asking you to lift Anne up in prayer. She needs strength, comfort, and she just needs to hear she's beautiful. She also needs the courage to get her GED. She was a teen mom and dropped out. She'd like to go to college but can't until she gets her GED. I told her I'd kick her butt until she had her diploma in her hands. She needs someone to cheer her on, so that's my job. I'm also going to see if Steve will give her the money she needs to take the test. But I'm asking you to put Anne on your prayer list. (Strength, comfort, to pass her GED, and to be told she's beautiful.). I realize you don't know her, but I do. She's a sweet person who genuinely cares about people. Now others need to care about her.

Thank you.

Roses for the thorny one

For those of you who have followed the soap opera, As the Pizza Turns, I have another chapter for you...

This evening the UPS guy showed up at our door with a box from Pro Flowers and a big smile.  I think the UPS guy loves handing out flowers at this time of year.  He'd probably find it even more entertaining if he knew the full story behind the box.  Of which I'm about to tell you.

Some of you may remember this character from the saga... Ziggy.  Ziggy has made a few too many appearances over the past few years.  Mostly because he's a horny dude who still hasn't figured out how to get into her pants and is stupid enough to keep trying.

Ziggy has tried to impress her with all kinds of things including going to the extreme of borrowing a 911 Porche to pick her up in a date one time.  Still he keeps getting turned down.

Like a few too many guys, Ziggy trolls Carley's facebook page hoping and praying she'll dump the boyfriend.  She broke up with John last week. Almost immediately her phone chimed from Ziggy, "I miss you."  So they've been conversing for a week now with no intention of ever dating, at least not on her end, because he's in Georgia and we're in the frozen tundra far away from his parents house in Ohio. During one of their conversations she told him he was like a dandelion... he keeps coming back no matter how many times he gets cut down.  He immediately replied, you're like a rose... beautiful but painful to touch.  LOL  He does have a great sense of humour.

Cut to today when I brought the box in and handed it to Carley.  Her eyes went wide and she had a confused look on her face.  This sort of thing has happened before.  This isn't her first time getting roses from a boy who she doesn't have any interest in and is confused about who it could possibly be from because he isn't the only boy she talks to.

She opened up the package and there was no card.  So now she has to go about the task of figuring which boy the roses came from.  I was guessing either John (the former boyfriend because they are still friends and he's been very apologetic about what happened) or Ziggy, but we knew Ziggy didn't have our address.  Since she was texting Ziggy at the moment she said she had gotten a box hoping he'd admit to sending them.  Eventually he did admit to getting her address from one of her friends.

Obviously Ziggy is up for another round of getting cut down like the weeds in the yard. I mean really?  RED roses?  Come on, he's just begging to get cut down again.

Cloche hat

I made this hat without anyone in mind as to who I wanted to give it to. The pattern just looked fun and easy so i wanted to try making it. I'm going to take the hat with me this weekend to try on Evy's head but I don't think it's big enough for her. If it doesn't fit I'm going to have my daughter give it to her friend who is due next month with a little girl.

Two sweaters

I saw a couple of cute baby sweater patterns posted on Pinterest so I dug out some leftover yarn and whipped them up. I'll be giving them to Evy this weekend.

The pattern for the gray sweater is here. Follow the underlined link to get to the simplified pattern. I used the simplified pattern and then added on the changes from this link:

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/flowergirlknitz/crocheted-baby-sweater

The white sweater I found here:

http://www.aestheticnest.com/2011/04/crochet-blue-picot-and-lace-sweater-for.html

Both patterns were well written and easy to whip up in a single night if you ever need a quick baby gift.

Purple dress for Evy

This dress took forever to finish because I lost motivation in the project about a quarter of the way into it. I just hope the dress fits. I have one more dress here that needs to get finished but I'm holding off because I don't think it's long enough. When we go to Ohio again I'll take it as is and fit it to her wiggly little body to see what I have to do to it. Then I'll just mail it to her.

Crockpot chicken teriyaki recipe

Dinner got two thumbs up tonight so this recipe will be going into the rotation. BTW, two thumbs up is good since theres only the two of us for dinner. I found the recipe on Pinterest. http://pinterest.com/pin/496944140102611453/

Crock Pot Chicken Terriyaki: 1lb chicken (sliced, cubed or however), 1c chicken broth, 1/2c terriyaki or soy sauce, 1/3c brown sugar, 3minced garlic cloves

I didn't use the crockpot, I made it on the stove top because there wasn't enough time for slow cooking.

Early gardening plus a freebie

It's probably a little early to start seeds indoors but I'm missing summer. Today I pulled out some seeds, trays, and pellets to see what I could plant. I don't have a huge garden so I try to use the space wisely. I grow things that are expensive in the store, like peppers and tomatoes. There's no substitute for homegrown tomatoes anyway. Watching things grow in my garden all summer is very satisfying. Today I started beefsteak tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, jalepenos, grand bell peppers, and California peppers. I don't know what the difference is between grand and California peppers but I'll mark them and see if I can figure it out in the summer.

This afternoon I saw a freebie posted for a 1 year subscription to Modern Farmer. I've never seen the magazine but I ordered it anyway. Sometimes the photos in those types of magazines give me new ideas for my own garden.

https://www.valuemags.com/freeoffer/freeoffer.asp?offer=ModernFarmer_IHP

Speaking of new gardening ideas if you've been on Pinterest lately you've probably seen the photo of sunflowers, pole beans, and squash all planted together. It looks kind of messy but I have the perfect little area that I had planned on putting sunflowers anyway. I'm going to give it a try.

A day with my daughter

Once a week Carley and I spend the day together doing errands, shopping, and of course we get lunch out. As of this morning I still wasn't sure what we were going to do today. After the diet coke woke me up a little bit I decided we would go to a larger city to shop and do lunch. So I woke her up and then went to shower. She was kind of out of it and thought I wanted to leave right away so she slapped a little make-up on and threw some clothes on. Basically she sported the fresh rolled out of bed look. When you're young and cute you can get away with that stuff. When you're my age you better not try it or you'll scare the pants off of people.

Off we went to the mall where we ate and shopped for a couple of hours. On our way home I saw the sign pointing the way to the local college where she was accepted to. She hadn't yet toured the campus; she chose it because its closest and small. On a whim I decided to take the exit and see if we could get a tour, or if not, get an appointment to do so.

In the 25 years since I last set foot on the campus the school has really grown. So much so that it looked nothing like it used to. We also had trouble finding the admissions office. Eventually we happened upon a nice student who led us to where we needed to go. We walked in and asked if we could get or schedule an appointment for a tour. Eric, a student employee, jumped up from his desk and volunteered to do it.

The tour was good but like any tour I take with Carley I always have to giggle. She's oblivious to the boys who stop and stare or practically walk into things while checking her out. It amuses me. While on the tour Eric talked a LOT, and always to me which I thought was odd. Shouldn't he be talking to Carley if she's the student? After the tour Eric told us to speak with the vets office because I had questions about military benefits. Then he told us to stop back into the office so he could look up Carley's student ID number so she could get her ID printed while we were there.

When we stopped back to see Eric he gave her the card with her student ID information on it so we could get it printed at the security office. When Eric gave her the card he also slipped her a little note with his number on it (see picture below). Isn't that weird? He barely acknowledged her during the tour, speaking mostly to me. There's never a dull moment when I go out with Carley. Poor Eric, he isn't going to get a call or text, Carley already has a boyfriend.

Growing my own

I got lonesome for summer so I decided to grow some things indoors while I wait for better weather. In November I planted tomatoes and late last weekend I planted all these little lettuce plants. I'm hoping to sit down to a salad by spring.

Do you start seeds indoors for your spring planting?

Goodbye Steve Jr.

Steve's children are all tucked into bed and I'm sure both he and his wife are crying right now. Steve is set to leave for Afghanistan in a couple of hours. The photo below was taken on Sunday when I spoke with him last.

Update: just got off the phone with him again. He's got a really nice cold and can barely talk. He said he has plenty of NyQuil and will be passed out on the plane.

Tuesday snooze day

Today is probably going to be one of those rough days. Steve and I got very little sleep last night. We were on the phone with Casey from midnight until about 3am. Since this is a public blog I can't really go into detail at the moment. However I will say that we are teetering on the verge of our prayers being answered. If you pray, will you lift her up in prayer and ask that God will give her strength and direction? Also a lot of tips at her work to help her out. Thank you.

Domesticated bliss yesterday looks like a gigantic domesticated hangover today. My kitchen is a disaster despite the fact that I ran the dishwasher twice yesterday. I'll probably have to fill it twice again today and run the floor scrubber just to make the kitchen look semi normal. How can three people make that much mess?

This past weekend Steve jr sent a photo of our grandson, Jack (below). They enrolled him in hockey and soccer to wear him out a little bit. He's high energy and, with his dad leaving for Afghanistan soon, he needs an outlet other than rough housing with his dad. My husband and son are THRILLED that Jack is the third generation to play hockey. It's always been Steve sr's dream to one day play hockey with all his grand kids. When jack was on the phone I asked him if he enjoyed hockey and he said yes, but he likes soccer more. Both Steve's winced at that answer. Lol

This cold weather is making me really glad I knitted myself some fingerless mittens this past summer. Brr! It's cold in the house.

Last Saturday Steve and I went to our towns chamber of commerce banquet. He joined the chamber of commerce soon after taking his job in late March but hadn't been to one meeting yet. So the banquet seemed like a good idea to dive in and start getting involved in our community. I'm glad we went, he made some business contacts, and I met some people that I might be able to get involved with in charities. Yea! That's what I wanted, to find charities and actually meet people. Mid way through the business meeting portion, they had a drawing for about 40 different gifts from area businesses. Stuff like oil changes, gift certificates, quilts, pies, etc. wouldn't you know it, I won a pizza gift certificate and a t-shirt for the business. Figures huh? I can't eat that stuff, Steve doesn't care for pizza, and Carley can't eat it either. So I asked Steve to take the certificate to work and give it to someone deserving. It will be a nice night off from cooking for someone.

Now I'm off to go clean the kitchen hangover and pack my bags. I'm standing by just in case I need to run to Ohio for an extended stay. Have a wonderful, productive day everyone.

Domesticated

This week is starting off a lot more productive than last week when it comes to finishing projects. So far today I finished three scarves. One is in the previous post and the other two are in this post. The black and white one is just scrap yarn that I made for myself. The black and silver one is for Michelle, my childhood friend. It's made with Starbella Flash yarn, Starry.

I like the silver thread running through The Starbella yarn. As I was making it I couldn't help but think how cute that yarn would look as a skirt on Evy. Only not quite that ruffled. I have some yarn left over that I might play with another day. Too many projects to finish before I start something else.

In between the projects I finished today I also made chicken chili, banana bread, and a loaf of white bread. (Im not eating the breads) This cold weather has turned me even more domestic than usual. Tomorrow it's supposed to be even colder so I'll probably be doing more of the same.

Stay warm everyone.

What do you think?

I made this scarf for a friend of mine. I hate the colors, a lot. But she picked them because the yarn is sparkly and she wanted bright sparkly color to perk up her wardrobe. When I finished the scarf I thought it lacked something so I made a removable flower that she could use to change the look of the scarf. Do you think the flower is weird? Should I make something else for the scarf or just give her the scarf plain without anything?

Potato chip scarf

My quest to get unfinished projects done this week didn't exactly go like I planned. It's fricken cold here and I wanted a new scarf, so I made me a priority. I couldn't find the original link for the potato chip scarf but I did find this one : http://www.myjourneywithyarnandbeyond.com/2010/05/potatochip-scarf.html?m=1
It's the exact same pattern that I made. This is a great beginner project.

Baby it's cold outside

Brr its cold outside today. I almost never turn in the fireplace but i just couldn't warm up. The moment Zipper saw the flames he sauntered over and parked himself in front of the fire. Guess he was as cold as I was. Hope it warns up soon.

K1, P1, Dog 3

Every time I get the yarn out Zipper is right there (sometimes less than patiently) waiting for what I'm making to get long enough to cover him.

Chit chat

Have you seen the new reality show, Buckwild yet? It's way better than the idiots on Jersey Shore. These people don't gym tan or do laundry. Well okay they probably do laundry but most likely they throw on their clothes and jump into a river to get them clean. The show is stupid but its entertaining.

This week I'm trying to finish up knit and crochet projects that I started and closeted. The pink baby blanket is one of those projects. I think I started it in November but had to set it aside for other projects to get done in time for Christmas. The ugly pink blanket is done and I still have 11 balls of ugly pink yarn left. This was supposed to be the project that got rid of that stuff.

I'm not sure what projects I'll work on tomorrow. I still have 2 unfinished afghans (1 for me & 1 for charity), 3 dresses for Evy, a rug, and 1 scarf for a friend that are all on hooks. I might rip one of evys dresses out and ball it back up because I'm not liking how it looks. I also have yarn in the closet for projects that I wanted to start but didn't find the time.

My son is back to his limited contact again. It was his birthday yesterday. I wrote on his Facebook wall at exactly midnight and he ignored it. Sent him a text when I knew he'd be awake and got a one word reply. No thank you for the gift card we sent him last week. No thanks for sending him his childhood scrapbook today either. Guess he didn't appreciate it? If I didn't put tracking numbers on things I'd never know he got them.

Scarf for Carley

This weekend I took Carley with me to the yarn store. I wasn't planning on making her anything but she fell in love with this yarn. It's by Bernet called, Really BIG. I made the pattern on the back of the label, just a simple knit 1, purl 1. I'm not especially fond of the finished product but she's happy with it. I guess that's all that counts.

Celebration Cupcakes

Carley's boyfriend, John graduated from high school today.  He should have graduated last spring but he missed a lot of days in his high school career due to Crohn's disease.  Better late than never. His family is taking everyone in their family, including Carley, out to dinner tonight to celebrate.  Carley decided the celebration was worthy of cupcakes.

Carley is not a natural in the kitchen.  She's impatient and usually burns things.  She also doesn't follow recipes very well.  For that matter, she doesn't listen to me very well either.  As a result she has never baked anything without burning it or having it turn into a total flop.  Even stuff as easy as cupcakes.

John's school colors are green and white so she wanted to make ombre cupcakes.  Where'd she get the idea?  My mom.  One time a couple of years ago my mom made her grand-girls rainbow colored cupcakes and she just thought that was the coolest thing ever.  Never mind my mom is one of the worlds best desert makers of all time (besides my daughter Casey), she decided she could do this.  I cringed knowing her baking capabilities.

I made her follow the recipe to the letter.  She did good.  Next she mixed up the batter with food coloring.  Surprisingly she did fine other than she ended up coloring her hands green in the process.  Baking was a little tricky because she forgot to set the timer.  See why she burns things?  A few of the cupcakes were a tad overdone but would pass.  As you can see she did okay with the decorating.

Each cupcake has a letter, plus two spacers... Congrats John 2013.  She didn't have enough cupcakes to make the word Congratulations.

Big help

Some people have a monster under their bed, I have a monster in mine. Zipper thinks he's such a big help with the sheet changing chore.

Need a couple of recipe ideas

Next month we have been invited to a family event to celebrate an anniversary. It's a potluck with the main course being lasagna. Sigh. I've come to terms that neither Carley or I will be able to eat that, or most likely any of the other dishes that will be brought to the meal. Both of my sisters in law always put cheese and pasta into things. This is how the Christmas meal went too, the only thing Carley could eat there was the turkey and bagged salad. I had some cheesy potatoes on top of those two choices because I can have dairy.

Back to the subject at hand... I'm looking for a dairy free, gluten free Italian dish that I can take. Being that we live an hour away it will be hard to keep warm unless it travels well or it's in a crockpot. Any ideas?

Oh and just so you know I can't find dairy free alternatives here like cheese.

Hello, hello!

Evy's talking into the remote today but yesterday she was talking on the phone with me. She's old enough now that she's recognizing my voice. She must miss me as much as I miss her because her mom said she gave me three kisses through the phone yesterday. Gosh I miss her sloppy little open mouth kisses on my cheek. <3

Cantina bowl review

Carley had the day off today so we decided to get some errands done. Lunch is of course part of the errand routine. Because of both of our allergy issues and our New Years resolution to stop eating what we are allergic to, our out to eat choices have shrunk dramatically. We finally settled on Taco Bell despite the fact that I think most of their food is kind of crappy (she loves it though). Carley ordered food without cheese on it and I ordered the new-ish cantina bowl. It's been out for a while but I almost never eat there. I chose the cantina bowl because its supposed to taste similar to Chipotle, who's food I LOVE. Let it be known that the cantina bowl is no where near as good as Chipotle. In fact it's typical Taco Bell food...it sucks. Eating the slop made me long for Chipotle all the more. Sigh.

An observation

For years now I've been looking, I mean really looking, at people's features. Most notably, the eyes. Normally you notice the beauty in people's eyes, or the sadness. Of course I see those things, but I also see how very uneven people's eyes are. My own eyes are of a different height from each other. If you're not overy observe you'd probably never notice. But I notice. I also notice every single person on tv who has uneven eyes, especially a local news person. Her eyes are so uneven that she looks like one of Picasso's paintings. That led me to think about Picasso himself. His paintings are famous for uneven features. Back in my high school days I remember my art teacher joking that he was probably high when he painted the uneven features. Looking back at the art teacher, whom I never respected because I thought she was an idiot, I know know she truly is an idiot. Picasso was really just painting an exaggeration of what he saw on people's faces, uneven features.

Next time you turn on the news or watch a reality show look carefully at the alignment of the eyes. They truly are fascinating.

Bonnet

I was getting restless last night and needed something to do so I dug out some yarn and made a bonnet for Evy. It's hard to tell the color in the photo but its a dusty colored pink. It's Caron Simply Soft, in Victorian rose. I love the simply soft yarn because it feels so good, has a nice sheen, and comes in lovely colors.

The pattern I chose is free and can be found here:

http://crochetlatte.com/2012/07/06/apricot-baby-bonnet-free-pattern/

Finally!

We have soy yogurt. It's a little thinner than what I like(I prefer Greek), but it's yogurt. Unfortunately the person whom the yogurt is for has deemed this, "yucky!" Sigh. She's used to stuff you get in the store that has fruit in and it's sweetened. I told her to put some fruit and honey in it and she refused saying it tasted like sour old milk. I got a spoon out and tried it for myself, it tastes like any other unsweetened yogurt you buy in the store. I put a little honey in it and it tasted fine. I kind of think the cold she has is affecting her tastebuds.

So what made this batch different from the others? Surprisingly not a whole lot. The first time I heated the almond milk and I think I may have heated it a little too much. The second try I left the almond milk out on the cupboard until it was room temperature. This time I used soy milk and put it on the cupboard to get to room temperature. However I'm impatient and didn't want to wait so I put the milk next to my crockpot that was cooking something on high so the milk would get to room temperature faster.

Call me crazy

But... I'm going to give milk alternative yogurt another try. Since almond milk was a big flop I decided to try organic soy milk. Keep your fingers crossed. The yogurt should be done late tonight.