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.