Thankful Thursday

On this last Thursday in November I am thankful for:

1) Finally kicking this cold after almost a month

2) That Clark's learning is really taking off

3) My knitting to keep me sane

Until next time ....

FO: Clark's Christmas Vest 2012

After skipping last year I decided to make Clark a vest again this year to wear on Christmas day. Although I have yet to take a modeled shot I present Clark's Christmas Vest 2012.

 The yarn is Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed which I also used to make my Fallberry Mitts. I really like this yarn as it is very springy and sqooshy. The pattern is Child's Vest by Susan Esser. The pattern is very easy and is written for sizes 2-8. I knitted the size 6 for Clark so he can wear it for awhile. My only complaint is that she does not give directions on how to do the v-neck decreases. I was not sure exactly how to do them so mine ended up more square but it did not bother me enough to rip back. All in all I am happy with it and will post a modeled shot once I have one. Until next time ....

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for

1) My husband
2) My son
3) My family
4) My friends
5) My health
6) My job
7) My knitting
8) My freedoms that are not free
9) My home
10) My life

Until next time ....

Baked Oatmeal Squares

Tomorrow it is Clark's turn to bring the snack to school. Now I could just buy something but I really want to be one of those moms so I bake instead. Last time I made blueberry muffins (but for full disclosure it was from a mix) and was looking for something healthy and easy that I had the ingredients on hand for. That is when I found this recipe.

Baked Oatmeal Squares

1 egg, lightly beaten
1-1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup chopped nuts (I omitted these)
1/4 cup raisins
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Pour into a greased 8-in. square baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes. Cut into squares.

One tip - I read the reviews and many people said these were very crumbly. My first batch was a disaster - completely fell apart but tasted really good. One suggestion was to press them down with the back of a spoon and put them back in the oven with the heat off for 5 minutes. I did that and then pressed them with the spoon one ore time. I have not tried cutting them yet so I am not sure if it worked but I hope so. Otherwise I will be heading to the store before work to pick up something else. Until next time ....

Sad News

I received some sad news today and it really has me thinking. A childhood friend has passed away at 35 from breast cancer. I remember my mom taking Crystal and I to see Return of the Jedi. That night we stayed awake and talked about how we wanted to have an Ewok as a pet. We grew apart as we got older and were no friends in middle or high school but this news still hits home - when you grow up in a small town yo=u know everyone and these things seem to be harder to take.

What has me thinking is the fact that she had 2 young girls. Now not only have they lost their mom but their father also passed away from stomach cancer a few years ago so they have now lost both parents before they are 10 years old. This has me thinking about Clark and what would happen to him if we both pass away. This is something all parents need to talk about even though we do not want to.

I have failed at NaBloPoMo this year. I did not post yesterday before we left for a birthday party at my brother's house and it was to late when we got home. I am still going to try and finish. Until next time ..

Happy Birthday

to the bestest hubby and daddy in the world.

Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful for:

1) That the weekend is almost here

2) That my sister is ok. She is in the hospital with double pnuemonia.

3) Seeing family this weekend

Until next time ....

Wednesday Hodgepodge

I have seen this on Coggie and Auburn Chick's blogs and since I needed blog fodder I decided to play along. Joyce puts these questions out every week if you want to play along as well. 

1. What rule of life should never be broken?

 Honestly I think there are always reasons to break most rules.  

2. What’s your favorite family recipe?

Pannu Kakku aka Finnish pancakes. This is our traditional Christmas morning breakfast.

 3. Is the media manipulative?

Without a doubt.  

4. Hubs and I saw Skyfall last weekend…are you a fan of the Bond films? If so, who’s your favorite Bond?

 I really am not a Bond fan but I do love me some Sean Connery.  

5. What is one thing you hope people never say about you?

That is went through life and didn’t really live it.

 6. What’s a nearby tourist attraction you’d like to see, but haven’t gotten around to visiting? 

It’s not really an attraction but I have never been to Chicago which is a shame since it is so close

7. Where’s your favorite tree?

It’s not there anymore but my there was a huge old oak tree in front of my dad’s house. The village cut it down a couple of years ago to expand the sidewalk on the street.

 8. My Random Thought

I am still trying to recover from the time change. My mojo has been seriously depleted. I don’t want to read, watch TV, knit or watch podcasts. I know I will feel back to normal in a couple of weeks but right now I hate it.

Until next time ....

Ten on Tuesday

The topic for this week is 10 Items Your Local Food Pantry Can Use. In this season of giving this is a good topic to think about.

1) Beans - fiber and protein are important
2) Peanut butter - yummy, full of protein and expensive
3) Formula - again VERY expensive
4) Diapers
5) Toiletries - soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes
6) Tuna - again protein in a can
7) Dried pasta
8) Toilet paper
9) Jelly - see #2
10) Cold hard cash

Until next time ....

It's Hard to Tell ....

but he was walking around in daddy's shoes laughing his head off. He is one silly little man.

Until next time ...

Never Forget

An Albatross Off the Needles

Every knitter has one of these projects on occasion. This is the project that seems to linger on the needles forever. For me that project was my Alix's Prayer Shawl. This project was cast on January 1, 2010. Yes I said 2010. I ripped it out and started over so many times - that last restart was March of this year. I was bound and determined to finish it before the end of the year and I was successful. Here are some pre-blocking shots.

I am hoping to block this weekend but I am sick and do not know if I will want to crawl on the floor pinning it out. It may have to wait for the long Thanksgiving weekend but it will be done soon. Now I need to cast on my next shawl pattern. Until next time ....

Some Observations

I went to see Madonna in concert last night with my sister and my niece. I made a few observations while we were there.

1) The woman puts on one hell of a show
2) I wish I had the body at 36 that she has at 54
3) I cannot remember the last time I saw so many gay men in one place
4) I also cannot remember that last time I saw so many 40+ year old women trying to be 20 years old again
5) Do not plan on getting out of there quickly - that concert was supposed to start at 8pm and she hit the stage at 10:45
6) I cannot stay up until 2:30am on a school night - I am getting to old

Until next time ....

Thankful Thursday

This week I am thankful for:

1) Celebrating 9 years of marital bliss today
2) That Clark is feeling a bit better today
3) Getting to go to see Madonna tonight - I have always wanted to see her in concert

Until next time ....

Some Random Thoughts

1) It is day 7 and I am already stretching for material
2) I was going to write about the election but I am to tired and so many have already said things better than I can
3) I will say that I hope people put their differences aside to do the hard work of turning the ship around
4) Clark is sick and Jerry and I both feel like we are coming down with it as well
5) I am fighting off some serious startitis
6) I hate this time change. I am exhausted all the time.

Well I think that is it. Until next time ....

Ten on Tuesday

The topic for this week is 10 Things On Your Mind Right Now.

1) I hope everyone voted today
2) I am glad that there will be no more political ads now
3) I am happy that Thanksgiving is 2 weeks away as I need a 4 day weekend badly
4) I need to pick a pattern and get started knitting a vest for Clark
5) I need to start on our Christmas lists
6) How did it get to be so close to Christmas already?
7) I hope we have enough money socked away for Christmas
8) I really hate this time change
9) I really want to knit all the things
10) That it is time to go to bed

Until next time ....

Apple Breakfast Bread

For some reason yesterday morning I was in the mood to bake something. Maybe it was the time change and cooler weather that was to blame. However, I decided to make this recipe. If you don't want to click on the link here is the recipe.

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
2 apples - peeled, cored and chopped 

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8x4 inch loaf pan
2)  In a bowl, mix the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. Beat in the eggs. 
3) In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cloves. Mix into the butter mixture until moistened. Fold in the apples. Transfer to the prepared loaf pan. 
4) Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Some things I did differently from the recipe. 

1) I added another egg. The batter is very thick anyway but it really needed the extra moisture. You could also add some vegetable oil but I was out.
2) Like I said the batter is VERY thick. I am glad I read the reviews or I would have though I did something wrong.
3) I used more cinnamon because we love it. I probably used close to 2 tsp. Next time I may add some nutmeg as well.
4) I didn't peel my apples. Next time I think I will shred them instead because they were not very evenly distributed.
5) I made them as muffins instead of a loaf. I baked them for 20 minutes and got 12 muffins.

All in all these were really yummy. Clark and I have eaten  almost all of them already. Until next time ....

Thinking About My Queue

I have been thinking a lot about my Ravelry queue lately. I have been fighting off the urge to cast on a ton of projects so I have been scrolling through my queue quite a bit. Last weekend I also sorted and organized my yarn stash and the printed patterns I have collected over the years. Finally yesterday I went through the patterns I had saved on my computer and queued the ones I was still interested in making.

In doing this I have realized that while I have printed saved and queued these patterns for years I have not knit the vast majority of them. There are things that have been in there for 5 or more years but I still have an interest in knitting them. Plus I have all these books and have knit very few projects from them.

So what do I plan to do about this situation? Well I plan on actually working my queue. I will start at the top and work my way down. I also plan on pulling my books and finding projects to knit from them. I may not knit everything in order because I may not be in the mood to knit one of them or I may not have the funds to buy the pattern or yarn to make something but I do plan on being more diligent about actually knitting the patterns that caught my eye. Until next time ....

Is it ....

a banana or a phone?

Book Read: October 2012

You will notice the title of this post is book singular. Yes I only managed to read one book for the entire month of October. Now the book I read was almost 600 pages so it was like 2 of my normal books but still only one book is pretty sad. My reading mojo has been lacking lately - probably because my knitting mojo is back in full force. This is evident by the fact that I finished 6 projects in October. Anyway for the month I read:

1) A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness - Diana Bishop is a scholar studying at Oxford who also happens to be a witch. She wants nothing to with magic however one day she stumbles upon on old manuscript that her fellow witches have been trying to get access to for hundreds of years and is able to open it. Now they want to know her secret and stop her budding romance with Professor Matthew Clairmont who happens to be a vampire.

Maybe next month I can manage 2 whole books. Until next time ....