Stop Her She's Knitting

7 Quick Takes (Vol 157)

2012-03-09T09:35:00.001-05:00

Yes, it is that time again. Friday at Chez Knit. Where I ~~blather on~~ wax eloquent about the small events of my week that I cannot manage to stretch into an entire blog post no matter how I try. You can thank me later.

Remember, when you are done mulling over my thoughtful and erudite musings be sure to click on the picture above to be whisked, at the speed of Rush Limbaugh’s advertisers jumping ship, over to Conversion Diary to see what is happening.

Bring on the BLATHER!

1.
It is hard to believe but LaurenLeap and I are beginning to think and talk and plan the 2012 garden. I am sure that we will be growing some of the old favorites like tomatoes, beans, sunflowers, lettuce, spinach, beets, basil, zucchini and other old favorites.

The new members of the garden this year will be potatoes. Can I tell you how excited about the thought of home grown new potatoes with butter and a bit of salt.

Oh be still my beating heart.

Be prepared for multitudinous posts on the garden. I am itching to get some dirt under my fingernails.

2.
The walk this morning started out in the beautiful sunshine. Fabulous sunrise. Not windy. Birdies singing.

Within 30 minutes the sun was gone, the wind had arrived, and it was snowing like a blizzard.

Ridiculous. I don’t know whether to be warm or cold.

Happy or shaking my fist at the weather and yelling imprecations.

I have the amazing ability to whine about anything!

3.
Dot if you are reading this look away. You don’t want to know what I do when I go out on a photo shoot for you.

No, don’t worry it isn’t anything bad. I am a professional after all. I just have this “photo” ~~obsession~~ habit. I do this only for myself. NO ONE ever sees these pictures……..

I take a picture of myself taking a picture of myself.

I need a serious intervention.

Or maybe I should just title this special, personal project

Self Portrait in 40 Bathrooms

4.
I follow too many blogs.

There, I have said it.

Every day I sit down and think I will get through all the blogs that I need/want to read and every day it is the same thing

BLOGTSUNAMI!

Recently I did go through and unsubscribe to blogs that hadn’t been updated in more than 4 months. I felt tremendous guilt but I did it any ways. Of course that didn’t help all that much because it isn’t the blogs that DON’T post that fill up my feeder. It is the blogs that do post that are overwhelming me.

And yet I cannot unsubscribe.

Because I want to read all of them.

What if I unsubscribe and then I want to resubscribe and I cannot find them again?? What if they write the most awesome, life changing post and I miss it?? What if, for once, I might have a chance of winning a give away and that is lost??

Sigh.

5.
We all know that I cling to my gray hair like the government clings to the Chevy Volt. With tenacity. Without thought or reason.

But it is another matter entirely when it comes to gray hair in the old eyebrows.

NoNoNoNoNoNo!

Gray hair in the eyebrows makes me think of Andy Rooney.

Or worse yet….Gandalf!

And so those I pluck with great fierceness and vigor.

So far I hold back the tide but I am not sure what I will do when the gray hair to brown hair ratio tips to more gray.

Do they make a Grecian Formula just for eyebrows?

6.
I have absolutely nothing to say for number 6.

Nothing

Nada

Zippo

I lead a boring existence.

Moving on.

7.
And now, as has become my Friday custom, a few pictures from the ipod. I always think that I will put them into some kind of collage but then I couldn’t give commentary and I know you would be sad about that.

For those of you who are knitters you will understand this. I have a ball winder but no swift. Necessity is the mother of invention. Thank goodness for large cans of pumpkin.

These are my best friend for winter walking. Yak Trax. They are rock solid on ice and a bit of snow. I knew you were wondering.

We walked in a skiff of snow on Monday. This paw print was HUGE. At first we were all, “Is that a BEAR print?” But it isn’t because black bears, surprisingly, have 5 toes. I think it was from a large coyote…..I hope.

I would like to go inside Alpha.

Sunrise this morning over the lake.

Of course, since I have been so diligent to take my ipod with me on the morning walks I haven’t seen the beaver again. But hope springs eternal.

Even At An Early Age….

2012-03-08T13:44:00.001-05:00

Even at the early age of 6, Cartoon Girl was exhibiting her love of illustration.

I believe that the shorts that she has on were the ones that I made that had dinosaurs all over them.

A remarkable likeness if I do say so myself.

March is a Tad Psychotic

2012-03-07T13:04:00.001-05:00

You just never know what you are going to get in March when it comes to weather here in the Frozen Northeast Ohio.

Such confusion.

Rain – thunder – lightening – 65F – wind – 22F – snow – sun – clouds – hail.

These are all the things that we have experienced since March arrived and it is only 7 days in.

On Sunday it was like a blizzard.

My poor daffodils don’t know whether to keep growing or to pack it up and move to a warmer climate.

The Autumn Joy from last year at least looks like it is happy with it’s snow cap.

And the deer! Oh the deer. It is just about time for the new babies to be born so the expectant mommas have given the old cloven hoof to the two year olds to shoo them out of the nest.

Notice that the ~~four footed pains in my arse~~ deer are not eating the daffodils. Nope, not a bit. That is because they don’t like them.

But it doesn’t seem to stop them from grazing on anything else that comes within their greedy little venison lips.

Alpha did you say deer? I love deer. I love to bark at them. I love to chase them. I will protect you. The deer are bad. Where are the deer? You said deer. I love deer.

These pictures were taken on Sunday.

But today? Today I see blue sky and the temperature is 65F.

And then by Friday it will be back into the 30’s. And then it is supposed to go up into the 50’s.

My weather needs serious psychological help.

Shelob Lives In My Basement

2012-03-05T12:17:00.001-05:00

I might have mentioned before that Chez Knit is situated in the woods.

Boy howdy did we know it Friday night when the wind was hurricane force and making the trees groan and creak in protest.

The woods bring with them some unwanted things.

Mice would be the first thing that comes to mind.

And then of course there are the various varmints that we see.

Mommy is that raccoon in a cage? Did they let the raccoon out of the cage?

Look away honey! Look away.

And just as a point of order here. Once we had trapped the raccoon we had no other choice but to send him on to that big garbage dump in the sky. We have a big problem with rabies in this area, and many raccoons carry the disease. Once trapped they must be destroyed. I had no problem complying with that law.

And of course there are always these ~~marauders from the woods~~ lovely woodland creatures.

Who me? Yes I am lovely. I am a buck did you notice? I have antler buds. I will grow up to propagate with my harem and we will make babies and bring joy. Aren’t you glad. Do you happen to have some more hosta? I am very hungry.

But the things that I hate the most. The creatures that fill me with loathing and the desire to run away to the safest corner of my house.

Are……….

SPIDERS!!!!!!!!!

Look Teddy, Mr. Spider.

And in particular I hate these gigantic ones that seem to crop up in my basement in droves.

Ask HHBL how I reacted upon finding a bunch of them stationed at various points along the baseboards. It wasn’t pretty I can tell you. And it might have involved the waving of arms and the stomping of feet and a bit of screaming, the employment of the shop vac and perhaps a word or two that cannot be shared here as this is a family blog.

I’m just sayin’

This spider happens to be dead. If he wasn’t you can bet your bottom arachnid dollar that I wouldn’t have been laying on the floor up close and personal just to take a picture.

There are some things that are beyond even me.

I mean look at it! Look at those little beady death filled eyes. Please try to ignore the cat hair that still seems to be a permanent part of the carpeting and just look at the eyes. They are evil and filled with malice.

I hate spiders.

7 Quick Takes (Vol 156)

2012-03-02T11:01:00.001-05:00

Well it is that time of the week again. That special time when I gather together all the random threads of my random life and throw them at you in one big gooey mess.

You can thank me later.

You know the routine. When you have fully untangled my blather you need to click on the picture above to be whisked, at the speed of my rapidly deteriorating weather, over to Conversion Diary to see what everyone else has been doing.

Let us blather together

1.
Good golly we have had wild weather this week. And that just shows you how boring my week has been that I am leading off with the weather. Actually, if you read my blog post earlier in the week you know that our area has had anything but a boring week.

We had sun and almost 60F on Tuesday. Then it was RAIN and hail and wind and thunder and lightning on Wednesday. And then yesterday it was all clouds and wind and snow flurries.

And then it is supposed to be back to 60F today. Plus by late afternoon there will be big wind and thunder again.

And then tomorrow and into Sunday…snow.

My toes don’t know whether to be cold or not.

2.
From now on I am going to take my camera or my ipod with me when I walk at the lake. Had a total photographer “fail” on Monday because I had no camera of any kind with me on the walk and there, just in the water by the side of the lake, happily munching on something was one of the beavers.

And me with no camera.

DOPE SLAP!

Of course, now I will never see the thing again.

But I will be prepared just in case.

3.
Do you ever have a day where you just can’t “stick” with anything.

Yesterday was my day.

I had a boat load of business stuff that needed to get done. I had photos to edit. I had website stuff to deal with. I had a blog post to write. Emails to return. I had….

LIFE to deal with.

It just wasn’t going to happen.

So after a certain point in the day when I had started and stopped and started and stopped various projects and had spent time just sitting blankly in front of the computer I gave up and went and read.

Finished two books.

So I guess I did do something yesterday. Just not what I had thought.

And hopefully I am back on track. These things usually only last a day or so.

4.
This is my latest knitting finished object. It was part of a KAL (knit-a-long) that I participated in. I wish that you could see all the finished ones as, even though we were all using the same pattern, they all came out unique.

Traveling Woman

I love knitting lace. LoveLoveLove.

I want to cast on another one right now.

5.
A few ipod pictures from the week. Because I am filling time and space.

That picture of the raccoon going into his house. You can’t really see it very well but I can tell you that it was the biggest raccoon that I have ever seen. And I live in the woods so I have seen my share of raccoons. We were walking along and all of a sudden Sandy (walking buddy) stops and say, “Oh my gosh, look at the size of that raccoon!” He was literally hugging the tree, upside down, just watching us. After a bit he squeezed, and I do mean squeezed, into his hole, looked out at us and said something distinctly off color in raccoonese.

6.
I was going to have a blog post this week about making your own Corned Beef from scratch. But that has been put off until a later date as I have to order an ingredient that I cannot find locally. Prague Powder #1 also known as “Insta Cure #1” is the ingredient that gives Corned Beef that reddish color that we all know. You don’t have to have it, it does change the flavor a bit but you can do without it. I have made Corned Beef from scratch before and didn’t use it. However the corned beef is more of an off putting gray color without it. Tastes great, looks bad. So I will order some and then do the corning and blog post.

You would have thought I could find a local supplier of this stuff but nope.

7.
It took all I had this week not to buy a Canon 1.8F 50mm lens.

All I had in will power.

I bring it up every day on Amazon. I look at it. I study it. I think about the pictures I want to take with it.

This is how bad it got at one point. I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to find Prague Powder #1 locally (see #6) and was going to have to order it from Amazon. $2.99 worth of product for which they would then charge be $8 in shipping. And then I had a bright idea….

Hey I know what I will do. I will order the 50mm lens that I want so much and that will put me over the limit for free shipping and so they won’t charge me shipping on the Prague Powder.

Yes over the limit for free shipping by about $100.

When I told HHBL about my plan he just sat there and looked at me.

WHAT!!! It was a sound plan….sort of…..

I am just pathetic in my eagerness to push the “add to cart” button. And I am willing to talk myself into anything.

But I didn’t push the button.

Yet.

Springtime You Are A Tease

2012-02-29T14:05:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was beautiful outside. Warm. Sunny. It seemed a perfect day to just sit in the back garden for a bit with the camera.

I have been reading through Tom Dinning’s “Learning to See” blog posts and thought it might be a good time to put some of the things into practice. To just sit in the garden quietly for a time and see what is happening and “be” a part of it.

Maybe at this point I should just light some incense and put on some tie dye clothing.

So I sat for a time just listening to the birdies tweet. And the wind blow.

Oh I should also tell you I was outside because I wanted to play around with my camera. No surprise there. I wanted to test out my Back Button focusing. Can I just tell you that I am so in love with this feature.

LoveLoveLoveLove

Now back to the show.

I always leave the Autumn Joy sedum uncut over the winter. It gives a nice contrast to the bleakness and the birdies like to sit in it.

What? Doesn’t everyone have a toilet planter? You don’t understand why I have a toilet planter? Some people in this household, who shall remain nameless, don’t understand it.

But my father does…..where do you think I got the idea.

I might have to look for a replacement this year. Or not.

Ahhhhh, resting and relaxing in the sunshine. With my bright purple Crocs. Life is good.

Hmmmmm, the warm winter has given some of the lilies in the garden the idea that it might be time to wake up and get to growing. Go back little lily!!

Oh dear. The Pileated Woodpecker has been drilling a hole in one of the trees. You cannot tell from this picture but it is a substantial hole, about 3 inches tall.

That’s not good. Not good at all. No one ever said that gardening was all happy happy joy joy. If they did then you can bet they have a gardener.

The lovely green plants sticking their heads up in anticipation of…..

HEY NOW! Wait just a cotton pickin’ minute here. You aren’t a plant!! You are…..

A WEED!

So I had to spend a bit of time pulling some weeds. They offended my senses and my garden zen.

Garden zen? Alpha I would be happy to contribute to your garden zen.

What is that behind you Alpha Male? What is that moving object?

Wait! I know what it is! It is a…..a……a……..

SQUIRREL!!!!!!

SquirrelSquirrelSquirrelSquirrelSquirrelSquirrel

I will protect you from the squirrel oh Alpha Male.

I decided to go in after that. I was a bit deaf.

And my big fat bahookie was chilled from sitting on the ground.

Hug Your Kids Today.

2012-02-28T11:22:00.001-05:00

This morning our Northeast Ohio community is asking, “Why?”

Why would a young man feel that the only way to express his anger and rage was to bring a gun to school and shoot five of his classmates.

I cannot imagine a pain more horrible than the loss of one of my children. Parents never expect to outlive their children. No parent ever imagines that when they are sending their son or daughter off to school in the morning that that is the last time that they will see them alive. That there won’t be any more hellos or goodbyes or “I love you Mom”.

My heart is breaking.

My heart is breaking for the families of the two young men who have died. For the family of the young man who still clings to life and for the families of the two students who were wounded but will, hopefully, recover.

And my heart is also breaking for the family of the young man who stood up yesterday morning and calmly shot his classmates in the cafeteria. My prayer is that the community anger that may come will not be directed at them. That we would remember that they would never have wished this on any parent and that they are asking why as well.

I am shaken by the thought that there were times when I set the progeny out the door to school and there were harsh words between us. Maybe it was a rough morning. Maybe things hadn’t gone right. Maybe I was just a pain in the butt crabby momma that morning. To think that the last interaction that we might have had together was angry and not, “I love you” brings tears to my eyes.

Remember, no matter how ticked you are at your kids (and you KNOW you are at times) do not send them out that door without making sure that your last words to them are loving. And take the time today to hug them extra hard, even if they act like a crabby cat and don’t want you to. You are bigger.

I am sending big electronic hugs to the progeny.

I know from the bottom of my heart that the parents of Russell King and Daniel Parmertor would tell you the same thing.

And pray for these families. The families of the young men, full of promise, who are now gone. The families of the young people who are still in the hospital. And the family of the shooter, TJ Lane.

So many small acts leading to an explosion and nothing will ever the same.

Grocery Shopping PSA

2012-02-27T15:07:00.001-05:00

Good Afternoon.

This is your Grocery Shopping PSA (Public Service Announcement). This is specifically directed towards all those who feel that it is necessary to shop and cell phone chat at the same time.

We, the rest of the occupants of the store, do not want to hear your conversations. Really, we don’t.

Are you aware that as you stand in the canned goods aisle and talk on your cell phone that the rest of us can hear what you are saying?

Today I most certainly did not want to hear about how the woman in the canned tomato aisle has divorced her husband. How she took over all their credit card debit and he took all the house debit in the settlement but that now the house is most likely going into foreclosure and he is “threatening to take me down with him” if it does.

I am so sorry that you have to go through this but it was not necessary to talk about it in a voice that carried all the way over to the frozen foods.

You could have heard a pin drop in the dairy aisle as people were most certainly leaning in to see what would be said next.

Nor did I need to hear the teenage conversation about what she did over the weekend that her mother does not know about.

Believe me, THAT conversation was very TMI and conducted at

VERY LOUD DECIBLES

Perhaps she has been listening to Lady Gaga a bit too loud.

So people lets put our gray matter through it’s paces and think about what we are doing when we are shopping and chatting. Take a look around and be aware of where you are. If you must, and I have been known to chat and shop, please be aware that you are not sitting in your own home. I am in the cereal aisle with you. All I want is to get some oatmeal. I don’t want to know how horrible your mother-in-law is.

This has been your Grocery Shopping PSA for the day.

Thank you for your time and attention.

7 Quick Takes (Vol 154)

2012-02-24T10:40:00.001-05:00

Did anyone notice that I was one volume “off” in my numbering? I didn’t either. So, this week is Vol 154 when it REALLY should be Vol 155. I like to have all my ducks in a row and color in the lines. Yeah right.

You know the drill. When you are done here remember to click on the picture above to be whisked, at the speed of my rapidly falling caffeine level (I need more coffee) over to Conversion Diary.

Release the BLATHER!

1.
I have been singularly unproductive this week. That is the usual norm after taking a trip. I find that it is a 1:1 equation. If I am gone for a week then the week I get back is not all that productive.

Imagine what home life is like after I get back from a 2 or 3 week trip!

CHAOS!

In those instances I just try to embrace the chaos. Be the chaos. It is the only thing to do.

2.
Oh what am I going to do now that Downton Abbey is done for the season??

I can feel the lack already.

I will just have to have this YouTube video on constant loop.

And I have to say that I may HAVE to buy the series on DVD. The long, Downtonless, months ahead will be a little less empty that way.

3.
Again this year I have seen very few of the movies that are nominated for Best Oscar. In fact I have seen a total of two, Moneyball (good, but then I like anything that has to do with baseball) and War Horse (also good if long. You have to stay on your toes to follow all the threads). For a time there, until I actually looked at the list, I thought The Iron Lady was also nominated. That would have put the grand total at three. But it is not nominated which seems right because it wasn’t that good of a film to be honest.

Yes I KNOW, I haven’t seen The Help. So shoot me. I will eventually get it on Netflix and I am sure that I will like it.

And I can hear Cartoon Girl all the way from NYC yelling at me because I have yet to see The Artist. Yeah, yeah I will get to it eventually. I have to watch The Scent of Green Papaya first (that is my current Netflix)

I won’t even be watching most of the Oscars anyways because it goes WAY past my bedtime.

And no, I won’t be DVRing it either.

4.
This whole “not having a lot of snacks in the house” and “if I have to have a snack it has to be something I made” decision is killing me.

KILLING ME I tell you.

I am a snacker. I like to snack. I like to munch. I am almost 52 years old and I don’t think I am going to change now. But if it isn’t there to snack on then I cannot eat it.

How many times in recent weeks have I wondered into the pantry, intent on munching on something only to have to stand there and realize there isn’t anything that I can much ON.

I have been reduced to eating chocolate chips straight out of the bag.

I am that desperate. So I think I am going to have to make something sweet and naughty today.

Either that or things are just going to get really ugly around here.

5.
This is my favorite picture of the week.

Often times, when I am shooting a home interior, I will encounter a dog or two. I always love that because, well, because I love dogs.

This is Rocky. And he was HILARIOUS. He just followed me around and wiggled and snuffled. I just stood there and chuckled as he valiantly worked to get up on this couch.

Seriously, who couldn’t love a face like that.

6.
I have this strange habit of taking pictures of myself in the mirror. I cannot seem to help it.

I am so odd.

7.
I know I said a few weeks ago that I would do a weekly ipod photo dump and put it in a collage…..

I seem to have fallen down on that job.

Sorry.

But here, at least, are the few pictures that I have taken with Dahling. I will try to do better.

My “new” purple Crocs. Purchased at Goodwill for a whopping $5. I love them.

I am always sad when I see an afghan, loving made by someone, hanging all lonely and forlorn in the thrift store. I want to buy them all and bring them home.

Life is very hard when you have to have your wine and appetizers out on the lanai by the pool. But someone has to do it I guess.

Release the hounds!

Out For Their Morning Constitutional

2012-02-23T15:01:00.001-05:00

I love the area that I live in.

Do you know why?

It is because on any given day you might be going to work, in this case I was going to an early morning photo shoot.

You can park your car.

Get out.

Look behind you.

And see……

Coming quietly up the street in orderly fashion…..

An entire pack of hunting dogs from the local hunt club out for their morning stroll. They even stopped so that I could take a picture.

And then just calmly resumed their morning constitutional.

And the person on the bike?

She was in charge of the “poop patrol”.

Lucky her.

52 Food Adventures (Vol 5)–OUZO!

2012-02-22T13:26:00.001-05:00

Here we are again with another installment in my continuing adventures in the food world.

I really do sound pretentious. Blame Dandy cuz this whole thing was all her idea.

Man, I digressed within the first three sentences. Amazing.

At any rate. Moving on.

Do you know what Ouzo! is? I knew what it was but I will admit that I had never tasted it or used it in anything. Ouzo! is Greek alcohol (boy howdy!) with a distinctive anise flavor. Think black licorice.

If you don’t like black licorice don’t be scared away because it isn’t overwhelming in the recipe.

First let me say that deciding to use Ouzo! meant that I had to pay a call on my local liquor store. Skuttle in to the store hoping that no one sees my car in the parking lot.

Ask for the placement of the Ouzo!

Realize that one bottle costs…..$18!!!!!!!

Stand there for a moment trying to decide if it was worth it to do this recipe. Decide yes.

Skuttle back up to the counter and pay for the Ouzo! Have detailed conversation about the weather with the store owner.

Skulk out of the store with bottle in plain paper bag clutched in my hand hoping no one sees me.

Oh the Baptist Guilt!

Sorry. Now on to the recipe. I bet you never thought I would get there. This recipe actually came from an old issue of Cook’s Illustrated magazine.

These are all the ingredients that you will need. I don’t think you can possibly go wrong.

You can’t go wrong with Feta cheese. It is deeelicious.

First you should open the Ouzo! and take a nice big whiff so that you know what you are dealing with. And then pour yourself a very small amount and take a taste.

HOLY LICORICE ROPES BATMAN!

This stuff tastes like liquid Good and Plenty candy….with a BIG alcohol kick.

Debbie gives a big thumbs up to Ouzo!

MMMMMMMMM, Shrimp. The first thing you are going to do is put the shrimp in a bowl and then add some olive oil, lemon zest, salt, garlic and Ouzo! Just let them sit and get to know each other for a bit. They love each other and want to be together forever.

Heating olive oil in my trusty cast iron skillet. I love that thing.

Then you are going to want to add your diced up red pepper and onions to the pan and saute them. The recipe calls for green pepper as well but green pepper and I don’t get along so I left them at the store. The red pepper did just fine by itself.

Then you are going to add the rest of the garlic as well as some red pepper flakes. Thank goodness I looked at the recipe again BEFORE I put this in. I had measured out 1 tablespoon of red pepper flakes instead of the 1/4 teaspoon that the recipe called for.

Put on your glasses Deb!!!

Then a can of diced tomatoes with the juice.

Then some white wine.

White wine AND Ouzo!? Deb you are a wild woman. Wild I say.

Then just a tad more Ouzo! You will be the better for it I promise you.

Then you let this all reduce down until the sauce is thicker and lovely. Give it a bit of a taste to see if you have added enough salt and pepper. If you want (and it isn’t written in the recipe) you can add a tablespoon of butter to thicken up the sauce.

There is also some chopped Italian parsley that goes in as well but I forgot to take a picture of it.

While the sauce is reducing you need to start the pasta water boiling. That is if you are going to serve this over pasta, which I was.

Ohio City Pasta lemon pepper fettuccini. Oh be still my beating heart.

When you throw this into the boiling water you can also put the shrimp into the sauce. You don’t want to overcook either the pasta or the shrimp.

Stir the shrimp around, turn the heat down a bit and cover the pan. You should not over cook the shrimp or they will be tough like leather.

Leather shrimp isn’t all that appealing for dinner.

When the pasta is done and the shrimp are done you are going to grab your plates plus the feta cheese and the dill.

Did I mention the dill?

Dried dill from the garden. It may look strange but it smells fab.

Then you quickly sprinkle with feta cheese and dill. Take a picture which is so so at best.

And then sit down and eat.

Greek-Style Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta

The Lost Post Returns.

2012-02-20T12:57:00.000-05:00

Hurrah for Windows Live Writer! The post that was lost has now returned. And that is really good because I have nothing else to write about today.

It Feels So Good To Win

Have I ever mentioned that HHBL is a graduate of Valparaiso University? Well he is and now you know.

And every year the Valpo men’s basketball team plays our own Cleveland State University Vikings. It is the only time that I know of that HHBL roots against a Cleveland team.

And for the last few years there has been a “Meet and Greet and Eat” kind of shindig that the Alumni Assoc. puts on before the game. You know, you go, you have a name tag, you hope that you see people that you know. In my case that doesn’t happen because I didn’t go to Valpo but I still find someone to talk to.

This year we made a special effort to go because Homer Drew was the speaker. Homer was at one time the coach for the men’s basketball team at Valpo and he is just a generally all around nice guy, whose son happens to be the current coach. And HHBL wanted to go to hear him speak and to watch a bit of basketball. And I went along.

Sorry for the blurry picture. Evidently I had the setting wrong. It happens. Homer Drew was great. We loved hearing him speak.

But, I cannot say that the meal portion of the “Meet and Greet and Eat” was all that spectacular. What I can say was that it was AWFUL. Totally and completely AWFUL. And that was completely NOT the fault of the Valpo girl who was in charge. It can be laid at the feet of the catering service at the Wolstein Center. Right at their feet.

AWFUL.

They ran out of hamburgers and condiments long before everyone had gotten food. The food was late being sent up in the first place. When they did finally get a few hamburgers up to the room they weren’t even hamburgers they were veggie burgers that had chunks of corn in them. HELLO, did you think we wouldn’t notice? And they finally brought up another batch of lukewarm hamburgers and congealed fries just about the time that everyone was leaving to go to the game. Nor did they ever refill any of the water/lemonade/iced tea pitchers. Those were dry almost from the get go. I had to resort to having one of these…..

It was a wrench but I managed to get through it. Dr. Pepper is, after all, the only soda that counts.

But finally, after all the food fiasco, we wandered down to the game just before tip off. The last time we went to a CSU-Valpo game it wasn’t a very good outcome for Valpo. It was painful is the best way to describe it.

But not this time.

Valpo dominated right from the tip off. Dominated I tell you. BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

They seemed to be having trouble finding the hoop. And Valpo seemed to be hitting everything they shot.

In it goes thank you very much.

And there it goes again. Swish!

Did these people pay extra for dinner and a show? If they did then they were gipped.

This is HHBL and his college roomie. They are sort of fuzzy I am afraid. That darn 85mm lens and all the crowds that I was fighting against. I couldn’t get far enough back without getting jostled. Oh well, sometimes it is nice to go through life a bit fuzzy.

There was one injury on the court I am afraid. A player going down and grabbing his knee is never a good thing. He was out for the game but was at court side. And every time there was a time out of any length…..

He was up and out on the court with the help of one of his team mates.

Straight down the court and into the net. Take that CSU!

And finally the game was done. And the loudest cheers were coming from the tiny contingent of Valpo fans, many of the CSU fans having already exited the building.

And the moon was full on the way home with nary a cloud in the sky.

And that is what happens when you are trying to take a picture of the moon. The perfect picture. And your husband hits a pot hole. We have a lot of those around here.

And I actually like the picture strange as that may seem.

I am odd that way.

And it really feels good to win.

Oh, and I forgot to tell you that with that win Valpo moved into 1st place in their division.

Ahhhhhhhh.

7 Quick Takes (Vol 155, The Florida Edition)

2012-02-17T08:42:00.001-05:00

Yes, again I have been away and you have not even known it. I am sneaky that way. When you have soaked in the warmth from my blathering remember to click on the picture to be whisked, with the speed of my quickly past time in Florida, over to Betty Beguiles who is hosting this week.

And now on with the blather.

I was able to have fresh squeezed orange juice every day compliments of my parental unit, Papa.

Have I ever told you that I won't drink orange juice unless it is fresh squeezed. I am picky like that. Once you go fresh squeezes you can't go back.

Orange Juice snob am I.

I saw an alligator! OK, for those of you who live in Florida you are now yawning and saying, "Yeah, I see those all the time. Big whoppee do!"

Yeah well we don't see too many of them in the Frozen Northeast Ohio.

I really wanted to risk getting a closer picture but HHBL wanted to be able to fly home with his wife so I didn't.

We were able to see old friends. And make some new ones. And Mimi, the parental unit, made a fabulous meal as usual.

Life is SOOOO hard when you can surf the 'net by the pool. Someone had to do it and so I volunteered so you all didn't have to.

I love all of you THAT much.

You can thank me later.

I have no idea what this bird is. An egret? Whatever. It was walking along the nature preserve road and I took a picture of it. We don't have any of these in Ohio either.

We have turkeys, both the birds and the politicians.

Cute babies everywhere. I just want to squeeze them all and blow raspberries on their cheeks.

I think we need a grandchild.

Oh the fried fish. And the hush puppies. And the fries.

And the ice cream.

And the Key Lime Pie.

I am going to have to walk A LOT more to get rid of the fried fish that I have brought back applied to my hips.

But it was So good.

So, so good.

Happy

2012-02-16T08:54:00.001-05:00

How could you be sad when in the presence of these.

Hibiscus are such happy flowers don't you think. They make me want to skip through the meadow and sing happy songs.

Hmmmmmmm?

What?

You think it is odd for a 51 year old woman to skip through the meadow and sing happy songs?

Loosen up!

Are You Serious!!!

2012-02-15T13:27:00.001-05:00

Blogger ate my post.

It was a beautiful post.

It had beautiful pictures.

It was smoothly and competently written. Meant to post on this very day.

It was a joy to behold.

And it is not there. Or I should say that what was posted was the title and then nothing. Zippo. Zilcho. Nada. Nein.

I am away from my desk for the day but have my trusty iPad with me. He is always with me, my constant companion. My ever faithful servant. I had a moment between "stuff" to check to make sure that the post had posted without incident. I pull up ye old blog and....

WHAT!!!!!!

For the love of Peter, Paul and Mary.

Sometimes all this technology just bites me in my big, fat bahookie.

And just as an aside, one of these days I am going to do a blog post on what auto correct comes up with when I am typing. It didn't like "bahookie" and kept insisting that what I REALLY meant to spell was boho okie or possibly bazookas or bah okie.

What is a bah okie anyways?

To My Valentine

2012-02-14T10:41:00.001-05:00

A big Valentines Day smooch to my HHBL

I am thankful every day for you.

You make me laugh at just about everything.

You are a man of integrity even when it is hard and painful.

You put up with my ~~eccentricities~~ more unusual traits, even when you don't understand why I take pictures of the bare feet of beggars in India.

You are my very own Baseball Stud Muffin.

Thank you for being my most extra special Valentine.

A Dollop of Sunshine in a Day Full of Blizzard

2012-02-13T14:53:00.000-05:00

Here in the Frozen Northeast Ohio we do not grow oranges.

That means that oranges are expensive. And if you buy them you want them to taste all good and yummy. Not sour and unpleasant. So I was mighty upset when the oranges that I purchased several weeks ago where not, shall we say, all that tasty. HHBL was unimpressed.

Well darn it! Now I have 8 oranges that are going to sit in the refrigerator until they finally go rotten and have to be fished out, all dripping and slimy, and thrown in the compost pile.

Not so fast young Padwan. There is something that you can do with oranges.

You can make Orange Marmalade.

Oh just the thought brings joy and sunshine.

Lets see how we do this shall we? I will tell you right off the bat that I used Alton Brown’s Orange Marmalade recipe. No need to reinvent the wheel on this.

These are all the things that you are going to need. Don’t you love recipes that don’t require a vast assortment of ingredients and tools.

Oh oranges why must you look so lovely on the outside and yet be so disappointing.

The first thing that you are going to need to do is thoroughly wash and dry the fruit. I didn’t think that a picture of that step was required.

Then get out your mandoline and start slicing.

Or in this case, abandon the mandoline that refused to slice accurately and just get out a nice sharp knife. The slices should be 1/8 of an inch thick. Or so. Hey, uniformity is so boring!

Good thing they were on the sour side cuz I would just have munched away on these babies.

Then you need to zest and juice one lemon and throw that into the pot along with the orange slices.

A lemon has given it’s life and juice for my pleasure.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Sorry.

Add the oranges slices, the lemon zest and juice and 6 cups of water to the pot and turn the heat UP so that the liquid gets to a boil. Then turn the heat down a bit to keep the mix at a vigorous simmer and let it go for about 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so.

Take a break. Look out the window.

This is what it was doing the day that I made the marmalade. See, I really needed some sort of sunshine and happiness.

Stir the pot. Watch the Pileated Woodpecker. Stir the pot. Watch the Pileated Woodpecker.

And finally, after 40 minutes the oranges are all nice and soft and mushy. And that is when you add the sugar…….3 POUNDS plus 12 ounces of sugar.

I didn’t take a picture of that. I think you can figure out how to do that. But I will tell you that you need to make sure that you have used a large enough pot. The addition of that much sugar will raise the liquid level a bit.

Then get ‘er boilin’. You want to raise the temp of the mixture up to 220F. And it takes longer than Alton tells you it does. That may have been because I just wasn't vigorous enough in my use of heat.

Remember to use your thermometer. Alton also tells you to stick a plate in the freezer to test the readiness of your marmalade. I skipped that step and just boiled until the back of the spoon coated well and it dripped off the spoon just right. It was at a full, rolling boil that couldn’t be stirred down and was producing a lot of foam so I knew I was at the right place, marmalade wise.

I hate cooking rules.

Once the marmalade is done cooking you ladle it into hot canning jars, put on the lids and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes at full boil. Any opened marmalade can be refrigerated.

Once the canning is done, take them out of the water and let them cool on the counter. And do not open them for 24 hours. Let them sit. Let them rest. Have some discipline here people!

But if you just can’t wait to taste the nectar then scrape out the last dregs of the marmalade from the pot.

Oh be still my beating heart. I wish you all had “smellovision”.

A little dollop of sunshine on a very blizzardy day (I cannot see the street at the moment).

7 Quick Takes (Vol 153)

2012-02-10T13:59:00.001-05:00

OH how the days doth fly. Spring will soon be here right? But until she arrives it is time for the weekly dose of windy blather. So once you have contemplated my poor excuse for a blog post click on the picture above to be whisked, at the speed of the snowflakes that are falling, over to Betty Beguiles (who is hosting this week) to see what everyone else has been doing.

And now to the blather.

1.
They are predicting snow tonight and into tomorrow.

Darn it.

It has been so nice to be relatively snow free.

2.
HHBL and I were able to attend the Cleveland State University (CSU) v Valparaiso University (Valpo) men’s basketball game last night.

Have I ever mentioned that HHBL is a graduate of Valpo? Well he is. The Alumni Assoc puts on a “meet and greet and eat” thing every year when Valpo comes to town and this year we could go.

The catering service at the Wolstein Center was AWFUL. I cannot stress enough that it was AWFUL. They didn’t refill any of the pitchers of water or tea or lemonade. They ran out of food before people had even gotten to have anything to eat. AWFUL.

Did I mention that it was AWFUL.

BUT

Valpo brought their game with them and trounced CSU 59-41. CSU managed to score ONE point in the first 8 minutes of the game. That is ONE point to Valpo’s SEVENTEEN points.

And oh is it nice to have an 85mm lens and a good camera body at these kinds of things.

3.
I mentioned this week on Twitter that I had seen the deer triplets (yearlings) on one of my walks this week. I also mentioned that I have decided to name them…..

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.

For that is sure what I wish they were rather than eaters of my plantings.

I also saw their momma, The Baby Maker, hanging around.

And then I looked out my office window the other morning…

And they were all in the yard, just as casual as you please. As long as they stay down there I am fine.

But stay away from my HOSTA!!!

And my Day Lilies!!!

And anything else that is growing in my yard.

4.
I made these today…

Crack Beans

Yes, those are garbanzo beans (chickpeas) that have been cooked, then seasoned, then roasted in the oven. In my never ending quest for healthy snacking alternatives I came across this recipe on Pinterest.

Mother of All That is Holy they are good. I put Kosher salt, garlic powder and paprika on these. I am also thinking that they would be pretty darn awesome on the sweet and salty side. Oh the possibilities.

I was actually fully intending to take pictures and tell all of you how to make these. But then I decided that Frugal By Choice, Cheap By Necessity had already done that pretty well so I am just going to send you over there. No need to re-invent the wheel. Just click on “Crack Beans” to go and see how easy.

I will say that I soaked the beans overnight and then cooked them this morning in some homemade beef stock that I had leftover in the frig for just an added depth of flavor. And when they were done I let them drain on kitchen towels until they were no longer damp. And then followed the rest of the recipe.

MMMMMMM, salty and crunchy. What’s not to like about that.

5.
This week was a “Knitting Not Working” week.

I don’t like those kinds of weeks.

I tend to try and just knit through them even though I know that the project isn’t right and I am wasting time that would be better spent just frogging back and re-evaluating.

I am working on a baby sweater for an internet buddy who is about to ~~pop~~ have her first baby and I want to get the sweater done before the blessed event.

And I didn’t want to have to go and buy any yarn when I have a boat load of stash. So I scrounged around to find something that I thought would work. And I found something that I thought would do, the right weight and I THOUGHT I had enough.

I was wrong. But I kept telling myself that I had enough…all the way through the body of the sweater and the collar of the sweater and half way through the first sleeve of the sweater. Until I couldn’t lie to myself any more. I didn’t have enough yarn.

And I didn’t like the way that the yarn looked in the sweater.

So I had to frog back AND buy yarn.

Grrrrrrrr.

But the new sweater. Oh it is FAB. And almost done.

6.
And speaking of working, since I don’t seem to have anything else to talk about today. These are the other two projects that I did manage to complete in the last 10 days or so.

It Puts the Dane in Danish

Another Dane Shawl, which I have used several times I might add.

That Other Hat

I have no idea why the designer gave it that name but I like it so it doesn’t really matter.

7.
You may have already seen this. If you haven’t….and you have kids…..you must.

I laughed until I snorted my coffee out my nose.

Be aware that there is a bit of bad language. But it is still hilarious. Go ALL the way to the end of the clip.

Pictures From the Crypt Because I Said So!

2012-02-08T14:55:00.001-05:00

It is a cold and dreary day here at Chez Knit. Evidently there was snow earlier but I missed it.

Oh. Darn.

And since it is so dreary. And because I haven’t done one of these for an age. I thought we should have an installment of '

Pictures From the Crypt

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

OK, I am find now.

Don’t you wish you could travel with us?? Look at the fun contortions that we can fold ourselves in to. This happens to be Pilot Man and yours truly on a trip to Germany in…..1983. Thank Papa for taking SUCH a flattering picture. And the scary thing is, you might see me in this same position now taking pictures of odd things close up.

My family just smiles and moves on. Sigh.

Wow, could I look any more down in the dumps? Of course the broken arm doesn’t help the whole situation. Actually I sort of look like I am planning death for someone.

Probably Pilot Man.

And who is that sitting next to me?

Wook I am a PWINCESS!

This is my Grandpa Pringle and HIS dad Andrew. This is one of my mostest favorite pictures. You know why? Well, I do love it because it has Grandpa in it. But what I love most is that there is a great picture of Grandpa’s hand in it. He had very distinctive hands. And VERY strong fingers. If he pinched you to get your attention you knew it.

Doesn’t everyone allow their dog to sleep in their bed with them….under the covers. Doesn’t Gretchen look SOOOOO happy there.

When we registered her with the Kennel Club we WANTED to name her

Gretchen Das Vee en Pooper. But they wouldn’t go for it.

I don’t understand why?

Oh my word there are FROOT LOOPS on the table. I was sure this wasn’t at my house until I saw the wall scones and that weird chaffing dish thing behind Pilot Man. Did we somehow slip that box into breakfast without Mimi knowing about it? We did not get to eat Froot Loops.

Even now, if I could find out who cut my hair like this I might do them bodily harm.

Shut your pie hole I’m driving this horse!

The horror! Oh the horror! A bad flippy hairdo AND bucky teeth. Could I be any more nerdy if I actually tried?

I am without words for this one.

Oh lordy, the stud muffin horse wrangler is helping me and I haven’t brushed my hair in say….6 months. AND I am wearing LOAFERS while riding a horse.

NERD!

I think that is enough pain and agony for this installment.

Why Do I Do This???

2012-02-06T17:56:00.001-05:00

I had a different post in mind today. A smart post. An erudite post.

This is not that post.

This post is brought to you by my aching head. And by my general malaise. And by my inability to stop myself from eating gargantuan amounts of food.

Yesterday the Super Bowl happened. And that means that we went over to the home of LookLeap and The Tech Guy for the annual......

Super Bowl Foodapalooza

I felt it should be in large letters because it was just that kind of evening you know.

We ate. Oh did we eat.

Football game? What football game? I was just concerned with making sure that I had enough of the cheese fondue that was the "appetizer".

And then there was the steak and chicken fondue for the "main event". Mother of all that is Holy it was good. When you combine pointy forks and steak or chicken and very hot oil you end up with magic. Magic I tell you. And add to that the different dipping sauces.

Oh Momma.

And then LookLeap and I had some salad just so that we could feel healthy and righteous. HHBL and TTG just looked at us as if we had lost our football marbles when we asked if they wanted some.

What?? You can't have salad during the Super Bowl? Is that some unwritten rule that I don't know about? Green food items aren't allowed.

Whatever.

And then there was dessert, as I knew there would be. Did you catch the theme for the evening? Fondue? LookLeaps favorite food.

So of course we had to have chocolate fondue with fabulous things to dip in it. Strawberries. Bananas. Angel Food cake that had been browned in butter.

Take a moment to think about that. Angel Food cake browned in butter.

Yes, I know. The angels sang.

I tried to pace myself I really did. Oh and did I mention that we also had hot cheese dip with tortilla chips as a chaser. And some Jana's Do Dads as well.

Needless to say, HHBL and I didn't walk home so much as rolled down the street, groaning with the excess of food that we had subjected ourselves to. I was still suffering from excess food hangover this morning. And my brain wasn't working too well. Hence this rambling and rather incoherent post that is only emerging late in the day.

I will do better tomorrow.....I hope.

Thank goodness we only do this once a year.

That is probably what Tom Brady was saying to himself all day.

7 Quick Takes (Vol 152)

2012-02-03T13:30:00.001-05:00

Where does the time go? And why can’t I remember to write these things out over the week rather than doing them all in one fell swoop. Procrastinator am I. Betty Beguiles is hosting this week so after you have thought long and hard about my blathering click on the picture above to be whisked, at the speed of my ever expanding Super Bowl waist line, over to see what everyone else has been doing.

1.
Remember last week when I told you about my heart break at losing one of my newly completed mittens?

Oh the heart break.

Imagine my joy when, as I was getting in the car after church on Sunday I looked down and there, hiding under the passenger seat was……

THE LOST MITTEN!!!!!

Oh the joy. And now they are together again and all is happy with the world.

Thank goodness I hadn’t purchased replacement yarn to knit a new mitten.

2.
One of the disadvantages with living in a house that is 10+ years old?

Things break. And that is hard on the budget.

On Monday, in the late afternoon, I realized that there was a smell, a very “hot” smell that was wafting through Chez Knit. And I realized that on one side of the house there was hot air but it wasn’t blowing out of the vents.

DARN IT!!!

Went downstairs and checked and it seemed that the blower motor was not working on one of the furnaces (yes we have two). Sigh. So I had to call the furnace guy on Tuesday. He came right out.

And it was a fried circuit board. And I do mean fried. Like in scorched.

His comment was, “well it is a good thing that you were home. It would have been really bad had this gone on for a long time”.

That didn’t make the pain of paying the bill any less difficult.

3.
Know you, I am still amazed at technology sometimes.

This week was Abuela’s birthday (HHBL’s Mom, my MiL). So we called her like any good children would.

With Skype

All the way to Lima, Peru.

And she sounded clear as a bell.

Technology is amazing

4.
As we all know I am attempting to introduce new recipes into the weekly menu planning. I have all these darn cookbooks and I am going to use them!

And then there is Pinterest, heaven help me.

This week, besides the foray into yogurt making I also cooked “The Ultimate Stuffed Chicken Breasts” which is a recipe that I found in a Cooks Illustrated magazine that I found at Goodwill.

I full intended to take pictures and show all of you how to do it.

No. Way.

The recipe was good, don’t get me wrong. The breasts were stuffed with ham and cream cheese and onions and all manner of good things.

But they were an absolute pain in my big fat bahookie to make.

A. PAIN.

First I had to de-bone the chicken breasts. That wasn’t the fault of the recipe that is just the way that I bought them. Then you had to pound the breasts out. And before that you had to saute the onions and garlic and add them to the softened cream cheese and whip them all around. And then you had to spread all of that out on the flattened chicken breats and then you added ham and rolled them up. And THEN you rolled them into foil and stuck them in the frig to congeal. THEN you brought them back out, rolled them in flour, dunked them in egg, rolled them in bread crumbs (homemade thankyouverymuch). And THEN you fried them for a bit just to give them a crust and then finished them off in the oven.

I am exhausted just writing all that out. We won’t be having these all too often.

5.
Was it Spring like at your house this week? It was here. And today, even though it isn’t that warm the sun is shining and we are having one of those rare “no clouds” day.

And Denver is getting the weather that we usually have.

I don’t know whether to just be happy about that or to be worried that the winter we usually have is still going to arrive only just a bit later than normal.

The daffodils are 3+ inches up out of the ground. That is not good.

6.
Any plans for Super Bowl night? We will be at the home of LookLeap and The Tech Guy for the annual “Eatapalooza”. And that really isn’t an exaggeration I am afraid. It is more like a “Grazapalooza until We Explode” kind of thing. I probably should just stop eating now in anticipation. Except we have another party to go to tomorrow night where there will also be vast quantities of food.

Yikes. My jeans feel tight just thinking about it.

This year I am bringing a salad for Super Bowl night just so that we can say that there was something healthy and nutritious.

It’s all in the appearances my friends.

7.
I am going to add a new thing to the Friday Quick Takes, just for me. As we all know I take pictures. And I don’t just use Big Bertha the Magnificent. I also use my ipod “Dahling”. And I think I am going to do a Friday “ipod photo dump”. This is not my idea. I stole it straight from Kelle Hampton over at Enjoying the Small Things.

Hopefully this helps me to remember to take the pictures off the ipod and put them on my computer. Some of these are VERY old pictures. Remind me to do this will you.

Thanks.

It Is All in the Details

2012-02-02T15:21:00.001-05:00

I might have mentioned before that one of my photo gigs is taking architectural photos for a local kitchen designer.

I love it. And I have seen some amazing kitchens.

A. MAZ. ING!

Take a look at this picture.

See anything “amiss”?

My usual “photo editing plan” is to let the pictures from any shoot sit on my hard drive for up to a week before I edit them. That way I actually approach them with a fresh “eye”. I pulled this one up and really liked the composition and all was well and then…

I took a closer look.

Do you see what I see?

DAGNABBIT! When I was shooting the very cool sink that is just around the corner I had moved the very utilitarian but also very un-photogenic trash can out of the way.

And I forgot to put it back. AND I didn’t notice it as I was lining up the shot.

Insert LARGE dope slap here!

Yes, I could actually “photoshop” it out if I really wanted to. I don’t really want to. And I have other photos just as good.

But I am keeping this picture because I want to remind myself that I have to slow down sometimes and just look to make sure that everything is as I want it.

I am trying to learn from my mistakes.

And I am having just too much fun with photo editing today. I really should do something else constructive but…..

I am just having too much fun playing.

52 Food Adventures #4 - Homemade Yogurt

2012-02-01T13:39:00.001-05:00

Here at Chez Knit we continue to strive to be economical and healthy at the same time.

And also I just like knowing that I can make these things from scratch just because I think that we all consume too many things that have too many additives.

People have been making yogurt for many years before Salton came up with a yogurt maker like the one my Grandmother Amsler had when I was growing up. I hate kitchen gadgets that have only one purpose so I knew there had to be a way to make yogurt with common household items. Thank you Pinterest for helping me find the way.

Getting off soap box now.

Let me tell you something. I really don’t like yogurt all that much. Oh I have tried to like it. You know it is something that you SHOULD like and that so many other people eat and love but……we just never could get along.

Until now that is. Until I took the time to make my yogurt from scratch.

Oh Momma.

And because I love all of you I am going to tell you how I did it. You will love me. And curse me when you find out how many hours this really takes.

Lets get started shall we. The original recipe and instructions came from Bacon In My Pocket and I have to tell her an eternal THANK YOU!

There aren’t too many ingredients thankfully. I didn’t take pictures of the pots that you will need to use. If you download the recipe they are listed.

Can I tell you how much I love these lids. I find them at Wally Mart during the canning season and buy as many as I can. You can’t “can” with them but they are super for storage lids.

You will also need a large cooler. Go ahead and pour in a gallon of almost boiling water, close the lid and leave it.

You must have a thermometer. Don’t think you can guess. I know because that was what I did the first time I tried to make yogurt. It wasn’t a pleasant outcome. And I had not excuse because I had a thermometer handy.

Put your milk into your heavy bottom pot and start to heat it up slowly. You are going to want to get to 190F and once there you are going to turn the heat down and hold the milk at 190F for 10 minutes. While you are doing this you can sterilize the quart jars and just leave them in the hot water until you need them. Heating the milk slowly will take a while just so that you know.

DO NOT think you can go and do something else. Stay in the kitchen and read the paper and check the milk every 5 minutes. Stir it VERY frequently. If you scorch the milk it is unusable as yogurt.

Even if you are doing everything right you are still going to get the milk concrete that forms on the bottom of the pan. It is a pain to get off but you will just have to live with it.

Once your milk has been at 190F for 10 minutes you then have to cool it down. The quickest way is just to sit the pan in the sink in an ice bath. Stir the milk gently until it reaches 120F.

See, 120F on the dot.

Now thoroughly stir in your yogurt starter. I actually use a whisk so that it is well incorporated.

If you are making Vanilla Yogurt you will also add the sugar and the vanilla. All those little dark things in the vanilla extract? Those are vanilla beans from my homemade extract.

{{{{{Shivers of joy}}}}}

Now pour the soon to be yogurt into the hot mason jars. I would suggest you use a measuring cup or ladle to do this. I did but evidently I still couldn’t help making a mess.

Yogurt in waiting

Check the water temp in your cooler. It should be around 120F. Put your jars into the cooler and add enough very hot tap water (120F) to the cooler to bring the water level up to 1/4 of the way up the sides of the jars. Close the lid of the cooler tightly. Set your timer for 5 hours and go do something else.

DO NOT OPEN THE COOLER

DO NOT TAKE THE JAR OUT AND TURN IT OR JIGGLE IT TO SEE IF “IT IS WORKING”

LEAVE IT.

After the 5 hours is up take the jars out of the cooler and put them in the back of your refrigerator and let them cool down over night.

And then next morning???

Oh be still my beating heart. Creamy and smooth. Slightly sweet with a wonderful hint of vanilla.

Oh the smoothies in my future!

>>>>> Homemade Yogurt<<<<<

Lightbox on a Budget

2012-01-31T15:35:00.001-05:00

I am a professional photographer.

I remind myself of that every day because it just seems so unreal that I would even attempt something so audacious.

But I am a professional photographer who is on a very limited budget. And who cooks and takes pictures of her food. And who needed to be able to take better pictures of her food.

Hence I felt that I needed some sort of lightbox. A lightbox is a box that allows a photographer to shoot with diffused rather than sharp light. It literally takes the object you are shooting out of the background because the background that you are using is white or black. It makes your pictures all happy happy joy joy.

Or at least you hope that it does anyways.

But because of the whole limited budget thing I can’t just run out and buy something.

Enter Pinterest.

Oh how I love Pinterest. I need an extra day or two a week just to make and look at and think about the things that I have “pinned”. And there on Pinterest I came across a “how to make your own lightbox” tutorial. And then that led me to another one…and another one. And I thought,

I CAN DO THIS!!!

I didn’t take pictures of the process, you can find it here >>>> Wiki Lightbox

Lets see how I did shall we?

I will admit that I made some modifications. Instead of the tissue paper that they suggested I went to the local fabric store and bought some inexpensive light weight polyester fabric. It gives great diffusion and is very similar to what you would find on professional lights. And it doesn’t tear at the drop of a hat.

I also employed duct tape. Why? Because I am my Grandpa Pringle’s girl that’s why and he firmly believed in duct tape for everything.

I used plain white drawing paper that I have in a large roll but I may change that to use poster board which has a bit more strength.

The other major modification is that I didn’t cut a large square out of the top of the box. I am not lighting from that angle and it seemed that it would compromise the integrity of the box. Also, I am going to cut a “flap” in that area so that I can shoot from above. Maybe.

At any rate lets look at some of the test photos that I took today and you can tell me what you think.

Pretty cool eh! I must admit that I am more than a little proud of myself. I did have to run out to Target at one point because I couldn’t find the other small lamp that I KNOW I had around here. Perhaps it was cleaned out inadvertently. Oh well.

I think I will call this one “Still Life at Chez Knit”

You know, these aren’t half bad. I am rather tickled.

Or I would be if I wasn’t gasping for air because Max the Wonder Dog just let off a terrible “fluffly” right behind my desk chair if you know what I mean.

The aftermath.

I will say now that I know how this works I am going to “tinker” with the design a bit.

And for those of you wondering where my “52 Food Adventures” post is, since that generally shows up on Tuesday. It will be a day late. I am making something that I haven’t ever made successfully before and it won’t be ready until tomorrow.

But it looks VERY promising.

And there will be pictures.

The Day Has Come

2012-01-30T14:21:00.001-05:00

My baby is 21 years old today.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

I cannot believe it. How can it be true. Where has the time gone.

When the progeny were little we would tell them that we had ordered a special box that we were going to stick them in so that they wouldn’t grow or age. It was in the mail and on it’s way we would tell them. For some reason they didn’t believe us. I cannot imagine why.

But today is the day that the last of the progeny, my Noodle Bug……My Benny Boo……My Noodie Poodie….she is 21 years old.

How did this happen?

Shoe Queen we are so proud of the woman that you have become, despite our occasionally miserable parenting.
You were born with a sunny and funny disposition and you have kept it.
Your drive, in all things, to be the best that you can be makes Dad and I so proud of you.
Your fashion sense is unique
You SHOES! Oh your SHOES!
The voices that you can come up with are amazing.
The fact that you love pickles makes me so very proud
You math skill which have come totally from your father.

I am going to get all emotional here and swamp my key board. Lets just take a look a some pictures shall we. One picture for each year.

Ready?

Set?

GO!

I am not sure if she is smiling or leaving me a present in her diaper

I am sorry but this is just one of my favorite pictures.

Already her fashion sense was in evidence.

Who doesn’t wear patent leather Mary Janes and white socks to the 4th of July parade

Stylishly dressed for her birthday party. And in her favorite purple dress too! She wore that dress EVERY Sunday until it fell apart. The ladies in the nursery didn’t know her name, they just knew her as The Girl In The Purple Dress.

Oh yes, they were all SOOOOOO happy that we made them wear the exact same dress.

Shoe Queen and her cousin JMan.

One of my favorite pictures. What you don’t know is that Cartoon Girl is actually trying to squeeze the life out of Shoe Queen. Good Times.

Now THAT’S a happy bunch.

Ah the glasses. And soon the braces. What we do to our children!

We are firm believers in ice cream at every opportunity.

Shoe Queen turns 12. And I obviously have no idea how to take a picture yet.

A pickle on a stick? Why not, I am already nerdy.

River rafting with the cousins. We all needed ice cream after THAT experience.

You never know when we might break into show tunes here at Chez Knit.

You know, I think I have seen that look directed at me.

Shoe Queen and Slim Jim. Aren’t they adorable.

So Benny Boo Noodle Bug Noodie Poodie. A big Happy Birthday from your weeping and distraught momma. Who wishes that you hadn’t grown up nearly so quickly but who is so proud of the person that you grew up to become.

Sniff.

Don’t leave me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

7 Quick Takes (Vol 151)

2012-01-27T09:27:00.001-05:00

Oh the Winter doldrums are in full swing. We haven’t seen the sun for most of the week. And it is snowing.

So lets blather!

Remember, when you are done reading my ~~dull and humdrum~~ side splitting Quick Takes, click on the picture above to be whisked, at the speed of the snow falling outside my window, over to Conversion Diary.

1.
As if I didn’t have a bazillion other things to do in life…

I have decided that I need to play around with dyeing yarn. It is really all Bonnie’s fault. She just had to go and dye some yarn and then talk about it on her blog. And she had to talk about it at knitting night. And it doesn’t look all that difficult….

Famous last words…..

So I am just going to experiment a bit before I jump in full force.

Did you know you can dye yarn with Kool-Aid? Well you can. And once I have done this then I will come back and show you the results.

Wish me luck.

2.
It doesn’t take much to make us happy here at Chez Knit. We started getting the Wall Street Journal again.

YIPEEEEEEEEE!

It is SO expensive to get the WSJ so several years ago we canceled it. Oh did I miss it. But after a time they start sending you the “We miss you” letters and the “We want you back” emails and then they off a fabulous deal (which will only last a year or so). AND we could get it plus the online addition all for one low price.

Sign me up!

It was so nice to power up the WSJ on the ipad and lay in bed to read it last night. The high of luxury.

3.
Still loving Pinterest.

Just thought you would want to know.

But I have no idea how I am ever going to cook/bake/make/take all the things that I have pinned.

4.
It has been so hard to come down off of our “holiday sugar high”. Man oh man. I will admit that we usually have a small supply of chocolate of some kind that I keep in a jar in the closet in my office. But HHBL and I felt that it should not be refilled for a while. It isn’t that we eat a bag of candy a week, far from it, but we just needed to go as close to clod turkey on the chocolate and candy as we could.

But there are times every day when I find myself wandering through the kitchen and into the pantry to find something sweet. And there isn’t anything…

Well, other than that Hersheys candy bar that I found and consumed.

It is hard.

I want candy.

5.
Because I don’t have ANYTHING ELSE to do around here at Chez Knit. And also to dovetail with my “use it or clean it out” mode. I am going through all my cook books to see which ones I want to keep. I don’t have vast quantities of cook books, only about 30-40, but I was struck by how dusty some of them where when I cleaned recently. If some of them were covered with dust that must mean that I hadn’t pulled them out for a while let alone cleaned in that area. And so, in keeping with the whole trying to be a better meal planner etc. I have been going through them, flagging the recipes I want to try, putting the recipes, title only and type of recipe, into a data base so that they will be easier to find.

Stop looking at me as if I am some nerdy overachieving geek.

Databases are good. And I was born to spreadsheet.

If the cook book is one that I can’t find at least 10 recipes that I would like to try then it goes bye bye.

That hasn’t happened yet but the theory is good.

6.
Hard as it is to believe, I might have had a bit too much coffee on Wednesday.

I know! I didn’t think it was possible.

I had the usual gallon upon arising. And then at Bible Study we had our “before discussion monthly get together” and Kathy brought an entire “to go” container of coffee from Brueggers Bagels and I filled up the travel mug and drank that down. I remember thinking at the time that this might not be a wise idea. But I did it anyway.

I was like the energizer bunny until right about 4p.

Then I came down from the caffeine high and bottomed out and was perhaps a bit comatose.

But it was fun while it lasted.

7.
It is snowing today. And it also rained. And it is cloudy and cold. So we need some humor.

Monty Python is always funny. I just needed them today.

Oh fine, just one more then.

I can’t seem to stop myself.

Oh What To Do

2012-01-25T15:49:00.001-05:00

I am conflicted.

I just don’t know.

Maybe.

Maybe not.

Should I?

Shouldn’t I?

Do you think that I should put this tomato out into the bucket with the other stuff going to the compost pile in the garden?

Or should I wait a bit to see if I can yet use it?

Decision, decisions.

52 Food Adventures-Little Pillows of Goodness

2012-01-24T13:47:00.001-05:00

It is Tuesday and that means that I get to tell you about something that I made or ate that I haven’t ever had before.

First of all I have to tell you that I have absolutely no excuse for not having had these lovely little things.

No excuse at all. I mean if Bill Clinton can come to Cleveland for his first pierogi then I should have been eating them all along. What can I say, sometimes I am slow.

And of course I couldn’t just go out and buy some already made pierogi that are sold in abundance at the West Side Market. Oh no not me. I had to make them from scratch. I was going to take photos of the entire project but once I got started on them I just threw up my hands and said,

FORGET THE PHOTOS!

That is because it quickly became apparent that this was a messy process. I used Martha Stewart’s pierogi recipe that came out of some issue of her magazine. The pictures were lovely and clean. No flour flung left and right. No mashed potatoes stuck to the wall. But Martha has minions to do her bidding.

I have the dog.

Alpha Male I am always willing to help you in the kitchen. You need only ask.

At any rate, where was I? Oh yes, pierogi.

Just as an aside. Can anyone tell me what the plural of pierogi is? I am confuzzled on that.

What I can say about this recipe is that pierogi are little pillows of goodness. Dough filled with potatoes and cheese. Boiled and then fried in butter.

Just take a minute to think about that.

You could eat them just like this. Boiled until they float to the surface, drained and then sloshed with a bit of brown butter.

Delicious

Or……

You can do this with them. Fry them in a bit of butter until they are crispy on the outside and then serve them with sour cream, crumbled bacon and chives.

Mother of all that is holy!

Ummmmmmmm, they were soooooooooo good.

And just as a last bit. Martha’s recipe makes a BOAT LOAD of pierogi. And I will confess that I actually ran out of rolling out/stuffing/boiling mojo before the dough and potato filling ran out. I stuck a bit of dough in the freezer to see if you can freeze it and then use it later. Martha didn’t tell me and I need to know.

The Lonely Mitten

2012-01-23T12:43:00.001-05:00

There is much weeping and moaning and gnashing of teeth here at Chez Knit.

A day of mourning was called on Friday and into the weekend.

A mitten was lost.

Now if you are not a knitter then you might not understand the agony I experienced on Friday when I arrived home and realized that I only had ONE of my newly completed, barely ever worn and not even photographed yet mittens.

I pulled into the garage, gathered up all my stuff, grabbed my mittens….

Only there was just one mitten on the seat. Hmmmmmmm. I looked around. I looked under the passenger seat. I looked in my library bag. I looked under the driver’s seat. I looked beside the doors thinking that may be it had fallen down into some space there.

I looked everywhere.

Nada. Zilch. Zippo. Nien. Nyet. Nope.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

No lovely burgundy mitten knit with Berroco Ultra Alpaca. No toasty fingers on a cold winter day.

The pain and agony was immense. Weeping and gnashing of teeth. Shouting of imprecations. Calling on the phone to all the places that I had stopped and begging them to find my little lost mitten.

No go.

So I just had to knit some new ones over the weekend.

Behold……

The Replacement Mittens

You can bet your bottom dollar that when I wore them to church yesterday I kept them close to me. I don’t think that my poor little heart could take another lost mitten.

7 Quick Takes (Vol 150)

2012-01-20T09:43:00.001-05:00

Another week has flown by on swift winter wings. And it is time for your weekly dose of blather. So buckle up it is going to be a bumpy night (I might have been watching too many old movies). Remember, when you are done here then click on the picture above to be whisked, at the speed of the fast approaching weather system, over to Conversion Diary.

Now lets BLATHER!

1.
I might have mentioned that this past summer HHBL and I bought a new mattress. It had been 10 years since our last mattress purchase and it was definitely time for a new one. And we made a drastic change in the type of mattress.

Yes, it is “firm” underneath BUT it also has memory foam AND a pillow top.

Oh my stars and garters it is the most fabulous thing EVAH! I get in bed at night and my weary body sinks down into luxury and happiness and comfort. My shoulder issues have disappeared.

But there in lies the problem so to speak. The bed is fabulously comfortable. My body is fabulously comfortable, especially when it is warm and cozy under the flannel sheets. And therefore I am having a bit of trouble getting up in the mornings. My arising time has slowly crept towards 5:45a from the usual 5:15a. And today it was actually 6a. HORRORS!

Of course it is also very cold and snowy and dark outside this time of the year. And the heat doesn’t turn up until about 6a. And it is really dark outside and it is always harder to get up in the dark…and the cold. And I already knew that Lea and I weren’t walking this morning as the temp was going to be about 11F and that is NEVER fun.

I can find a boat load of excuses but really, I just like the mattress.

2.
Speaking of the cold and snow. Every year it takes more effort to keep my feet warm. The hand knit wool socks go a long way towards helping in that department but when it gets really cold I am finding that I need to wear two pair of socks, a wool pair and a lighter cotton pair, to keep the tootsies even a modicum of toasty.

And I am also still struggling to find a truly warm pair of slippers for house wear. I will admit that I purchased my last pair from Wally Mart and the minute the temp dipped below 50F I stopped wearing them because they are useless. I am currently subbing a pair of “Pseudo Crocs” with fleece linings that also came from Wally Mart. They are OK but still not warm enough. I will keep looking.

I may actually have to buy some heavier wool for some thicker socks. I am attempting to knit only from stash for the time being but this is more of a comfort issue.

And an excuse to knit socks.

3.
In keeping with my “NO politics after 8p” rule, I did not watch the Republican debate last night. I value my sleep much more than I value listening to them bash each other.

I have to say that as far as keeping my sanity and sleep patterns is concerned this is one of the best things that I have done for myself since I became more “politically conscious”.

I slept like a baby. And by the time that I arose all the pundits had parsed the debate for me. I like it when others do all the heavy lifting.

4.
The BHAG of scanning in old pictures continues daily. If I don’t scan a bit every day then this gargantuan thing will never get done. And besides, I need a good laugh at least once a day.

I cannot IMAGINE why Mary Beth Reeves and I are dressed up like psychotic bunnies. The really frightening thought is that we might have even wore these outfits to school. GADS! I am even wearing my Saddle shoes, which I absolutely wore until they fell apart. I loved those things.

I used to hang at MB’s house for lunch early in my high school career. She lived right across the street from the high school. The house is no longer there and MB moved away some time around Sophomore year. Does anyone know where she went? I sure would like to know.

5.
This week we finally had the ejection pump in the basement fixed.

Don’t know what an “ejection pump” is? Well, if you have a full bathroom in the basement, a bathroom that is below the level of the septic tank, you need one. It ejects things UPWARDS and into the septic system.

Do I need to explain this any further? I am hoping not although I can if I must. Just know that the pump had slowly been dying over time. It hadn’t ever really been well after the whole “multiple paper towel flushing” incident many years ago. The one where the ejection pump became, shall we say temporarily inoperative, and yet people kept flushing the toilet. And that meant that the effluent (look it up) had to go somewhere and that somewhere was out onto the carpeting.

Ask TMO about my reaction upon finding the effluent on the carpet. Go ahead and ask her. I believe she still has nightmares about it.

But thanks to Nick our trusty plumber it is all done.

We won’t be able to eat for awhile do to the cost but at least we can use the bathroom in the basement.

6.
Have you been watching “Downton Abbey” on Masterpiece Classics. I have as we all know. Love Love Love it. Totally hooked. In fact I had better go and set the DVR to record Sunday night’s episode.

Do you know who Simon Schama is? He is a British historian, author and critic. Watching his 15 part series “The History of Britain” was good but time consuming. And he evidently doesn’t like Downton Abbey, calling it a steaming, silvered tureen of snobbery.

Of course it is Professor Schama. Why else do you think we watch it. We KNOW it has improbable storylines and is historically inaccurate. We don’t care. It is FICTION for the love of Peter, Paul and Mary. Get down off of your overly educated high horse and tell us something that we don’t know.

Like who actually killed the little princes in the tower.

Sorry, obscure historical reference. I will try not to let it happen again.

In other words, put on your big girl panties and get over it.

7.
The sun is shining this morning. The sky is a clear blue and no clouds are in sight. And that just makes me nervous. The calm before the storm.

And sure enough, we are supposed to get more snow tonight. The weather person is telling us that they are giving us a “heads up” that sever winter weather is on the way for tonight and into tomorrow.

Sigh. Our “snowless” state was nice while it lasted. Thank goodness I don’t have to go anywhere tomorrow.

Oh Spring come quickly. And just remember baseball Spring training starts in just a few short weeks. And Baseball Opening Day is April 4.

That isn’t TOO far away.

Popovers For Dinner Are Good For Me Right?

2012-01-18T18:23:00.001-05:00

There are times when HHBL isn’t home for dinner. And on those nights I sometimes indulge myself with making something odd and specific for dinner.

Tonight it was popovers.

I have a strange and strong love for popovers. And when I have perfected the recipe I will tell you about it and show you how to make them.

But it is not this day.

This day I am just eating these light and eggy nuggets of sheer goodness.

With lots and lots of butter.

And a lovely, cold glass of Menage a Trois Chardonnay. The perfect compliment.

What? You mean I am not supposed to slather on butter to the point that it runs down my chin and onto my fingers?

What do you know? I had three of these pillows of perfection for dinner. They were FABULOUS.

52 Food Adventures–Thai Curry

2012-01-17T15:56:00.001-05:00

Or, How I came to see the beauty of Coconut Milk

My choice this week for something that I have never made or cooked with or eaten is….Coconut Milk.

And I picked it because I wanted to make a particular family recipe, that has come down to me from my Great Aunt Margaret. Aunt Margaret and Uncle Kenneth were, for 10 years, Presbyterian missionaries to the country of Siam. Thailand to you and me….

You know, THAI CURRY.

This recipe came from her. And she brought it back from Siam when they had to return in 1937. And it is……FABULOUS.

I want to apologize in advance for the quality of the pictures. It was night time when I was cooking this. And I hadn’t ever made the recipe before. And there might be some pictures that are missing from the process.

Whatever.

Remember, the recipe link is down at the bottom of the post.

The first thing that you do is open the can of coconut milk. It is going to look solid and congealed on the top. That is the “cream”. You need to scrap that out, put it into a bowl and set it aside because you are going to add it at the very end.

It looks like marshmallow fluff and it smells like all the coconuts in the whole world have come to reside in your house. I just stuck my nose down in there and gave it a good sniff.

Then you are going to give the chopped onions a bit of a saute. I will tell you that the original recipe called for pearl onions to be added later in the recipe. I have an aversion to canned pearl onions as I think they have WAY too strong a flavor and aftertaste. So I fiddled a bit with the recipe.

Turn the heat down to low and then add the coconut milk

Then mix in the curry and the peanut butter. I found that it was best to sort of mix the curry into the peanut butter first and then add it to the coconut milk. I will tell you that I only use McCormick Curry (Spice Islands is owned by McCormick incase you wondered). I like the taste the best. And every curry tastes different so find one that you like and stick to it.

Then in goes the lemon juice and the brown sugar. Half a lemon seems to just about right for my taste.

Then the shredded chicken goes in.

Then the smooshed up garlic. All you need to do is smash it a bit, not even chop it. It is going to melt into the sauce and be wonderful.

Finally throw in a small stick of cinnamon. It sounds odd but you absolutely need it.

Just remember….to take it out before serving. I forgot. HHBL found it. Oops.

And finally, throw in some raisins. The recipe says to use them as a condiment but I put them in the actual curry so that they could plump up a bit. Then give everything a good stir.

But try not to be TOO enthusiastic about stirring.

Let everything cook gently while you are making your jasmine rice. Your house is going to smell just like a Thai restaurant!!

>>>> THAI CURRY <<<<

Oh, I have to tell you just a short family story to go with this. The final picture is taken on one of my Blue Willow plates. Grandma Amsler (Margaret’s youngest sisiter) also used Blue Willow plates, which is why I love them absolutely and completely. One day, many years ago, Grandma A. had placed her entire set of Blue Willow dishes out on a shelf. I think she told me once that she was cleaning out the cupboard where the dishes were kept and she needed to put the dishes some place temporarily.

At any rate, the shelf gave way. The dishes gave a gigantic SWOOOOOSH….and crashed to the floor. Almost all of them were broken. Now Grandma was a Presbyterian minister’s wife and there wasn’t money to be able to buy any dishes….

But Aunt Margaret took care of that.

She bought Grandma a new set.

What a sister!

Oh How Time Flies

2012-01-16T14:16:00.001-05:00

I might have mentioned last week that one of my BHAGs for the year of 2012 is to spend time scanning in all the pictures that I have taken over the years before the advent of digital cameras.

Now that doesn’t mean that I am going to scan in EVERY picture. There are some that aren’t worth keeping even in digital form. But that only takes out a few pictures. There are so many more.

So that also means that there might be more volumes of Pictures From the Crypt. I thought I might warn you now so that you aren’t so shocked and permanently scarred when those posts come along.

BRACE YOURSELF EFFIE!

But I digress.

I just have to show you a picture I found today. I am not sure how it came to be in a box of misc. old pictures but there it was.

The is Maxwell the Magnificent on the day that we brought him home. For some reason the date stamp is wrong cuz it was 9/3/01 not ‘02. He was SO quiet for the first week.

Well except for the hours that he spent in the middle of the night bark and whining and making me homicidal. Thank goodness for Pilot Man and his dog training wisdom. Otherwise Max might belong to someone else.

Oh Alpha Male say it isn’t so!!!

Oh this is going to be so much fun.

7 Quick Takes (Vol 149)

2012-01-13T10:13:00.001-05:00

The weather outside is frightful. And inside it is nice and warm. So lets blather for a bit. Remember, when you are done reading my witty insightfulness you should click on the picture above. That will whisk you, at the speed of my fast emptying bird feeders, over to Conversion Diary.

And now on with the shew!

1.
Do you like specific ringtones for specific people or do you just use one standard ringtone for everyone.

Me, I like specific ringtones so that I know who is calling. And the standard ringtones that you get with your phone are always so boring.

So, I make my own ringtones. Or to be more specific I have Mobile17 do it for me. If you have itunes, internet and can receive txt messages on your cell phone then you are good to go. You tell Mobile17 what song you want to use. You tell it where to start and where to end. They make the ringtone and send it to you as a picture txt file and you are good to go.

So of course, even though I had a boat load to do last Saturday, I spent a bunch of time making new ringtones.

Now I know when LookLeap is calling.

2.
I had a bunch of errands that I wanted to do today. Nothing earth shattering or time sensitive but just a list of things that need to get done.

But I am not doing them today because the weather is less than lovely. That is a nice way to say that it is snowing like gang busters and the temp is currently 18F. I can stay home I think. And in fact, I believe I am going to have another cup of coffee and read a book.

I earned it because I actually went out and walked this morning. Long johns, sweats, wool hat, extra sweatershirt with hood, two pairs of wool socks, two pair of mittens and a thick wool scarf as well as the parka…..and it was still a bit chilly at first.

3.
Today I might also spend some time working on one of my BHAGs for 2012. You do know what a BHAG is? Big Hairy Audacious Goal. I have a number of them but the one that I might spend some time on today is scanning in my old pictures…..

And there are a lot of them. My taking of large numbers of photos did not start when I went digital. It was there a LONG time before that. And I just want to be sure that they are all preserved in digital form as the negatives went missing during some move somewhere.

But it takes so long to scan pictures and all that goes with that. I am not even re-editing any of them at the moment, only scanning in.

Does anyone else do this? Other than my father who is spending his time scanning in all of his old slides….boxes and boxes and boxes of them.

4.
AND I might watch a DVD today as well. I haven’t had the chance to watch any of the DVD’s that I received at Christmas. So “Everybody Loves Raymond” may be in my future. Or perhaps another viewing of “The Holiday”, a movie that just makes me smile and smile.

Or I could revert to an old favorite standby like Aliens.

Oh the possibilities are endless.

5.
Plus I need to work on my knitting KAL. A bunch of us at Tri-County Knitaholics are doing the Traveling Woman shawl.

I have to say that all of us had a bit of trouble with the cast on. Not because it was in any way difficult because it really wasn’t. It just happens to be a cast on that isn’t my favorite. But there was a decided air of frustration for a bit. But now I am whizzing along.

Not that there is any competition between us.

Nope, not a bit.

Because, you know, I am not a competitive person.

6.
Can I tell you that I am more enamored of my ipad with each day that passes. I read on it. I check email. I am not tied to my computer. I even took it into the kitchen this week because there was a recipe for Rosemary Bread that I had found on Pinterest that I wanted to make. Rather than printing it out I just took the trusty ipad into the kitchen and looked at the recipe that way.

And I figured out that I can lay in bed and watch a gluttonous number of YouTube videos. I am currently obsessed with InTheGarageTV channel.

The Redneck making fireworks in the garage is particularly funny.

7.
And finally. One of my neighbors just figured out that I have this crazy blog. And she has been reading back through ALL of them. That means all the way back to 2008 when I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. And frankly was a rather boring writer. Not that I am not boring now.

Never mind. Moving on.

And she wondered if I ever mentioned neighbors, other than LookLeap that is.

HI LINDA!!!!!!!

See, I do mention the neighbors.

But only in the nicest terms cuz….they all know where I live.

I Am A Housewife Therefore I Eat Bon Bons All Day? Yeah Right.

2012-01-12T15:56:00.001-05:00

I am many things. I am a wife. I am a mother. I am a photographer. I am a blogger. I am a gardener.

And I am a housewife.

Or as I like to term it

NINASHINDA NYUMBA!

Which is Swahili for “I conquer the home”.

Many a year ago, when I still actually had progeny at home and underfoot, I had another woman, who should have known better but evidently didn’t, ask me what I did all day at home. I believe her words went something like,

I don’t know how you can stand to be home all day. What do you do? I would be so bored.

I looked at her. Just looked. And then I consigned her to the same “category” as the grocery store clerk who, when I was filling out a form to get a rewards card said,

Oh, you are a house wife. So you don’t have a job.

Lord have mercy the Smack Fairy needed to make a quick trip to visit that girl.

But I digress.

There is never a dull and down time moment here at Chez Knit. Even with no progeny at home. I actually have to “schedule” at least one firm day at home every week otherwise things just go to heck in a hand basket.

This is what my day was like today. Cuz I KNOW you wanted to know.

1. Up at 5:40a. I overslept. Well really I fell back to sleep after my alarm went off at 5a and I listened to the first ten minutes of NPR

2. Coffee. Feed the dog. Let the dog out. Let the dog in. Let the dog out. Let the dog in. Make my breakfast, two eggs sunny side up and two pieces of rye toast.

3. Write the daily “Elixir of Life” post. It gets the brain going that is for sure. A cranium, having to produce a minimum of a two line poem every morning will wake up quickly.

4. Clean off desk.

5. Take shop vac to the basement to vacuum the Christmas decorations area before stacking all the boxes.

6. Before I can do that I need to vacuum and rearrange the pathway to the decorations area, restacking some boxes and just neatening.

7. Then I needed to vacuum another area over by the workout equipment so that I could move the bikes that are stored in the basement so that I would have a clean and clear path to move the Christmas decoration boxes.

8. After vacuuming that area I moved all the boxes and restacked them.

9. Then I realized that I wanted to rearrange another area in the basement. HHBL and I are going through a number of boxes of “papers”, shredding old bank statements etc. And so then I spent time shredding some of my old bank statements.

I felt like the assistant to a dictator, in the basement of the government building, frantically shredding important documents before the opposition got there.

Or not.

10. Then I had to re-vacuum that area because I made a mess. And I had to move a small table into the finished area of the basement but I also had to move the couches so that the small table would look right.

11. Then I had to make some lunch. And watch a PBS program that I had recorded, which cut off 10 minutes before the end so I had to go to the computer to research how everything turned out. Francesca Woodman-photographer-killed herself.

12. Back to the basement to put away the Christmas wrapping station that is scattered all over. And spend time going through all the stuff and pulling out old gift bags that have seen better days as well as some wrapping paper that I think is older than the progeny.

13. Go through a basket of stuff that Shoe Queen had eliminated from her “stuff” that we have stored in the basement. Find that one of the things that she was discarding is her old ipod, 30G, classic. A bit scratched and scuffed and….I dropped it on the concrete floor in my excitement.

14. Spend time figuring out if it still works. Yes it does, but it’s battery was totally depleted so had to charge it up.

15. Spend time wiping ipod memory and re-installing all my music. It isn’t like I don’t have “Dahling” my ipod touch, who goes everywhere with me. It is just that the music player in the kitchen is suited for an ipod classic and this is going to be SO great to have it work like it is supposed to.

16. Fiddle with ipod to make sure that just music downloads.

17. Somewhere in there I also put two chickens in a pot to cook, let carcasses cool, picked the meat, put the bones and stock back on the stove to cook down a bit.

18. Wrote blog posts for two different blogs.

19. Caught up on my journaling.

20. Cleaned up the kitchen. Ran a load of dishes. Did some dishes by hand.

No job my every lovin’ ass!

I apologize. I used the word ass. I will try not to do it again.

Polydogethane

2012-01-11T15:11:00.001-05:00

I am going to complain today so be prepared. I am feeling squirrely

And WHAT is wrong with being squirrely I ask you? All MY friends are squirrely.

Moving on. That was gratuitous use of a squirrel picture for humorous effect. I apologize.

Thank you!

We all know that I love Max the Wonder Dog. Despite is tendency to shed enough on a monthly basis to knit a sweater. And his terrible breath. And his tendency to eat butter.

Thank you Alpha Male!! I love you too.

Can I have a treat?

Or a cookie?

I need to go out.

SQUIRREL!

But he has a bad habit. Well, he has more than one bad habit but there is one that just sends me through the roof.

Makes me crazy.

Drives me nuts.

He licks my kitchen floor.

Yes, yes I know he is a dog and that is what dogs do. I get that. But there is licking the occasional crumb off the floor, not that I HAVE any crumbs on the floor, and giving the floor a bath. Lovingly licking it as if that strip of floor right by where I cook and bake is a new born puppy in need of cleaning up.

We didn’t notice it at first. I didn’t really pay attention. But then I began to wonder why the floor was discolored in a three inch wide strip right under the lower kitchen cabinets. I was confuzzled. It wasn’t that when I washed my kitchen floor I just skipped that part. It was still there AFTER washing.

And then I walked in one day to see the floor in that area was wet and the dog was laboriously licking the floor, moving slowly along with his big dog snout stuck under the cabinet.

Sssssschlurp. Sssssschlurp. Ssssschlurp

MAX!!!!!! STOP THAT!!!!!!

I am so sorry Alpha Male. But there was essence of food on the floor and I couldn’t help myself.

And he is SO sneaky about it now that he knows it is verboten. He can be very quiet when he wants to be and when I exit the kitchen it isn’t unusual for him to slip in on silent hairy feet and lovingly bath the floor in essence of dog saliva. It has gotten to the point where when I leave the kitchen I will pause and then quietly sneak back in to see if I can catch him at it. Sometimes I do….sometimes I don’t.

Yes, that discoloration on the floor was actually an accumulated layer of dog saliva. And it is very difficult to remove from the floor once he lays down a layer or two. It is sort of his own version of floor grade polydogethane. It is a constant struggle between us.

He licks the floor. I clean the floor.

It is my secret pain.

Sea Foam Salad or What To Do With That Lime Jello

2012-01-10T14:36:00.001-05:00

We have all been confronted with it.

You know, that box of Lime Jello that you inexplicably bought at the grocery store. Most likely because there was a “sale”. But then you got home, you looked at it and thought,

What the HECK was I thinking! Lime Jello?? I don’t even know what to do with Lime Jello!

Well, I am going to help you with that dilemma, because I have the perfect recipe to use what I consider as one of the most useless ingredients on the planet, lime jello, to make the most fabulous salad.

This isn’t TECHNICALLY adhering to the rules for “52 Food Adventures” but I am going to go with it because I am going to bet that most people have never cooked with Lime Jello. I wouldn’t unless I was using this recipe. It is Tuesday and I was out of ideas. Dandy love me and she won’t mind.

Oh I should tell you that here at Chez Knit there is some controversy about this “salad”. There are some who feel that the more proper designation for this recipe would be “dessert”. I will let you decide. I just call it deeeeeeeeelicious.

These are all the ingredients that you are going to need. Just 5 little things to bring you bliss.

Remember to include your progeny in the joyful process of cooking. Here Shoe Queen demonstrates her love for Sea Foam Salad.

Drain the canned pears but remember to reserve the pear juice. You will need it later.

Smoosh up the pears and set them aside. They will be added in a bit. I would suggest that you smoosh them up fairly fine. It is OK to have little bits of pear in the salad but not big chunks.

That is just a really disgusting color. This is 1 cup of the pear juice mixed with the box of jello and then heated in the microwave until very hot but not boiling. The jello has dissolved and the whole thing smells like a giant vat of green liquid Lifesavers.

If you have all the time in the world you can just let the jello/juice mixture cool to room temperature on it’s own. Or, you can help it along a bit.

While the jello is cooling you need to beat the cream cheese and the cream together until they are married and ready to go off on their honeymoon.

I didn’t take a picture of that. It was just too personal.

Then it is time to introduce the jello/juice to the mixture. Just pour it in and turn on the mixer. But don’t turn it on with too much vigor because you will then be cleaning lime jello off the walls…

Not that I would know anything about that mind you.

Moving on.

Don’t be alarmed by the slightly broken look of the mixture. It is fine and will even out when you add the cool whip.

Add the mashed up pears and continue to mix.

Then add the entire container of Cool Whip and let the mixer GENTLY mix it all together. No need to beat it within an inch of it’s life. You could even fold the stuff in like Julia Child would probably do.

Nah, just use the mixer.

And finally, when you have mixed it all together, put it in the serving bowl and let it sit in the frig for 4+ hours until it is thoroughly set, you have………….

Sea Foam Salad. Try not to eat it all in one sitting. Your waist line might never forgive you.

Oh and just a word of warning. If you have longish hair and you are the one making the salad and you decide to clean off the mixer paddle but licking it clean.

You might want to pull back your hair.

Just a suggestion.

>>>>> SEA FOAM SALAD <<<<<

A New Hampshire Primary Poem

2012-01-10T07:37:00.001-05:00

In today's New Hampshire primary, they vote for Mitt or Newt.
Or John or Rick or Ron or Rick whichever one will suit.
But I'm not paying any mind to what goes on with them,
I'm just waiting for my Joe to wake up my brain stem.

This has been your Elixir of Life and Political post for the morning. You can thank me later.

Oh Dear

2012-01-09T15:24:00.001-05:00

I might have mentioned that it has been a brutally mild winter here at Chez Knit. It is almost freaky how little snow we have had and how much sunshine.

The sun rarely shines around here in the winter time. But this year we have had sun and “warm” temperatures for the most part. I mean today it is 45F for the love of Pete!!

Don’t get me wrong, I am not actually complaining about the warmer weather and the lack of snow. It is just that sometimes warm temps can cause some things to get all Springtime happy a BIT too early.

I am looking out my kitchen window on Saturday afternoon and what do I see, sticking their heads up out of the snow…IN JANUARY.

My Daffodils that is what. So not good. Because I can tell you with some certainty that we will have more snow. And we will have more cold. Daffys can handle some of that but if there is too much cold then their little tips will be all yellow and ugly.

They are coming up all over the back garden.

And what is even WORSE is that some of my Day Lilys have stuck their tender little heads up to see what is happening in the garden. The daffodils can handle a bit of the cold but a day lily cannot.

Of course then there are the pansies that have self seeded all over the place. They think the snow and cold are just find and dandy.

Pansies are just plain crazy.

7 Quick Takes (Vol 148)

2012-01-06T11:37:00.001-05:00

The holidays are over. The new year has begun. And I am still trying to finish up tasks from 2011. Sigh. And here we are gathered altogether to read the first blatherings of the 2012. Joy. Remember when you have thoroughly perused and dissected my ramblings click on the picture above to be whisked, at the speed of Newt Gingrich’s falling poll numbers, over to Conversion Diary.

And now it is time to bring on the blather!

1.
Well, we finally had some snow this week. About 6 inches on Tuesday and into Wednesday. At one point it was snowing so heavily that I couldn’t see the street. And then the next second it would be sunny.

Sunny-Blizzard-Sunny-Blizzard-Sunny-Blizzard.

Just a typical Lake Effect Snow warning here in the Frozen Northeast Ohio.

2.
Slim Jim was here for a visit last week.

And I didn’t take a single picture of he and Shoe Queen together.

And I call myself a professional photographer. Sheeeeesh!

3.
We are about ready to give Time Warner Cable the big heave ho here at Chez Knit. They charge too much. The cable prices keep coming down and yet they are unwilling to extend those lower prices to long standing customers. And they are rude about it which just makes the whole thing even worse.

And lest you suggest that we go with a dish of some kind….we looked into it and had them come out and the trees really screw up the whole “line of sight” thing. They wanted to put the dish in the middle of the side yard right by the street. Ummmmm, no thanks to that. I questioned whether he was telling me that just because he didn’t really want to get up on our roof to do the install.

So we may just get internet from someplace else and then go with Netflix streaming as well as the DVD portion we have now. Not sure how this is going to play out but I do know that Time Warner Cable is a dirty word in this house.

Stay tuned for updates.

4.
I have yet to take down my Christmas decorations. I have been “consolidating” some of them in one place (the dining room) but most everything else is still up.

January is always a hard month for me to get motivated to do anything as it is. And the thought of having to take down and put away Christmas decorations is just hard to get excited about.

Maybe I can just claim to be very proactive and organized and say that I ALREADY have my decorations up for Christmas 2012.

No?

Drat.

5.
I am anxiously waiting for the next Netflix DVD that is in my queue. It should arrive today. I hope it does…..

It is the last DVD for the first season of Downton Abbey. And since the next season starts on SUNDAY I wanted to refresh my loving memories.

SUNDAY!!!! SQUEEEEEE!!!!!!!

I had better get the DVR set right now so that I can record and re-watch. The thing is, some of the stuff that we are going to see on Sunday has already aired in the UK and I happened to read about some of it.

I am not saying a word here because I don’t want to spoil anyone’s surprise. All I can say is…..

Well, I am not going to say anything. Just know that Sunday night I am going to be glued to the local PBS station.

6.
In the whole 2012 vein of “being more organized” I am also toying with the idea of planning out what I am going to be reading this year.

It isn’t possible for me to totally plan that out, I do occasionally pick up a book at the library that I didn’t know I needed to read. But I think it is possible to have some sort of a reading plan. I have done it in the past but not kept it up very well. All those literary rabbit trails get me off track.

I am sure that I will expand this into an entire blog post when I have it more nailed down. That shouldn’t surprise you. I will tell you that the first book that I will finish for 2012 (today I think) is The Eleventh Day: The Full Story of 9/11 and Osama Bin Laden. It has been very interesting and gripping reading. Non-political, factually based, deeply researched. The non-political part was particularly appreciated as 9/11 has become SUCH a political hot button.

For those of you who are intense readers, do you plan out your “reading course” for the year? If so what does it look like? I am always curious.

7.
I might have mentioned last week that I am participating in 52 Food Adventures sponsored by Dandy over at Spontaneous Clapping. She is blogging on it every Tuesday. I will be participating but I am not sure if I will be producing an entire blog post on it every Tuesday. I will try to but I may also just do a “blurb” on the weekly new ingredient/technique/food when I write my 7 Quick Takes. I totally fell down on the job the FIRST week (which doesn’t bode well) because, even though I cooked with an ingredient new to me….I didn’t take any pictures of the process or what I made.

Insert dope slap here

I made 5 Bean Soup with Chorizo and Chipotle. It was VERY good. And the ingredient I had never used? Chipotle peppers in adobo. I know, I know, how could that be!! But it is true. Oh those little suckers pack a punch. I put in only half of the peppers called for in the recipe and it was still pretty darn smoky/zippy. Just what we needed for a frosty Winter night. It made a big batch so there is some that went right in the freezer to be pulled out some time later.

I will admit that I am still perfecting my “cooking beans from scratch” technique.

They are supposed to be slightly crunchy right?

Right?

Hello?

The Birds! The Birds!

2012-01-05T15:13:00.001-05:00

Are you tired of reading about my birds?

Tough!

I can tell you that the addition of suet to the winter feeding routine has brought out some more unusual birds.

The Pileated Woodpecker is here every day. And he is SUCH a bully. Of course he is the size of an elephant in the bird world compared to some of the others. And those birdie claws are very impressive. He swoops in and everyone else scatters. But he does love his suet.

And of course the Bluebirds of Happiness love the suet too. I am not sure why they are called the Bluebirds of Happiness because they always look a bit angry to me.

Who are you calling angry lady!

And of course then there are the Cardinals. We do see them in the summer time but they don’t come to the feeder as often. It is usually just the Chicadees, Titmouse (teehee), Flicker, Goldfinches, House Finches, Blue Jays (the bullies of the bird world) and others. I hear them but don’t see them all that often. But come winter, especially when there is snow cover, we see a lot of them.

Of course I now have a new problem related to the suet that I have been putting out.

A four footed problem.

A dog problem.

It isn’t really a problem so much as an irritant. Suet is fat that has been melted and cooled, melted and cooled along with adding birdie treats. You repeatedly melt and cool it so that it stays hard when the weather warms up. But some of the fats still seems to dissolve a bit when it rain falls or the snow melts. Not a lot but a bit.

And Max the ever hungry dog has figured out that he can stand under the suet feeders and laboriously lick the deck or the snow.

And I do mean laboriously.

I am sorry Alpha Male. But I am willing to endure some slivers in my tongue for the pleasure of melted suet.

These Are NOT Resolutions

2012-01-04T15:22:00.001-05:00

I do not “do” New Years resolutions. I don’t do them because I know that I will invariably fail. And then I will get all depressed. And unhappy. And moody.

You get the picture.

What I do is set some fairly easily attainable goals that I can work on over the course of the year. And I try to actually write them down not just think about them. If they are written down then they are some how more concrete. It keeps me honest. It keeps me on track. Nothing major like “I am going to lose 30 pounds this year!”

If I wrote that one down I would just stare at it and laugh. “Diet” is a four letter word to me. Believe me, I have been on enough to know that they never work, at least not for me. If I cannot have that chocolate chip cookie then all I will think about all day long is the chocolate chip cookie. All. Day. Long.

Hmmm, I seem to have digressed just a bit.

The list isn’t long. It isn’t all that detailed. It might even be a bit boring for that matter. Don’t tell me if it is. I am a tender plant that bruises easily.

1. Put a bit more planning into meals
I have become VERY lax in this department. VERY. When the progeny were still at home I was a fiend for planning meals. But now that HHBL and I are the only ones here….not so much. It is not an uncommon thing for 4p or even 5p to roll around and for me to ask the dreaded question of myself…

I wonder what we should have for dinner?

And then I spend time trying to figure it out and if there is meat involved trying to figure out how to get it thawed and cooked. Too much pressure. And I end up falling back on the same recipes rather than trying something else. I love to cook and bake so if I just put a bit of time in at the beginning of the month I wouldn’t be tearing my hair out on a Wednesday afternoon. And I am going to be participating in Dandy’s 52 Food Adventures! A 2012 Challenge so I had better do some planning. My “new” ingredient for this week was chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. I forgot to take pictures of the soup I made but trust me it was good. 5 Bean Soup with Chipotle Peppers and Chorizo. AND why didn’t anyone tell me about the “kick” that those things have. Holy Momma!

2. Knitting From The Stash
This will not be a difficult as you might think. At current count I could produce 15 pairs of socks with the sock yarn that I have “in the cupboard”.

And then there might be all the yarn that I need for this little project…..

It is all wrapped up and just waiting for me to start………..

Plus there might be some alpaca that is crying out to be a sweater of some kind.

Plus I REALLY need to get going on the sweater/hat for the Booshy sprout who will be arriving soon. She doesn’t know so don’t tell her OK?

And who am I really kidding. I am sure that I will buy some yarn this year. Just a little bit. Just a smidge. Maybe some more alpaca since I am going to be where there are a lot of alpacas.

And I am fairly short on sock yarn.

Yarn Hoarding? What yarn hoarding?

3. Learn how to sell stuff on Ebay
How hard can this be REALLY. And I have a bunch of stuff that I have cleaned out and that needs to be disposed of but is too valuable just to take over to AmVets.

I am now in possession of the book “Ebay for Dummies” which should be just about my speed.

REALLY, how hard can this be. Famous last words.

4. Continue the clean out process here at Chez Knit
I will continue to clean out and dispose and reporpose and reuse and blog about the whole thing over at The 100 Days Cleanout.

And when I am done with THAT 100 days then it will be 100 days of cleanout out and deleting photos that I will never be using or editing. I cling to all the photos that I take like the Queen of England clings to her oversized handbag.

Don’t you sometimes wonder what she keeps in that thing? It can’t be money or keys to the Royal mini van.

No?

Never mind.

5. Work on growing my business
I am a photographer. I am a photographer. I am a photographer.

And to keep me honest I have to tell you that I do have a business…..

Hidden Moments Photography.

AND that there is a website now. It is small. It is simple. It is evolving.

It is Hidden Moments Photography

Really, I am a photographer. And isn’t that just a kick!! I get tickled every time I think about it.

And then I get really scared.

6. Publish my “Elixir of Life” posts in book form.
I will let you all know when that happens. And I am also thinking calendar. Who knows. I will keep writing them until the elixir well runs dry.

And there are people that are hoping that happens very soon.

Well, I think that will do it for now. None of these are lofty and unattainable. None of them are earth shattering. All of them are dear to my little heart.

I will keep you posted.

Yearly Goals? Not In This Post.

2012-01-03T15:05:00.001-05:00

This is not the post that I intended for today. If you could view my blog schedule you would see that today I had fully intended to talk about my goals for 2012. I don’t do “resolutions”, I set goals. And sometimes I hit them.

But today I didn’t even hit the goal of blogging about goals. I have a good reason. Really I do.

I have been playing with pictures and the Hidden Moments website and watching the snow fall and fall and fall.

And that means that I procrastinated and didn’t get the blog post written.

But I did take a picture or two of the Pileated Woodpecker who has now decided that he loves my suet feeders.

Every time I see his big, claw tipped birdie feet I think I am an extra in Jurassic Park.

Those sure look like Raptor claws!!

The New Year Is Here!!! But I Am Not Done With 2011

2012-01-02T13:33:00.001-05:00

In what has become my blogging habit I will spend the first blog of 2012 looking back at 2011.

I like to wrap up life in a nice, neat little package. And since I didn’t blog last week this is what you get. And it is Loooooooong.

Lets see……..

1. I got back on Hi Ho Silver my trusty bike and managed to ride a total of 289.58 miles. It wasn’t quite the 300 miles that I had hoped to log but then we did have a particularly rainy summer….and I was a tad rusty on the trusty bicycle.

2012 will hopefully be filled with more biking miles and more road kill reports. Being on a bike brings you so much closer to what is lying in the middle of the road.

2. I read 34,753 pages. That equals 109 books. 34 Non-Fiction, 74 Fiction.

Not too bad I must say. It seemed like the Year of Fiction which is unusual for me as I tend to lean toward history and other non-fiction stuff. But I am re-discovering my love of fiction. Who knows what will happen this year as I am spending more time reading on the ipad.

You know I will tell you eventually.

3. There was a bit of traveling done in 2011.

We spent some time in Tucson visiting Dapoo and Linda. There was sun and warmth. There was snow. There was a dog that got to lick the spoon every day. I played Scrabble for the first time in many years. There was that unfortunate Scrabble game in 1997 that nearly scared me for life.

We traveled to NYC for the Quigg Family Reunion. 5 days full of food, family and fun. As well as strange pictures, subways, crowds and the occasional stop for ice cream.

We traveled to Virginia to attend the wedding of TSiL’s twin brother, The Future Doctor to the lovely School Marm. There was fun. There was laughter…..and there was that unfortunate Deb stepping on the wedding dress train and ripping it incident.

But we won’t talk about that.

4. There might have been a bit of knitting.

35+ projects in all. Numerous hats. A bunch of lace. 9 pairs of socks.

Remember, I knit so I do not kill.

5. There was…The Garden.

A year full of record breaking rain. A tomato hornworm infestation. Flowers galore. Obsessively laid out garden beds. Total zucchini failure and fresh lettuce galore.

So of course next year we are expanding our garden by adding a 20x20 foot plot.

We want to grow potatoes.

6. I actually claimed the title of professional photographer.

7 And finally…there might have been a picture or two of various things.

Birds!

Squirrels!

Baseball!

Cow Butts!

Who knows what might happen in 2012!!

7 Quick Takes (Vol 147)

2011-12-23T10:18:00.001-05:00

For the LOVE of Peter, Paul and Mary it is my last 7 Quick Takes of 2011. How did this happen? Where did the time go? Yes I know that there is one more Friday in the year but #7 will explain.

You know the rules. After you are done ~~being absorbed into the collective~~ reading my blather you need to click on the picture above to be whisked, at the speed of fast approaching 2012, over to Conversion Diary to take a look at what others are doing.

And now on with the blather.

1.
I have assimilated Shoe Queen into the Barnes and Noble Nook collective.

Have I ever mentioned that I have a Nook. Specifically a Nook Classic. HHBL gave it to me the Christmas that they first came out. Aragorn and I have gone many places together and been very happy. But there comes a time in every relationship when things change. And that time had come for A and I.

Because, you see, there is a new toy on the block. Mr. Wonderful aka the iPad. And Aragorn wasn’t getting the use that he had in the past because Mr. Wonderful has the Nook App downloaded. But what to do with Aragorn? He still had life in him. But Barnes and Noble is soon to cast off all the Nook Classics into unsupported oblivion.

Ah, but there was a special this week. Turn in your old Nook Classic, purchase any of the three current Nooks (Simple Reader, Color or Tablet) and get a $50 B&N gift card. And it just so happened that Shoe Queen was very interested in an ereader. So I made a deal with her. I gave her her birthday money (she will be 21 next month!!), she put that towards a Nook Color…..

And I pocketed the gift card. Nice deal.

We have seen very little of her since she got Mr. Nook powered up.

And I have spent a chunk of the gift card.

2.
I am going to confess…….

I have yet to do our Christmas card/letter/whatever.

Shocker!!!!!

I think that by now I am just going to have to figure that I will be a trend setter and make it a “New Years Greeting” letter.

Cuz it so isn’t going to get done before Christmas that is for sure.

I KNOW that I said that I would never go to another midnight showing of a movie.

I might have been lying just a bit about that. I would think that there is a pretty good chance that I will be seeing this one at midnight.

4.
I am declaring next month as “Totally selfish knitting and reading” month.

It totally works with the fact that when January arrives I just sort of lose my mojo big time. That may be because I am so busy in December. I can’t just slack off totally because I do have to work.

But I bet I can get a lot of knitting and reading done in between.

5.
Oh after the holidays are over it is going to be tough around here at Chez Knit.

There is going to be crabbiness.

There are going to be headaches.

There is going to be moaning and wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Why you ask?

Because we will be doing the annual “cleaning out of all sweets and junk food”. All those lovely little (and large) containers of holiday goodies that people have given to us or I have made. And those sweet nuggets of goodness.

And because all of that stuff will be going bye bye that means that I will be wandering around every afternoon looking for something to eat that isn’t fruit.

It isn’t going to be pretty but it must be done.

6.
TMO and TSiL arrive some time today.

HURRAH!!

But we will be without Cartoon Girl this year as she has to work the day before and the day after Christmas.

BOOOOOOO!

However, Cartoon Girl had the brilliant idea that we could all be on Skype together when we are opening the presents that she sent.

As Freeman, my Amish carpenter, would say.

Yah, we can do dat. (you have to say that with an Amish accent to get the full effect).

7.
I am taking my planned annual blogging break next week. Unlike my unplanned semi-break this week. I really didn’t have that much of an excuse other than I was just lazy.

So sue me.

At any rate, I will be back on January 2 with a review of 2011 and all the boring and semi-boring things I did.

There might be pictures.

There might be blather.

Be prepared.

And until then have a Very Merry Christmas, and for Bonnie, Norma and Amy a Very Happy Hanukkah and a Happy New Year to all.

Chirp

2011-12-21T15:08:00.001-05:00

Birdies, birdies, birdies.

I love birdies.

Not all of my children do. One in particular is not all that fond of them.

But I digress. And I am going to be dead as a doornail when she sees this.

Let’s take a look at some of the birdies that have been visiting the feeders. I have been sitting in front of the back windows way too much recently. Other things aren’t getting done. But who cares. I have pictures of the birds and that is all that matters right?

Right?

Whatever!

The Bluebirds of Happiness have been absent the last few days.

What are you lookin’ at!

You know, I might need to think about washing this particular window more often.

Bird butts!!!

Tufted Titmouse. And yes I giggle like a Jr. Hi. boy every time I say that name. So sue me.

Flicker!

Mmmmmmmm. I love these seeds. CrunchCrunchCrunch

Hello? Can I get another basket of seeds for the table please.

I was deeply into finding the perfect shot of squirrel toes never knowing that I was actually shooting squirrel porn.

I hang my head in shame.

Moving on. Nothing to see here.

I have something very special for the birdies on Christmas say.

Remember these from the garden this summer?

Well, we were able to harvest them before the birds were able to get to them.

There was a fairly good yield. And let me just say that harvesting sunflower seeds from their rather tight resting place was not for the faint of heart or tender of fingers.

I’m just sayin’

So Christmas morning I will be adding these to the feeder on the back deck to give my birdies an extra special Christmas treat. I know they will appreciate it.

Hello?? What about me? My family? My in-laws? Hello?

If You Are Going To Do Something, Do It Well.

2011-12-20T12:04:00.001-05:00

At Christmas time I pull out all the Christmas linens. The table cloths. The napkins.

These are some of my favorite. They have bears on them. They make me happy.

Ummmmmmm,

Wait a minute.

Something seems to be wrong with the napkin.

This piece of napkin really won’t do much at the dinner table.

Well I am certainly not going to be looking for the missing portion of the napkin that is for sure.

I am so sleepy

All that roughage

I think I need a na……..

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

7 Quick Takes (Vol 146)

2011-12-16T11:28:00.001-05:00

How the time doth fly! How the blather doth pile up. Remember the rules. Read, digest, comment on and generally take in my blather. Then click on the picture above to be whisked, at the speed of Santa’s reindeer, over to Conversion Diary.

Blatherty Blather McBlatherson

1.
What a week! Tonight is the last “party” of the season here at Chez Knit and it is really just 4 other couples that we get together with regularly. It will be relaxing. We will laugh. I am not doing all the cooking. It is sort of my reward for all of the other partying that has gone on around here.

And there will be lasagna.

And there will also be Rosemary Infused Baguettes.

Also a glass of wine or two.

I can hardly wait.

2.
I believe that I have accomplished all the Christmas shopping. Well all except for some stocking stuffers.

One of these days I am going to do a brain dump about our philosophy on Christmas presents here at Chez Knit and how it has evolved since the progeny were little. That might be a soap box post and I will leave it for another day.

I will say that there have been years when I was still shopping the day before Christmas and that is such a stress increaser for me. It is so much nicer to have everything done at least a week before hand. Then I am not so crazed.

Or at least more crazed than I usually am.

3.
I went to an ornament exchange at a friend’s house last night. I knew you wanted to know this.

My sister of the heart, Dottie. She is standing to my left. In fact everyone in this picture was there last night just as an aside.

But I digress.

I love Dottie. Love. Love. Love. She designed my kitchen. We commiserated together during our “Summer Horribilus” when her hubby had a heart attack and HHBL had the broken ankle/cast for weeks/multiple blood clots in the lung incident. And she is my employer. But best of all she is my friend.

And I had such a good time last night that, even though I had brought the camera with me, I didn’t take a single picture. I was laughing too hard and eating too much and talking loudly with people I don’t see very often and with people I see all the time.

It. Was. Fabulous.

AND I got to see Tracy who reads the blog but whom I never see anymore. HI TRACY!!!

Oh and I won a chocolate Santa. Not one of those hollow ones. Oh no, this is a SOLID chocolate Santa that weighs a boat load. I might as well apply it directly to my hips.

AND AND I brought home a Snow Woman for the mantle piece. Of course I stole it. How long have you been hanging around here!! That makes it all the sweeter. And all the Snow Men are very happy with me cuz now there is a woman there.

Look! The Bluebirds of Happiness are here at Chez Knit. There will be a longer post about the birds later, maybe next week. You knew it had to happen since I seem to be obsessed with them. I have seen the Bluebirds flitting around the neighborhood but they have never hung around here. However, I put a suet feeder out this year and they REALLY seem to like that. At one point this morning there were four of them waiting their turn to peck at the seeds in the suet.

I have pictures.

Now if I can just get a good picture of the Pileated Woodpecker.

5.
Our church, Christ Community Chapel, has a Christmas tradition that I just love. We call it the “You’ve Been Gifted” campaign. I am not sure when we started doing this but everyone looks forward to it.

During the Christmas season we blanket the area with 10,000 acts of random “giftingness”. There are cards that are printed out that you can give when you gift someone. You could buy someone in line a cup of coffee, or a tank of gas, or an entire cart of groceries. You could do something nice for someone. Whatever the Lord presents for you. And on Sundays Pastor Joe tells us about one or two of the stories that come back to him through the emails that people send. Amazing.

I had been looking for my opportunity to use my one card. Waiting for it, knowing that the Lord would show me. Well this past Monday I bought a man some much needed diapers for his son. The man didn’t know me. I am sure that I will never see him again. I wasn’t even sure that I got the right size diapers. But when I handed him the box you would have thought that I was handing over a pot of gold.

It just made my day. Which isn’t really the point of the “You've Been Gifted” program but just a side benefit.

6.
I am telling you now, come the first of the year, or after Shoe Queen goes back to school, we are having a “purging of all sweets and bad things from Chez Knit”. There are cookies here and candy and sweets of various types and cake and all manner of other temptations.

They must go.

And then HHBL and I will be very grumpy for a time because we will be coming down off our weeks long sugar high. It will not be pretty but it will be very necessary. Otherwise I am going to have to buy all new clothes to cover my holiday jiggle.

7.
And because it is my favorite scene in a movie that is full of my favorite movie scenes.

NUTTAFINGA!

Sap!

2011-12-15T16:45:00.001-05:00

I will admit it. I love all the " end of the year" specials and retrospectives.

I would tell you that I hang my head in shame but I would be lying. Lying big time.

Case in point, I just spent part of the afternoon watching the Barbara Walters Most Interesting People of e Year special that I had recorded last night. Come on you know you love it!

I live for the NY Times Magazine "The Lives They Lived" that will show up in about two weeks. I pour over it. Of course I spend more than my fair share of time reading the NY Times obits but that is another story entirely.

Hmmmmm, I might have wandered off course for a moment. Where was I?

And all the holiday movies, both classics and made for TV. Be still my beating heart. I have already watched "White Christmas" at least once. Who wouldn't love a movie where people break into song at the thought of snow in Vermont. I also have a particular fondness for the schmaltzy movies on Hallmark Channel that show up this time of year. And then there is "Come to The Stable" which no one seems to know about. It has snow and nuns driving jeeps and music. What could be better.

Of course we will be indulging in the 24 hours of "A Christmas Story". It just wouldn't be Christmas without being able to quote all our favorite lines.

It's a CLINKER!!!!!!!!!!!

Just call me the chief sap of Christmas.

An Ornament a Day

2011-12-14T16:07:00.001-05:00

I have to share one of my Christmas traditions with you. I just must. I thought I had already done this but I can’t find a post on it anywhere so if I am repeating myself….

Well you still have to read the post. You love me.

Many long years ago, 1981 to be exact, I was a poor nursing student slogging my way through blood and guts and gore.

Or not. They don’t usually let nursing students anywhere NEAR blood and guts and gore. But remind me some time to tell you about how I earned an instant A+ on my Senior nursing project. Deb Does Neurosurgery.

Where was I?

So, one day I come back from whatever it is that nursing students do all day and there was a package waiting for me. A package from Grandma Amsler. SWEET! I was the only granddaughter (always was!!!) and that afforded me certain extra privileges.

It is good to be number one and only.

I opened up the package and pulled out a rolled up piece of what looked like burlap with gold tassels sticking out the ends.

What?

I unrolled it to find….

A felt Christmas tree sewed to the burlap and covered with gold ric rac and little hooks. There was also another package inside and a note from Grandma Amsler. In the note she explained that this was an Advent Calendar for me. Now I was confused for a minute (or more) because for an advent calendar to work you need to start on Dec 1 and go to Dec 24. This was mid-November and I was going to be back home for Christmas break long before Dec. 24 rolled around.

Never fear, Grandma had it all figured out. She had found out from Mimi what day I would be arriving home. She had counted back 24 days from that date and the letter informed me that this was the day that I should start putting ornaments on the tree.

Clever Grandma Amsler.

And the ornaments!!!

There were a number of ones that Grandma had knitted or crocheted.

There were felt ornaments. I still think that making the skate blades out of paper clips is one of the cleverest things!

This had cloves in it and it smelled fabulous. Technically it still has cloves in it but the smell is long gone.

Of course there had to be at least one of Grandma’s signature wheat weaving ornaments. These things still fascinate me.

A clever use of postage stamps. I am amazed that these things are still stuck together.

Several star ornaments that she had crocheted. You cannot believe how delicate the stitches on these are. And I sure wish I knew what she used to stiffen them.

A clothes pin reindeer!!!

Hmmmm, well he was OK when he arrived but time does wear on some ornaments.

And Grandma even put in one of her special bells that her sister, Margaret, brought back from Siam in the 1930’s. This is my favorite of all.

Every year since the first I have continued the tradition of hanging up my advent calendar. Grandma never meant for it to be a permanent thing, she was very surprised when I told her years ago that I still had it. She was pleased I could tell.

I remember how much it made me feel the presence and love of home.

It wouldn’t be Christmas without it.

I Cannot Be Trusted With Even Small Numbers

2011-12-12T14:11:00.001-05:00

Saturday night was the company Christmas party here at Chez Knit. A rollicking time was had by all.

Or at least that is what they TOLD me. I am sticking with it.

The appetizers were all ready.

The punch was made. The wine was chilled. The Christmas music was playing softly. The table was set. All was ready.

Everyone arrived safe and sound and the party started. I had planned to have appetizers for about an hour and then sit down to dinner before moving on to our Annual Company White Elephant Gift Exchange. Sounds good.

There was a slight glitch when I realized that the chicken wasn’t cooking as fast as I needed it to so I just turned the temp of the oven up and hoped for the best.

Mingle, mingle, mingle. Chat, chat, chat. Nosh, nosh, nosh. Almost time for dinner.

And it was at that point that I made the fateful and ultimately face saving decision. Because heaven forbid I look like an idiot.

I asked Yvonne to do a final head count for me. It really wasn’t necessary. I knew how many should be there because Evite had told me how many had responded. The table was set for eleven people just like Evite had told me. And why would Evite lie to me.

Hey Deb, I did the count and there are, including HHBL and yourself, thirteen people.

Ummmmmm, Yvonne did you say THIRTEEN people? You are sure it isn’t eleven people like Evite told me there would be?

No, there are thirteen.

Thirteen people?? How could this be? I know that there weren’t any uninvited hangers on who just showed up.

Look at the people in the family room. Look at the table in the dining room. Look at the people. Look at the table.

And then it struck me. Yes, there were eleven GUESTS here. But I had neglected to add HHBL or myself to the count.

***insert LARGE dope slap right here***

And there in lay a problem because, you see, we can seat up to twelve at the dining room table if we put two people at each end. But we cannot seat thirteen.

ShootShootShoot~~Shit~~ShootShoot~~Shit~~ShootShoot.

Quick as a wink I zoomed to the basement and grabbed the folding card table and brought it quietly upstairs. Thank goodness I didn’t need to use the chairs that go with the card table. They are really grody.

I ignored the cobwebs on the underside, slapped that baby down at the end of the table by the kitchen, threw a sort of matching table cloth on it and had MaryJayne help me rearrange place settings and move chairs.

And no one knew the difference. Or at least they didn’t say anything about it.

Other than the fact that there were three of us sitting at a card table at the end of the big table. Slightly lower. Slightly wobbly. Sort of child like. I almost got a glass of milk just to make the picture complete.

Obviously I cannot be trusted with even small numbers when giving a dinner party.

7 Quick Takes (Vol 145)

2011-12-09T10:38:00.001-05:00

Tick, tick, tick, tick. The days just fly by and the to do list just never gets done.

And yet here we all are ready to dive into the weekly blather. So remember, after you have dissected and digested my witty banter click on the picture above to be whisked, at the speed of fast approaching Christmas, over to Conversion Diary to see the rest.

Now on to the blather.

1.
One big party down. Our Flocks (small group bible study) group is here tonight.

And then the company Christmas party is here tomorrow night.

After that there is just one more group here for dinner and that isn’t until the 16th.

I hope my poor body lasts.

My poor, ever expanding body.

Cookies, Cinnamon Raisin scones, appetizers, wine, meat, CHOCOLATE, cheese, BUTTER, sugar. These seem to be my only food groups for the month of December.

Yes, thank you to who ever brought me that little “sleeve” of Frango Mints. Did you know that those are my ABSOLUTE favorite chocolates in the whole wide world. I did grow up in the Chicago area after all, at a time when the only place that you could get Frango mints was at Marshall Fields. Melt. In. Your. Mouth.

2.
Well, we finally have a bit of snow overnight, just 1/2 an inch maybe. Much better than last year when we had 20+ inches fall with a Winter Storm Warning for days.

In the immortal words of Mitch Jayne, “Just a skiff of snow with everything outside slicker ‘n deer guts on a door knob”.

But our so far mild winter just makes me nervous. Very nervous. When will the snow really come. Because you know it will come.

This is the Frozen Northeast Ohio after all.

3.
Can I tell you how much I love my job. I love it. I do. I love taking architectural pictures. Low stress. Looking for the little details. Looking at the fabulous kitchens.

And I do mean fabulous. Cabinets to die for. Acres of gleaming granite countertops. The occasional built in beer tap or butler’s pantry to covet. And then there are the lovely people who let me invade their space and take pictures.

With the added benefit that I am getting to drive into some of my favorite areas in the Frozen Northeast Ohio. I have been to Gates Mills more in the last month than I was in the 10 years previous. Thank goodness there hasn’t been any snow cuz some of these houses are not reachable without 4 wheel drive in bad weather!

And then there is the occasional dog who poses for a picture or two.

4.
I love The Welcome Home blog. I look for new videos all the time.

Have kleenex ready is all I am saying.

LOTS of kleenex.

5.
I continue to be totally in love with Pinterest. What did I do before it came into my life.

This time of year I begin to struggle with dry hands and heels. There are things in all our lives that can totally disturb our day. For me it is if my hands and heels are dry. The heels especially.

Having skraggy heels just gives me the skeeves.

But no more. Because of Pinterest I have found the best “recipe” for hand/foot cream. My hands and feet are SO happy. And cream only has three easy ingredients that I got at Wally Mart.

You must make this! Homemade Hand Cream

6.
Because I have so much to do these days I am fulfilling my addiction to audiobooks.

Poor HHBL never knows if I hear him when he is talking to me because I often times have my earbuds in. I just get more done when I can have an audiobook to keep me company.

And my favorite for the last several weeks…..P.G. Wodehouse.

Well PGW has been a favorite for a long time I must confess. I do not believe that there is another writer who can be equaled in droll, side splittingly funny, urbane humor. HHBL keeps asking what I am chuckling about but it is just too difficult to explain.

Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry do a pretty good job of it I must say.

7.
I might have mentioned before that I love marching bands.

LoveLoveLoveLoveLove.

So let us end with a stellar performance by the WVU (West Virginia U) Marching Band and their salute to our armed forces.

This was serious work. And it is fabulous.