Boohoo

Well, before I got my knitting needles from e-bay, I was excited. Now I'm not! They didn't turn out to be the same quality as my other needles...the points were so sharp they poked me (I could have sanded them a little, if that were the only problem), the laser engraving telling what size they were snagged the yarn and slowed my knitting down, and they are not the right size--the size 2 needles that I opened were much smaller than my knitting guage size 2, and bigger than a size 1. I am thankful that the person offers a return policy. (However, I've yet to hear back from them.)

Oh well, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is!

Mary Poppin's scarf

Kevin and I recently watched Mary Poppins starring Julie Andrews. At the beginning, I noticed Mary Poppin's lovely scarf:



It is made in varying shades of orange, in such a lovely open-work design. As far as I can tell, it looks crocheted.

Venting...

It feels as though I have been on the phone all morning long! I called a phone company and placed an order for DSL (for one of the businesses managed by the company I work for). The shipping address was wrong, and I was transferred back and forth from one department to another, given a different number to call, transferred back and forth again, and finally as I was about to be transferred yet again, I told the lady that I had been transferred all over the place, so she actually helped me. Whew! Glad that's over with!

Check it out...

My Aunt Jeannie is a missionary in Africa. Today she got to see the lunar eclipse. Read about it here.

I found this blog that just got started. It is a Proverbs 31 Challenge. Click here to see the challenge for week one. It's not for wimps! LOL I have a few things knocked off the list, but I'm still working on it!

I've been enjoying Mrs. Cat's Making it Home blog. It has been a source of inspiration for me.

My friend Susan renamed her FlyLady blog to "With Heart and Hand...ByGrace". I love the new title (and will get it changed in my sidebar soon!), and have really enjoyed all her homemaking posts. She's braver than I--she even posted a picture of her dirty oven! See, that's why everyone thinks I'm so organized, blah, blah, blah...I don't show my true messy self to anyone! LOL Of course, she also posted a picture of her clean oven! (Now that I could do! :-D )

Lastly, Kim posted her Carnival of Kid Comedy #3, which I participated in. I'm a little late in posting the link, but check out the cute kid comedy!

Under penalty of the law...

...this tag not to be removed...

Did you ever remove one of those tags from something when you were a kid? I didn't! I was aghast that my dad would just rip them off without a care! I was sure that the police would be knocking on our door soon after he ripped a tag off something. I've always been the "letter of the law" type of person, following the rules because, of course, rules are meant to be followed!

What I didn't understand was the last word of the sentence:

...except by consumer.

Yippee!!!

I just recently won a bid on e-bay for these knitting needles:



They are bamboo double-pointed needles, ranging in size from 2 to 6. I cannot wait to get them! I got an awesome deal on them too! Brand new they would have cost me around $40 to get all 5 sets, I'm paying only $18 for them. I'll be all set for sock needles!

Jack's Chain Quilt

Here is another of my unfinished quilts. As I said before, my sister and I must have been low on oxygen when we picked this particular quilt out! LOL

Not only does it have a ton of tiny little 1 1/2 inch squares, the hexagon in the middle, along with the triangles surrounding it, make it a very hard quilt to piece!

I thought I had a whole row finished, but when I got it out, I saw that I'm missing a nine-patch and two triangles on the very end.

This is another project that I would love to have finished! Even though the pattern is difficult and time-consuming, it makes a beautiful quilt. When I have so much time that I don't know what to do with it...I'll finish this quilt!

My Charm Quilt

In my UFO post a few days back, I told about my Charm Quilt. Susan asked to see a picture of it, so here it is!

In my late teen age years I subscribed to a girl's magazine called Kindred Spirits that was published by a home school graduate. I wrote an article for the Jan/Feb 1998 issue, and will share some of it here:

I'd like to share with you a quilt that I am sewing. It is called a "charm quilt" because each fabric is used only once in the entire quilt. According to the library book from which I got this pattern (called a Tumbler Quilt), charm quilts were popular in the 1930's. When I saw this quilt pattern, I knew that I wanted to make it. After reading the instructions, I realized I would need 1,053 different pieces of fabric! Since we sew many of our own clothes, I thought "No problem, we probably have at least half that amount in our scrap box." However, as I went through the box, I found around 100 different scraps that could be used for the quilt. So began my search for fabric scraps!

I got fabric from anyone who would give me fabric! A joke around our house was that you better watch your shirt sleeves if I was around, because I just might cut a quilt piece out of it! *Grin* I made double sure that there are no fabric repeats in the entire quilt. After seeing so many different pieces of fabric, I forgot sometimes that I'd already used a particular scrap in my quilt. When I found the offending double, out came the seam ripper!

In the same article I also applied the quilt to our lives:

Each piece is different. The same is true of our lives. Each day we have a new "piece" to start. Some of my pieces are very plain and ordinary. Yes, some of our days are just simply mundane--there is no other way to look at them. Yet in my quilt, I need the simple, plain pieces to balance the lighter pieces, just as in our lives we need the simple days to let our hearts talk with God. The design of my quilt calls for many light-colored, cheerful scraps. Oh it is so nice when our lives are going the way we would like them to go--every step of the way happy and bright. However, I need an equal amount of dark colored scraps, but they need not be dreary! Many of the dark pieces are my favorites. Everything that happens in our lives is for our benefit, even when we don't think so. Just because we are going through trouble, let us not forget to give thanks to the Lord. David said in Psalm 119:67, "Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept Thy Word."...

I would love to have this quilt finished! It is such a cheerful, unique quilt!

My frogged project

This was my sock:



Now, it's just a ball of yarn. *Sniff, sniff* The flash of my camera lightened the colors a bit. I just adore this yarn though, so I will persevere and this ball of yarn shall yet become a pair of socks!!!

Sunday school lessons

About 10 years ago, I had a wonderful Sunday school class of 4-6 year old children. They listened well, and made it a joy to teach. One Sunday, as I was teaching a Bible story, the subject of sin came up. I asked if anyone could tell me what "sin" was.

Five-year old Natalie knew exactly what sin was:
"It's when a man and a woman live together who aren't married, or when two women live together."

"Umm, yes, that's an example of sin."

Hopefully, the other children did not go home and tell all that they learned in Sunday school, or have any interesting questions for their parents! Natalie was taught that day that sin was something she did too (and every single person on earth) and it included things such as lying, being mean to siblings, and disobeying parents!

Knitting with toothpicks

Ok, so I'm not really knitting with toothpicks. But it sure feels like it! Size 1 knitting needles are tiny!

I am *attempting* to make the ever-popular Jaywalker sock. I have "only" started it five different times, trying to get the guage and/or pattern right. It is NOT a hard pattern for me, so I don't know why I'm having such a hard time with it!

I was going to post a picture, however, Blogger won't let me post pictures right now. (Let's just add to my frustration!)

So anyhow, it's far enough along now that I can try it on. It's terrible to get on and off, it's so tight. So I'm going to frog it.

Do what?

In the knitting world, however, frogs say "rip it, rip it." And that's the reason knitters use the term "frogging" as they merrily unravel their hours worth of knitting.

(This quote from knitty.com.)

A frogging I go...I don't know that I'll be so "merrily" unravelling my knitting though. I have a feeling in my bones that I shall not have a March submission for the sock knit along that I'm a part of. Oh well...

The sock yarn I got is just beautiful, and the striping pattern is so subtle. I love the yarn! I know that I will love these socks. My plan is to frog them, and start over with bigger needles. I'm still so inexperienced with knitting needles/guages. My little sister does not get all my socks! I'm going to MAKE these socks fit me!

Baby Porcupines

Aren't these the cutest ugliest creatures you've ever seen?



Thank you, to my sister Holly, for the picture!

My Tea Drawer

I love to drink herb tea! I am always looking for a new tea to try. I have a drawer in my kitchen just for my stash of tea:

Happy Spring!

Today is the official first day of spring! While it may not feel like spring here, I know it's right around the corner!

When I was growing up, my mom made the first day of spring into an occasion. She would bake a cake, and we would sing a song (why is it that this song is escaping me right now???) and have a nice little celebration.

No cake this year! I'm just happy that warmer weather is headed our way (eventually anyhow!)

Today's Project

Today I decided it was high time to tackle our basement. We've never had so much storage space, and we've greatly neglected (and abused) the basement. "Oh this should go down to the basement" and down we go and throw it anywhere convenient.

We have a little storage room off the main part of the basement, and it has been used to store...nothing. So I attacked that first.

Here's an "after" shot:



See my geraniums? They have survived the winter! I'm so happy about that!

Kevin helped me a bit with some of the other parts of the basement, and it's looking much better. I didn't have time to do anything else other than the storage room today. I'm planning on working on it in the evenings. Kevin put in these wonderful fluorescent lights so that we can actually see in the basement, and it's amazing how much dirtier the floor looks with those new lights!

To show you how distracted I can get...

I bought yarn a week ago to try to make socks out of, but I really don't know what I was thinking! It wouldn't have made nice socks at all. So it turned into this instead:



A flower-shaped washcloth!

It gave me a little trouble, but I think that if the pattern had been written a little better (or perhaps if I were a better knitter) it would have been easier.

I made it in the evenings, and mostly didn't pay too close attention to what I was doing, so one of the petals is too short and one is too long. But who cares, it's a washcloth! *Grin*

Speaking of flowers, I spotted some of my bulbs coming up! Hooray!!! Last fall, I used some of my birthday money from my grandparents to buy the bulbs. I think the ones coming up are hiacinths. I need to go out to the garage and find the wrappers they came in, to tell for sure what they are. It's just exciting to see GREEN coming up!!!

UFO's

(UnFinished Objects)

Susan's post on Wednesday about her unfinished craft projects led me to think of mine.

Currently, I am working on a knitted sweater. I am at a standstill on it until I get some help with it. So, last night, I started a pair of jaywalker socks.

Those are my projects that are sitting on the coffee table, the ones that haven't been moved to the sewing room to "work on later".

The only other knitting project I have that is on the back burner is my knitted lace.

I don't have any tatting or crocheting projects that are unfinished, nor do I have any sewing projects that I have started. However, I do have a few sewing projects that I should start soon.

I have a set of counted cross stitch pictures that I have been "working on" since I was 16! The first one has been completed for over 6 years. The second one I started after I was married. It is about 1/3 of the way finished.

And then...my quilts! I have a quilt that I have been "quilting" for nine years. A lady in my church gave me a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt that was pieced sometime in the 40's or 50's (my guess). It's a beautiful quilt top. I'm about 60% finished with the quilting. It's going to disinigrate before I get it finished! LOL

I also have a quilt top that I pieced. The quilt top is finished, and I truly wish that I had the money to get it quilted for me. It just costs so much to have someone else do it, whether machine quilted or hand quilted. This quilt tells quite a story. It is a Charm Quilt--a quilt in which every single piece of fabric is different from the others--and there are 1,053 patches in this quilt! It took me quite a few years just to gather the fabric. I got friends and relatives to send me squares from all over the world--Mexico, Africa, Hawaii, Alaska, and anyone who I could talk into giving me a 4 x 5 square of fabric! The quilt top was started when I was approximately 19, and I finished it up after I was married.

Around the same time period that I started my Charm Quilt, Holly and I each started a ridiculously impossible quilt called a Jack's Chain Quilt. We must have been low on oxygen or something when we decided that THIS was the quilt we had to make! LOL I have one row finished on this.

I have several quilt tops from Kevin's grandma that I do not consider to be part of my UFO stash. After all, *I* am not the one who started the project! If I *ever* get bored and run out of projects to do (*gasp* Is that possible?) I will commence to quilt them.

I find it funny that it truly bugs Kevin that I have unfinshed projects tucked away. He was very disconcerted when I came home last Saturday with sock yarn. However, I like having different projects to pick up and work on, and not be constantly working on the same project.

Product Review

About a month ago, I got a free sample from Garnier Fructis. Click the link to get your own sample. I tried it out and was very impressed! I do not normally buy something because of a name brand, or because I've gotten a free sample, but this is one product that I did. I bought both the shampoo and conditioner. The conditioner came with a free bottle of gel. The gel is "weightless" and really helps control my frizzy hair in this weather. Furthermore, it is the best gel that I've ever used. It doesn't make my hair look sticky or stiff.

My hair's theme song used to be "I'll Fly Away." Last winter, and the beginning of this winter, my hair was totally unmanageable. Not so anymore!

I saw a ROBIN today!

Yippee! Spring is on it's way!!!

To answer the burning question

How did I get my voice clip on my blog?

Very, very simple!

Go to audioblogger and follow the prompts. That sets you up for audio blogging. They you call the number listed on the screen, and follow the prompts to record your message. Make sure to press # when you are finished with your message, and push the correct numbers. You do have the option to erase and start over.

How much easier could it be?

Just for fun:

Where did Spring go???

Early last week I posted that we were to have temps in the 60's by the end of the week. I said "I'll believe it when I see it." Well guess what? Our high for Saturday was a glorious 63*. Mmmmmm spring air! Everyone seemed to be out and about (in their summer clothes, of course) enjoying the beautiful day.

It snowed this morning! We got to enjoy some warmth for a few days, but the snow reminded us that spring is not officially here yet!

Progress Report

Here's how my sweater is coming along:



I have the second striping sequence finished. I am just loving working with this yarn!

Signature required...

I just looked over at our answering machine, and it was blinking, indicating that there was a new message that we had overlooked. It was a message from my dentist's office. I forgot to sign my check when I was there!

I think it's funny, because all week long, I write checks for the various companies that my boss owns. Of course, I can't sign any of those checks, so I leave the signature blank, thus forming a habit. Next time I write a personal check, I need to remember to actually sign it!

My reading "nook"

I had to laugh when I downloaded the pictures from my camera. This picture is one that I did not take. What is it? It's my reading spot. Yep, right in the kitchen. No, not very comfortable. What makes it so desirable? The heater vent, of course! After dinner, I will sometimes sit over the vent and read. I have another stool, which is a tiny apple stool that my sister gave me, and sometimes I pull that over and set my cup of tea on it. If need be, the heater can always be turned up a degree or two. After all, if the heater goes off, why sit over the heater vent???

Lately, I have been getting stacks of books from the library, and paging through them in the evenings. Hence, all the books around my stool. Many of them have been knitting books, but there are others too. I've been getting lots of ideas for knitting projects!

My new knitting project

I took the plunge and bought a pattern, yarn, and needles to make myself a sweater. Here is the pattern, with the yarn colors I've chosen:



And here is how it looks worked up:



This sweater had better fit me! I've never paid so much for a sweater before, and it's not even made yet!!!

I'm blessed to have a friend at church that is helping me along where I need help. She even lent me her whole set of knitting needles!

Very Bad Food

Do you ever make Very Bad, Very Gross Food? I try hard not to! In fact, I think of myself as a pretty good cook! But last night's dinner was Very Bad. It was salmon loaf, which normally turns out Very Good, but last night I just didn't have the ingredients I needed, and I improvised. Very Bad. That's all I'll say about that! I ate a few bites of mine, and Kevin (poor man) ate his portion. But the rest ended up in the trash! Too sad.

That wasn't too bad!

I went to the dentist this afternoon. I had been dreading it, but it really wasn't so bad after all! I only had one tiny cavity, and that got filled at my visit. It didn't even need any pain killer. I guess it was quite shallow. But that's all fixed! I wasn't able to schedule a cleaning before I went in, because they are booked all the way to October! But while I was there, someone cancelled, and I can get in this Thursday.

This experience was so much better than the past two experiences at the dentist. For instance, it doesn't bother me if two people want to speak in their native tongue when they are around me, but please, refrain from speaking in Vietnamese you have your hands in my mouth! Obviously, that was not a trip to the dentist that I enjoyed!

My second experience I'm referring to wasn't so fun either. I arrived on time for my appointment, waited in the waiting room for an hour, then waited in the examination room for another hour! Oh, and when I got escorted to the examination room, I got a magazine thrust in my lap. It was a Latino magazine--HELLO! I don't speak Spanish. Do I look like a Mexican? Well, ok, most of the magazine was in English, but it was all about being Mexican/Spanish and living in the United States. I did what any extremely bored person would do, and read the magazine from cover to cover (excepting, of course, the articles that were in Spanish!).

But this dentist was nice (hey, he could speak fluent English! LOL) and so was everyone in the office. Everyone was just polite and friendly and hey! Going to the dentist wasn't so bad as I thought it would be!

March Weather

March weather here in west Michigan is quite unpredictable. Actually, I should say that weather in Michigan is unpredictable! But anyhow, it was snowing yesterday, and the news says to expect 60* weather by the end of the week! I'll believe it when I see it!

Kill your television!

The bumper sticker I saw (previous post) reminded me of a pastor's and worker's conference I attended in 1999. A well-known pastor preached for the opening service, and during that service he used a very attention-grabbing object lesson. He took an ax and literally destroyed a television that was on the platform. Glass and televions parts flew everywhere! The message was to "Go forward" and stop sitting around watching junk on televion, to stop bad habits, etc.

The next day my sister Holly was in one of the ladies' split sessions, and the speaker shared how her young son didn't quite "get" the point of the previous night's message. At home he asked if they could destroy their old television, since they had a newer, bigger one in the living room! LOL

Actions speak louder than words...

...or in this case, "Actions speak louder than bumper stickers."

Last night as I was in the video-store parking lot, I noticed a car pulling out of one of the parking spots. It had a bumper sticker on it that said:

Kill your television!

Apparently, they haven't killed theirs yet!

Pride and Prejudice

I read Jane Austen's book Pride and Prejudice when I was a teenager, and thouroughly enjoyed it.

Since then, I have watched these adaptations of it:




This last one was just a cheap-production modern-day chick flick...my sisters all thought it terribly funny and enjoyable, but I didn't get quite as much amusement out of it as they did.

A few days ago, my sister Holly told me that the 2005 version was out on dvd. So last night I set out to rent it. I went to two video rental stores, with no luck. It seems as though everyone else wanted to rent it too! I called another store, rather than wasting a trip out there, and they didn't have it in stock either. So Kevin and I went to Meijer and we bought it, with the plan to sell it on e-bay.

So last night I watched this version:



I have to say that of all the versions I have seen, the 1995 version (second picture down) is my favorite! That's not to say that I didn't enjoy last night's viewing. This movie was not quite as long as the others, so they didn't have as much time to develop the characters. I do believe they stayed true to the book though. All in all, it was an enjoyable movie!

Trade Marks

Everything these days has trademarks on them. Or they are copyrighted. Everyone has to protect their invention, their catch phrase, their company name.

But I was a little surprised to see that ZIP code is trademarked! I got a post card from the post office, and noticed that "ZIP" has "TM" by it. This struck me as funny, because what business, person, etc. would would want to use "ZIP code"? LOL

Do you know what ZIP stands for, anyhow? It is an acronym for "Zone Improvement Plan."

Upon further investigation, I found the following information at Wikipedia:

ZIP Code was originally registered as a trademark by the U.S. Postal Service, but its registration has since expired.

So if it's not really trademarked, then why would they use "TM" by it??? Questions, questions! *Grin*

Another "This and That" post

This morning it was so cold outside! As we walked from the parking lot to our office building, I held my scarf over my face. Otherwise, it hurt my nose to breathe! I think we're due for some snow sometime soon. It's funny to think that my family in California is getting ready to plant their garden, and we're getting snow!

I can still dream of gardening though! Last year we moved into our new house so late in the season, that I didn't plant anything. This year I am planting double-flowered impatiens in my front flower beds. While I am certain of what I'm planting in the front, I'm still debating what to do on the side. I would like to plant perennials, but I can't make up my mind about them. I sent off for about six gardening catalogs, so I look over those and try to get ideas.

I now understand why so many knitters like to make socks:
1. They are a quick project (usually).
2. They are fun to make.
3. They don't cost an arm and a leg to make.

I have been wanting to make a sweater for myself, so last Saturday I went to a yarn shop and purchased the pattern and yarn for a sweater. I'm pleased with my selection, but it did cost quite a bit! This sweater had better be the best sweater I've ever laid my eyes on!

Susan's Flylady blog inspired me to do some of my own decluttering. Last night while I was making dinner, I had a few minutes, and I got one of my cabinets cleaned out. Everything went back in, but the shelves got wiped down, and things got put back in a more orderly fashion. I don't like cleaning out my cabinets, but it only took me a few minutes! I'm going to try to do a cabinet/drawer a night while dinner is cooking. It's amazing how fast things get out of order! (And equally amazing how little time it takes to put it back in order!!!)

I suppose this has been enough "this's and that's"! Blessings to all! Have a wonderful day!

Ella Minnow Pea

"A Progressively Lipogrammatic Epistolary Fable"

This book was a fun read. I finished it a week or so ago.

This story was so fictional that it wasn't believable as I was reading it. However, it was still fun to read! A very fictional island country pays their respects to the man who invented the sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" (which uses all the letters of the alphabet) with a statue and that sentence over it in tiles. The tiles, which have been on the statue for one hundred years, start falling, and in order to respect the founder of their island country, the people are not allowed to use the letters that have fallen. They cannot speak or write with the letters that have fallen.

Eliminating "Z" isn't so hard, but as the letters keep falling, the people have more and more troubles. The tiles eventually dwindle to L, M, N, O, and P. (Say "Ella Minnow Pea".)

Because this book is written in letter format, it is interesting to see how the townspeople adapt to not using the letters that are not allowed.

Ribbed Socks!

I finished a pair of socks tonight! This pair is the third pair of socks that I have made. I started them before Christmas, and made great progress on the first one as we travelled, and finished it at my grandparent's house. After we got back, I was busier than normal, and so the second sock took a little longer to finish.

(Click on the picture for a closer look.)

I discovered that guage really is important after all. (As is using the weight of yarn that the pattern calls for!) I guess that was a major "duh" moment. Oh well, live and learn. The best thing is that all my work wasn't wasted! What started out as socks for myself ended up as socks for my youngest sister.

The pattern I used came out of this book:



The yarn is a washable wool blend, and was nice to work with. It was left over from a scarf that I made for Kevin.

Little sis, be looking in the mail for your socks!

Four Cheese Lasagna

Compliments of Rebecca, here is the lasagna recipe:

Lasagna takes time to assemble. To avoid last-minute preparation, make this casserole early in the day or the night before and refrigerate. Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.

1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
2 cans (4 oz each) mushroom stems and pieces, drained
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
½ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon fennel seed
1 carton (16 oz) cottage cheese
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese
1-1/2 cups (6 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
2 eggs, beaten
1 package (12 oz) lasagna noodles, cooked and drained

In a skillet, cook beef, onion and garlic until beef is browned and onion is tender; drain. In a blender, cover and process the tomatoes until smooth. Stir into beef mixture along with mushrooms, tomato paste and seasonings; simmer for 15 minutes. In a bowl, combine cottage cheese, Parmesan, cheddar, ½ cup of mozzarella and eggs. Spread 2 cups meat sauce in the bottom of an ungreased 13-in x 9-in x 2-in baking dish. Arrange half the noodles over sauce. Spread cheese mixture over noodles. Top with remaining noodles and meat sauce. Cover and bake at 350° for 45 minutes. Uncover; sprinkle with remaining mozzarella. Bake 15 minutes longer or until cheese melts. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting. Yield: 12 servings

I follow the recipe as it is, except I do not put the crushed tomatoes in the blender. I think it makes the sauce a little thicker, which is a good thing! My casserole dish is wide enough for three noodles across, so I end up using six noodles.

Company's Coming!

We are having our pastor and his family over for dinner tonight.

On the menu:
lasagna (a wonderful recipe I got from my sister-in-law, Rebecca)
salad
garlic bread
corn
brownies and ice cream for dessert

Last night as I readied the house for company, I had four-minute breaks scattered throughout the evening. Why four minutes? Because I was watching the ice skating too! :-)

I think the commentators talked about the new scoring system during each skater's performance. ALL RIGHT ALREADY! I know about it now! LOL

When I was younger, I used to dream about ice skating...how "fun" it would be. Having been on ice skates just once as an adult, I realize how unfun that would be. It takes a lot of work. I couldn't/wouldn't want to do off the ice what they do on the ice! Hat's off to them, and all the hard work they put into it to make it seem so effortless!

Sock a Month Knit-along!

I just joined Christine's sock knit along. I also added the button to my blog. :-) I have a pair of socks on my needles--all I have to finish is the toe on one. I have six days to get it finished to qualify for the month of February. Since it's just the toe, I shouldn't have any trouble at all.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I got a few sock books from the library. I'm not lacking patterns for socks! I have so many different patterns to choose from. It's hard to make up my mind!

I would also like to branch out in my knitting and try other projects. I would like to make a sweater for myself, but I haven't found a pattern that says, "Make me!" yet. I'm still looking for that perfect pattern.

Horchata

Horchata is a Mexican cinnamon-rice drink that I enjoy. In fact, I made it for Valentine's Day for my Mexican dinner--but I used a packet from the store.

My mom recently sent me a recipe for horchata, and I made it last night. It was so easy, and it's so good! I used Stevia (a natural sweetener) to sweeten it, instead of the honey or sugar. I added too much Stevia, so it has a little bit of a bitter after-taste, but I still enjoyed it. I haven't used Stevia much, so I'm still experimenting with it.

Here's the recipe:
1 c. cooked brown rice (hot)
4 c. water
Blend in blender for 4 minutes, strain.
Return to blender and add
1/4 c. honey OR 1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
Blend til mixed. Refrigerate until cold. Add crushed ice if desired.

Enjoy!

Our New Washer and Dryer

Rebecca asked:

Did you get your washer/dryer? how are they?

We got our washer and dryer on Saturday. The cold water valve wouldn't turn off all the way, so the delivery guys didn't want to force it and be liable if it broke. So they just delivered them, they didn't hook up the washer (they can't hook up the dryer any how, since it's gas). Two minutes after they left, Kevin was able to turn off the valve. He got everything hooked up just fine.

I really love the washer and dryer! It's so nice to have something that is "ours". We've never had our own washer and dryer until we bought this house. The washer that came with the house was disgusting. It took me over an hour to get the inside of the washer clean enough to put dirty clothes in! Anyhow, we're glad we got them, and I'm happy we got the front-loader. We'll see if it really does help lower our water bills!

I have a couch FULL of laundry. Gettting that all taken care of is on tonight's agenda!

It's late...no, it's early...

I visited the library today and got all kinds of knitting books. This evening, we watched a movie and I looked through my books and kept up with the movie at the same time. The end was quite intense, so I did put my books down in order to finish the movie.

Is anyone else frustrated with NBC? I told a friend at church how annoying it is to try to watch the Olympics, because they don't stick with an event for more than one or two commercials. She said it didn't bother her much, because it was like watching tv with her husband. LOL I can relate to that...but still! Figure skating for two couples, then we're watching snowboarding, then we're watching something else. I just remember watching the Olympics when I was younger, and they seemed to have more of each event.

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I get my new washer and dryer! I'm so excited!!! I have clothes piled up ready and willing to be washed! :-) (Oh wait--technically, it's today that I get my new washer and dryer!)

Thursday morning I was awakened by a crash and then what sounded like a downpour of rain. Upon rising and looking out the window, I saw that it wasn't raining. I followed the sound...to the bathroom. One of the bathtub's legs (feet?) had fallen off and water was pouring everywhere. It could have been an expensive mishap, but Kevin called someone who fixes clawfeet bathtubs, and he explained to him over the phone how to get the feet back on securely. This was not the foot that Kevin had previously fixed. So, hopefully, this will hold! The pipe connecting the shower to the faucet broke off, and Kevin had to fix that. But thankfully, the pipes bringing the water in didn't break!

Well, I really do need to go to bed. For some reason, I'm wound up tonight. Maybe it's the accomplishment of my blog background! LOL

Our Valentine's Date

Choosing Home had a Valentine's contest, and this was my entry:

This Valentine's Day I asked my husband if I could make dinner. Normally, we go out for dinner on Valentine's Day, but this year I wanted to change things up a bit. This contest gave me the extra "push" to plan a special evening at home--something that I have actually been wanting to do for a few months.

I made myself a traditional Mexican outfit, and will be serving Mexican food (chips and salsa, tacos, and Spanish rice). My outfit is completed with a big sombrero. *Grin* I also got a sombrero for him to wear during dinner.

I am going to decorate the table with a few things I purchased, and hanging from the living room/dining room doorway will be a pinata that I have candies and small gifts. After dinner, he will have to break open the pinata to receive his gifts. Oh, and I won't even blind fold him!

Oh, how could I forget dessert? Not exactly Mexican, but one of his favorites--cheesecake!

We live in Michigan, and I was expecting to have a hard time finding items with a Mexican theme, but I found everything I needed at my first stop--a party store.

When Kevin came in the dining room, he was greeted by Mariachi music. We had a fun evening together!

And, today I found out that I placed in the Honorable Mentions, so to speak! :) Choosing Home said I had the "Best Props".

"Secret" Cheesecake recipe

At my wedding shower, the ladies went around the room and gave me advice. The first lady felt put on the spot, and all she said was "cook for him". Afterwards, she came up to me and said that she felt bad that that was all she said--and she gave me her family's secret cheescake recipe.

This recipe was a carefully guarded secret. Mainly, I think, because she enjoyed being the only one to appear at church potlucks with her specialty cheesecakes!

I made this cheesecake for dessert last night, and flavored it with raspberry extract. It turned out so good! As you can tell from the picture, we had already enjoyed it!


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Best-ever Cheesecake~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

You will need a graham cracker crust.

Preheat oven to 350*.

Mix together:
8 oz. cream cheese
1 egg
3/8 cup sugar
1-3 Tablespoons flavoring (jam, berries, chocolate, extracts (I used 2 teaspoons of raspberry extract--turned out delicious!--and added a little food coloring to make it look like raspberries)

Pour into crust, bake for 30 minutes. Cool for 15-30 minutes.

Then, mix together:
8 oz. sour cream
2 Tablespoons sugar
same amount of flavoring used in the 1st layer
(optional) drizle jam on top for design

Bake for another 8-9 minutes in 350* oven.

Cool, refrigerate, ENJOY!!!

My Valentine Roses

Isn't the color of these roses just gorgeous? I've been enjoying these since Saturday. Kevin went out shopping and came home with them.

Blue Ink or Black?

I don't know why, but when I write, I prefer blue ink over black ink. It seems like a funny preference, but black ink just doesn't seem to write as well! ;-) I don't really like to write with a pencil either. Not even a mechanical pencil. Oh, and I don't like gel ink. The gel ink tends to make my writing sloppy.

Handwriting? If I concentrate and take my time, I have good handwriting. Notice, I said if I take my time. If I don't take my time, my handwriting is still readable, but not very neat. I typically write in cursive, though sometimes I print. It just depends on what I am writing. My legal signature combines both printing and cursive: the first letters of my first and last name are printed, the rest is in cursive.

Bye, bye old washer!

Last Thursday while I was finishing up my ironing, I was running the washing machine as well, catching up on laundry. Since we had gotten back from our Christmas vacation, the washer was making a lot of noise each time I used it.

Well, last week it stopped making noise. Instead, it started leaking! Thankfully there is a drain on the floor near the washer, but still, to have our washer leaking did not indicate anything good!

We discussed our options. We got the washer with our house, and as I looked through the manuals, I found out that the washer was already 19 years old. We didn't really want to pay to have someone come out and fix it, not knowing if it was fixable in the first place.

Our second option was to buy. We went to Home Depot to look, and the salesman (when he finally got around to coming by!) was really pushing a certain brand that was out of our price range. We didn't like the fact that he was pushing it so much.

Then we headed out to Lowes. They had some sales going, and in the end we got a Frigidaire washer and dryer. They just put out a new model, so this one had gone down in price, as well as being on sale. Oh--and the salesman told us why they were pushing the other model so much at Home Depot--it is made overseas, so the profit margin is greater for the company.

We get our new washer and dryer on Saturday. I am looking forward to getting them! I don't think I will even mind the trek up and down the basement stairs in order to use them (um, for a while anyhow! Hahaha).

The washer is a front loader. Since we pay for city water, we're hoping it will really cut our bill down, as well as our gas. So...should I do laundry or not this week? It's a good excuse to not do any! =)

Winter is back!

After enjoying 40-something consecutive days of above-average winter weather, winter has come back to us! It's snowing today. We're supposed to get snow every 12 hours or so, into next week. We'll see what happens! The snow is pretty, and it's nice to have winter back. =)

Finally!

Tonight I ironed clothes that I haven't even looked at since before Christmas! I got all my ironing caught up! I have literally spent hours ironing since we've gotten back from our Christmas vacation, but I never got to the bottom of the pile before more was added to it. It *was* such a good feeling to be caught up. Alas, I've been doing laundry tonight, so there is more ironing waiting for me!

Speaking of Socks...

When I was little, my mom found a cartoon in the back of a magazine that she cut out and kept. She kept it for a good long time, and got a good laugh whenever she read it. It's still funny even if you can't see it. Just imagine:

A lady in her back yard with a big pile of socks on the ground. She's holding a lit match over the pile. Her neighbor is leaning over the fence.

"What are you doing?"

"Matching my socks!"

My mom joked often about "matching" the socks, but quite honestly, she wasn't too thrilled when she had to go out and buy new socks for everyone after the paper sack episode. And no, she wasn't the one who threw them away. One of us kids did that (unknowingly, of course!).

Old Socks

Last night I pulled out a pair of socks to wear to bed (have to keep my feet warm!), and realized that they were socks I've had forever. OK, not really "forever", but a pretty long time!

I'm 29 years old, and I've had them since I was 16 years old or so. I remember getting them--they were in a package that had three different pairs in them. I liked all three pairs, but alas, the other two pairs were doomed to a sad demise.

My mom had put all the socks to be matched in a paper grocery sack.

Someone called and said they were coming by.

We also put our trash in paper grocery sacks. Get the picture? As we picked up the living room to ready it for our visitors, we put the trash into the sock bag. The sock bag went out with the trash before we realized we were missing socks.

Since the socks hadn't been matched in a while, most of our socks were in that bag. My mom had to then go out and buy socks for the whole family! I don't recall her putting socks into a paper grocery sack anymore! (Hmmmm...I wonder why???)

It's too bad that the other two pairs got thrown out! I might still be wearing them! LOL

Hospitality

Kevin and I have discovered that hospitality is not a lost art. At least, it isn't in our church. We were quite busy last weekend. We had our youth pastor and his family over for dinner on Friday night, and then Saturday we went to a dinner party, and Sunday after church we were invited to a couple's house to watch the Super Bowl.

We got to talking about who has invited us over for dinner since we've been going to this church (since August):
~the youth pastor
~the pastor
~a couple that was having a bon fire in their back yard
~one of the deacons
~Jessica, a lady my age, who had me over when both Kevin and her husband were gone for the evening
~the dinner party I just mentioned
~and the Super Bowl dinner

This was all in just a few months. On the other hand, we counted how many church member's homes we had been invited to in our previous 5 years of marriage. We counted six homes. We didn't count the youth activities we've had at other people's homes--just the dinners that someone said, "Kevin and Tammy, please come for dinner." We have had quite a bit of company in our house over the years, so it is not as though we're not doing our part.

It takes time and work to have someone over for dinner, and most people don't want to go to that work, I suppose. I know that I greatly appreciate being invited into someone's home. Even if all they've done is order pizza, it still gives you a "warm and fuzzy" feeling to know that they specifically wanted you to come to their home!

Three Cheers for Kevin!

Hip, Hip, Hooray!

Hip, Hip, Hooray!

Hip, Hip, Hooray!

*Smiles*

Last night Kevin put up the blinds in the hallway window for me, and fixed the bathtub! We have a clawfoot bathtub, and one of the claws (feet?) came off. Actually, we've been having a problem with it popping off every once in a while, whenever it sees fit to come off. So Kevin fixed it last night. It involved a lot of ingenuity on his part, and some clothesline and duct tape! LOL Last night when he informed me that he fixed it, he had the duct tape in his hands, and said, "That should do it!" I asked if you could see the duct tape, and he said, "It depends on how you look at it." So with much fear and trepidation, I walked into the bathroom to see what he had done. *Phew!* As he said, it depends on how you look at it. Well, you pretty much have to lay on the floor under the tub to see the duct tape. Which, I hardly think any of our visitors will do! =)

The blinds look great as well. They are part of my redecorating project, and hopefully soon I will get that hallway absolutely finished! As I was taking off the painting tape, I was noticing spots that need touching up with the main color. Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike painting?

Happy February!

Wow! I can't believe January is gone already! I've been so busy, it just flew by!

Last night I finished painting my hallway! I was so glad to finally get it finished! There is so much trim in such a small space, that it took me quite a while to get it all painted. But it's done now! And who needs a Thigh Master when you can paint? With all that trim, I ended up squatting a good portion of the time I was painting. OUCH! My legs hurt now!

On Saturday, I bought curtains and a few things to decorate the hallway with. Tonight after church I'm going to start working on it and get it all "prettied" up. Then I'll post a picture to show off. *Grin*

This morning is much colder than yesterday morning. We're supposed to get a foot of snow on Saturday. I hope not! We shall see what God brings us...the weatherman might be able to pretend to know what's coming, but only God knows for sure!

We're having company on Friday night. Since I painted on Monday and Tuesday, I have a lot of housework to get done between then and now.

I hope everyone has a blessed day!

Raw Potatoes

When I was little, and my mom made anything with potatoes, I always begged to eat a few pieces. I absolutely loved them! My mom would give me a few pieces to make me happy, and I would go on my merry way.

I was thinking about this as I cut my potatoes for tonight's dinner. I always eat a few pieces as I'm cutting them. They are so good and crunchy!

I think raw potatoes is something that is an acquired taste. I don't know how I got started eating raw potatoes, because I can't remember ever seeing my mom eat a piece of raw potato. I remember hearing my pastor say that he liked raw potatoes with salt. So after that, I had to try them with salt. If I remember correctly, I had to sneak that one, because we weren't supposed to eat salt. LOL

Shorts?

The weather has been much "warmer" than usual this month. But that doesn't mean it is warm--just warmer (as in it gets up to 40* or so. I was out shopping today, and I saw a woman in shorts. Brrrrr I got cold just looking at her!

You Can Do it!

The Geico commercial with Tony Little on his Gazelle makes me laugh every time I see it. Tonight I got my exercise at Sears, on a Gazelle! Yep, I CAN do it! LOL

We went to Sears specifically to buy an exercise bike. While we were waiting (and waiting, and waiting, and waiting!) for a salesman, I hopped on the Gazelle and got my exercise in for today! I probably exercised for 10-15 minutes. During that time, someone did come by to help us, but I just listened from where I was.

I don't know if I'd want to actually have one or not. I would probably get bored. But it was something interesting to do while I waited for us to finish shopping!

Cherry Butter

Kevin and I went to a funeral today, and left work a little too early. Along the way to our church is a fruit stand-type store. It is always closed when we go by--they aren't open on Sunday, and they close at 6 p.m. on weekdays.

Since we had the time, we stopped in. They have a lot of different things, including fresh fruit of the season, preserves, and baked goods. I spotted something I just *had* to have--cherry butter. I've had (and made) apple butter, but I've never had cherry butter.

It is so good! Oh, it's made without sugar too. It's sweetened with white grape juice. Yummmmmmy!

I do wish this store were open at least on Wednesday nights. I would love to stop in more frequently. It's a little too far out of our way to make a special trip for.

March of the Penguins

Last night Kevin and I watched the movie March of the Penguins. It was very impressive. After watching this movie, I can only think of how awesome God is. For people to say there is no Creator is to lie. If you have the chance to see this movie, take it. It's well worth the time.

One thing that I was amazed about is that the baby penguins are left on their own in the spring. The males and females all take off, leaving the baby penguins on the ice for a week or longer. Finally, the ice melts and they all jump in the sea. After five years, they will return to the exact spot they were born, and mate and hatch their own baby penguins. Truly remarkable!

Time in my Bible

This morning I was under the weather, so I stayed home from church. It was a very quiet morning, with about an hour spent reading my Bible. Susan posted a wonderful Bible reading schedule, and I've been following it this year. I did get a little behind, but it won't be too hard for me to catch up.

Here is Susan's post: Bible Reading Schedules.

*Big, Contented Sigh*

(And also a tired sigh as well! ;-) )

The house is clean from top to bottom (if you don't count the attic or the basement, that is), and the laundry is done (mostly--I have a few sweaters still to wash, and a set of sheets), and I even went grocery shopping (thank you, Kevin for going with me!).

Today was a good day, very busy, but I got a lot accomplished today.

I am such a S.H.E. What is that? It stands for "Side-tracked Home Executive." I get sidetracked so easily. Kevin says I was reading for an hour today. I do not think it was quite an hour, but he insists that it was. I'll take his word on it. The computer distracts me. I can find all kinds of things to distract me. If I would just put all my attention towards the job at hand, I would get done so much faster.

Oh well, the main thing is that I got all my housework done, and the house is all shiny and clean.

And now I'm off to bed (see, I was on my way to bed, but got a little sidetracked here! LOL). Good night!

It's snowing!

January has been unusual here in Michigan. It has been without much snow. It hasn't been completely devoid of snow, but for most of the month (and the latter part of December too), the ground has been snow-less. We've gotten some snow, but it has been too warm for it to really stick.

Well, tonight it is snowing! It looks quite pretty out. I love it when the snow first falls, and no body has shoveled, or driven on the snow. Otherwise, once people start moving about, the snow becomes dirty and not quite as pretty to look at.

Whenever I say the snow is pretty, people always say I like it because I'm not from around here. :-) The novelty of it will wear off eventually, I guess. But until then, I'll enjoy it. As long as I'm inside. *Grin*

The "Lovely" Michigan Left Turn

When we first moved to Michigan, we were puzzled at certain intersections. There would be a "No Left Turn" sign posted, for no apparent reason. At the intersection in question, we could go straight through it, or turn right. Once, out of desperation to turn left (and noting that no police were around! LOL) Kevin turned left. (Shhh don't tell anyone!)

Finally we figured it out! We even learned that it has a name. Here's an example of what a Michigan Left Turn is like:

Often maligned, often misunderstood, the Michigan Left Turn is an operation which causes much consternation among out-of-state drivers and nary a second thought from locals. Developed in Michigan in 1960...these turning set-ups exist across the entire state, from Niles to Escanaba and from Detroit to Marquette. (Yes, the Upper Peninsula has Michigan Lefts!)

The Michigan Left was developed to avoid the interlocking left-turn movements along divided highways. In this way, the only turning movements allowed at such an intersection are right-hand turns. Traffic lights can be placed at busier Michigan Left intersections if warranted. For the most heavily-used "crossovers," specialized traffic signals may be placed to ensure traffic does not back up on the highway waiting to turn left.

Quote taken from http://www.michiganhighways.org/indepth/michigan_left.html

I'm so excited!

Tonight at church I found out that one of the ladies I frequently talk to is a knitter! She was telling me about some of the things that she has made, and she said she'd try to remember to wear one of her sweaters next Sunday so I can see it.

She said that her mom got her and her sister started in knitting when she was in 7th grade. Her dad thought that the only people that should knit were old ladies, so she didn't knit when he was around. LOL

I've been knitting for several years now, and she is the first non-old lady I've met who knits. *Grin* (And just for your info, I dearly love the old-lady knitters!)

Differences in opinion

Most of the time Kevin and I have the same sense of humor. We laugh over a lot of things together. Yesterday's blond joke was not one of those shared times. In fact, while I thought it was terribly funny, Kevin thought it was terribly stupid. I'm still snickering over it. LOL

THE Blond Joke of all Blond Jokes

Kim posted this blond joke. I admit, it took me a few minutes to figure it out. Nope, I'm not blond. It is quite funny!

Did you believe *every* thing your parents told you?

When I was little, there were a few things that my parents told me that I just didn't believe. For instance, when I was around 5 and 6, we would have taco dinners. My parents would heat up the tortillas in the broiler, and sometimes during our dinner, they would heat up additional tortillas, since we had run out at the table. They always told me, "Be careful, they are hot!" when they gave me one right out of the broiler.

I didn't believe them.

Why? Well, by the time that the thin tortilla had been transferred from the broiler to my plate, it was warm, not hot.

One day, I got one that was super hot! I was stunned. So then I did believe them on that issue!

Another thing that they said, if I happened to be around a paper cutter: "Keep your fingers away, it might cut them off."

I seriously doubted that it would even cut me, much less cut my fingers off, since it had a hard time cutting 5 pieces of paper.

Yesterday at work, I learned to listen to my parents. *Grin* The paper cutter handle doesn't stay up, and as I was cutting some paper, I realized I was cutting something that I didn't want to cut. I reached to grab it, and the handle came sliding down. On my thumb! Ouch!

Of course, it didn't cut my thumb off. But I have a nice little cut on my thumb, that will persist in bleeding if I do not have a bandaid on it.

So, the moral of this story is to listen to your parents. They are always right! *Smiles*

One of my Christmas gifts

My brother made this shelf for me for Christmas. Didn't he do such a good job? He had some help with it, but he drew out the pattern from a picture that I sent him, he stained and painted it, and he put it together.


My kitchen in our new house doesn't have any wall space to hang a shelf on, so I looked on e-bay to try to find a shelf that would fit in the corner on my counter top. The only thing I found was a shelf like this one, only it was way to tall. So I sent the picture to my brother and offered to pay him to make it. He surprised me with it at Christmas!

Mmmmm good!

The other morning I made myself grapefruit juice for breakfast, using Ruby Red grapefruits. The juice turned out so pretty!

Pet Peeve # 3,929

Or something like that! Hahaha I think I have too many pet peeves!

You call a company, and they have you punch in or say your account number (or telephone number). That does what? Waste time so you don't feel you're on hold so long? Any time I have to do this (and I've had to do it twice this week) the first thing they ask for is your account number or telephone number. So what was the point???

Second time same as the first...

(Referring of course, to my post yetserday.) Why must getting up be so hard? But, I did it! Kevin joked last night about "returning" my alarm clock to me, since it was misplaced on his dresser.

I've had a strong dislike for the alarm clock ever since I was little. When I was six years old my parents bought me an alarm clock. I don't remember ever getting up when it went off. Instead, I developed this thing that I must get up when the minute hand was actually on a number (i.e. 7:30, 7:35, etc.). So I would lay in bed, and go to sleep waiting for the right moment to get up. Not a good thing, but when you are six, your mom doesn't rely on your alarm clock to get you up.

My next alarm clock was wonderful. I got that when I was a young teenager. The snooze button delayed the alarm by four minutes. But it also had a feature that I haven't seen before--if you pushed it twice, it would delay the alarm by eight minutes. Push it three times, twelve minutes. Or maybe twenty times...you get the picture! This alarm also had the feature that if you just let the alarm go, it would turn itself off after a minute or two. The minute or two of torture was worth staying in my warm bed. (Of course, it may have annoyed my sisters who were sharing the room with me!)

Since alarm clocks obviously did not do a good job of getting me out of bed, my dad resorted to being my alarm clock. He would come in, turn the fan on, open the blinds, and tell me to get up. Once he played a song from Patch the Pirate at full blast. The title of the song? "It's Time to Get Up". I say he did that once, because after I got up, I put the tape in my drawer, where it stayed for a good long time!

As you can see, getting up in the morning has been a life-long struggle for me! But I'm working on it! Just wait, one of these days I'll actually consider myself a "morning person!"

You'll never believe it...

I got up this morning when my alarm clock went off! What an accomplishment! Hahaha...for me, it truly is! I hate to get up in the morning, and I hate that silly alarm clock making all that noise! I have been known to turn it off, and then pull it into bed with me. Kevin says that I'm "snuggling" with my alarm clock. LOL

Last night I put the alarm clock on Kevin's dresser, which meant that I had to get up, and walk all the way across the bedroom in order to turn it off. This morning I made my bed as soon as I turned that annoying alarm clock off, to prevent me getting back in my bed.

So there! It can be done! *Grin*

Knitting bloggers

Knitting bloggers are everywhere! I started searching for knit blogs shortly before Christmas, and found some that I find interesting to read. It is amazing how many knitting blogs are written. Knitting is quite "the thing" right now. I love to see what people are creating. Knitting is my new addiction. I haven't crocheted anything for a good long time. I thought about starting a crochet project, then I started thinking of all the knitting projects I want to make! Right now I'm working on another pair of socks. Socks are fun to make--really, they don't take that much time, and they can go anywhere. I knitted on my socks quite a bit while we were traveling to California this Christmas.

One thing that I recently came upon is the Clapotis. You can see one at knitty.com. I don't know if I'll make one or not, but they look intriguing. Today I looked at a blog that had a collection of blogger's pictures--there were probably 50 or more pictures of them. They are beautiful. I don't know if I'd actually wear one or not though. It is not a shawl, and it's not really a scarf--it's something in between.

I want to make myself a sweater, but I've yet to find a pattern I like. I'll have to go searching sometime!

My latest read

For Christmas, Kevin gave me Beverly Lewis' newest book, The Preacher's Daughter. I just finished it last evening. As always, the book ends with nothing being resolved (All the books in her series are cliff hangers, the last book in the series wraps everything up). And, as always, I can't wait till the next book in the series comes out! I started reading Beverly Lewis' last series, Abram's Daughters, when the first book came out. That was torturous. I had to wait for her to write and publish each book in the five-book series. I vowed never to read a series of hers until ALL the books in the series were published.

But I couldn't help myself. After all, wouldn't it hurt Kevin's feelings if I didn't read the book he gave me for Christmas? Also, who can let a good book just sit around without reading it? Not I. So read it I did. So now I'm obligated to buy the books as they are published!

Oh, very atypical for me, I did not read the end of the book first. *Grin* Kevin thinks it's awful to read the end first. (Well, I don't really read it first...I read the end after I've gotten into the book, and really, really can't wait to find out what happened!) So, for Kevin's sake, I saved the end for, well, the end! But since it wasn't "the end" of the story anyhow, it didn't make that much of a difference anyhow!

About a year or so ago, I got to meet Beverly Lewis at a book signing she did at a nearby Christian bookstore. She gave a little talk, and then opened the floor for questions. Then she signed books. She is a very sweet lady, and it was fun to briefly meet someone whose work you admire.

What's in YOUR wallet?

Well, not the right card. I guess I'll get carried away by Vikings! Or maybe I will have to combine ALL my holidays into ONE holiday, because I don't have the *right* card. Too bad, so sad.

My wallet currently has in it:
my driver's license
debit card
Citi bank Master Card
a gift card to Kohl's
a credit-card size calender
Kohl's credit card
JC Penney's credit card
Health insurance card
Dental insurance card
Sam's club membership card
My library card
two punchcards for stores I hardly go to
my badge to get into work
three business cards (for businesses that I hardly go to--but want to remember where they are!)
insurance information for our car
four receipts

and NO cash!

That's ALL I have in my wallet! What's in YOUR wallet? =)

Happy New Year!

Wow, 2005 sped by so fast! I look forward to 2006 to see how the Lord will work in my life, and how I can better serve Him.

The start of a new year is a time many people take for making resolutions. I typically take the time on New Year's to write out a list of resolutions. Sometimes I write my resolutions on my birthday (in November). I believe the quote, "If you aim for nothing you hit it every time."

Have you noticed that the advertisements and merchandising at the beginning of the year are focused on: weight loss--weight loss products, exercise equipment, gym memberships, etc.; gum/patches to help one stop smoking; and organizing products. We were in Sam's Club, and Kevin mentioned that the large shelving units that are usually set up to separate the doorways were no longer there. I pointed out that there were products there for resolutions--all kinds of exercise equipment. The merchandisers know how to make their money this time of year.

I don't want to spend a lot of money on the resolutions I make. In fact, I really don't need to spend ANY money on the resolutions I've made. This year, I resolve to:

Have a closer walk with the Lord
Exercise and eat healthy

For my walk with the Lord, I realize I need to get up early (which is something I do not enjoy doing!), and go to bed earlier. With God's help, it can be done!

I already have the dvd's to exercise with. I love to eat healthy foods...I feel so much better when I do! Last year, I went for nine weeks on a diet called "Fit for Life." I have never felt better in my life! It just takes a lot of time in the kitchen, and a lot of vegetables and fruits. But when I take the time, it is so much better for me!

God's blessings on everyone's New Year!

"For purple mountains majesties..."

One thing Michigan does not have is mountains.

When we were in California, we didn't go TO the mountains, but we got to SEE them. I realized how much I miss seeing mountains.

I took a picture, but it really doesn't do justice to them. Kevin took pictures with our camera, and I'm hoping that his turned out much better than mine. (We have to get the film developed.)

Today's a coffee day

Last night I was just about to head off to bed when I saw that a dear friend was online (through instant messaging). So I ended up talking to her late into the night. (Ummmm, actually early into the morning.) So now I'm functioning on little more than five and a half hours of sleep. I'm headed off to get some coffee, which, incidentally, doesn't really seem to wake me up. It is, however, very successful in keeping me awake at night if I've had it any time after 2 p.m. Maybe it will do the trick this time?

Thank you notes

I always write thank you notes for gifts that I've gotten. Right now, I am a little behind, since I haven't written my thank you notes for my birthday presents. I need to do that! Now I can combine them with my Christmas thank you notes!

One year when I was a teenager, I wrote and sent all my thank you notes the day after Christmas. My grandparents got theirs the next day. My grandpa asked me if I had peeked at my gifts before Christmas, and written my thank you notes before Christmas! LOL

When we were stuck in the LA airport for 3 hours this Christmas, I was wishing that I had thought to get a pack of thank you notes. It would have helped to pass time! It was a boring 3 hours, because nothing was open! I don't know if they typically close all their stores at 9 or 9:30 p.m., or if they closed early because of Christmas. I just know that looking IN the store windows wasn't as entertaining as browsing in the stores!

Valentines Day is JUST around the corner!

My sister Holly and I went shopping before Christmas, and when we walked into one of the stores, there right inside the door was a whole section of VALENTINE's stuff. How crazy is that??? Do you want to know when I think of Valentine's Day?

February 14th!

Certainly, I've never thought of, or bought anything for Valentine's Day before Christmas!!!

Our wonderful technology...

Cell phones are great. I admit it, when we had cell phones, it was so handy. But they are annoying when other people use them in stores and hold up lines, or when drivers chat on their phones and don't pay attention to the road. People tend to abuse them in public.

Last night though, I just had to laugh. We landed in the Los Angeles airport and I went into the restroom. There was a lady in a stall chatting on the phone, amidst the WHOOSH of toilets flushing around her. She didn't seem embarrassed at all, she was having a nice little chatty conversation. *giggles*

Some people...

Sunny Side Up

My sister Holly told me to make this post "sunny side up". She said, "You were sick, but you didn't die!"

True.

"You didn't have to go to the hospital!"

True.

Tuesday and Wednesday I spent in bed and laying around the house, either at my grandparents or my parents house. I got sick! What a way to spend my Christmas vacation with my family! I wasn't dreadfully ill (as Holly sweetly pointed out! *grin*), but I certainly didn't feel well either. I guess I had the flu or something. I don't know. So far, nobody else has gotten it. I don't think it was food poisoning, because I ate the same meals everyone else was eating.

I was super glad to wake up this morning and not have a sick stomach! We were going to have lunch at my grandparents yesterday, but since I was sick, we ended up going there today.

We had a nice lunch with them, and then we watched some home videos. Kevin had never seen any of the videos from when I was younger.

Here's a "sunny side up"--the weather here is gorgeous!!! It's been in the 60's all week! There isn't any fog, and the mountains are very visible. This morning I picked a bowl of raspberries from my grandparent's raspberry bushes. I was surprised there were still berries out there! It has been unseasonably warm for this area, but I am glad, because it's a nice respite from the cold snowy weather of Michigan!

Safe and Sound in California!

We arrived in California last night. Whew! We had two connections, so the travelling time was drawn out. It was worth it though! =)

Tracy wanted me to rub in the fact that it is warmer here (right, Tracy??? Hehehe). We realized how much we are acclimated to Michigan winters when we were at the LA airport. We had to be shuttled over to another part of the airport, and before we went outside, we heard two of the workers talking. "Is it cold out?" "Oh, yes, it's COLD out!"

We laughed when we walked outside. It was a "balmy" 60*. We took our coats off and enjoyed the "cold" weather. Hahaha All the men who were working outside had heavy coats and stocking caps on.

We've enjoyed our time so far with our family. Of course, we got in late last night and had church this morning, but we have had some time to talk. My little sisters have grown so much!

I plan on taking lots of pictures, which I will share when I get home!

Tomorrow!

I'm really excited! Tomorrow night we will be in California!!! We are going home for Christmas. We won't have a white Christmas, but who cares!!! I've had enough of the white stuff for a while! LOL

While there, we will get to see each set of grandparents and my great grandma, and of course, my mom, dad, and siblings too!

I'm so excited. I have a ton of stuff that I need to get accomplished today, in order for us to leave tomorrow. And why must I be coming down with a sore throat now? My colds always start with a whopping sore throat. I've been taking all kinds of things to keep it at bay, but so far they aren't working! Boohoo...

I'll try to update my blog from California! If not, I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas!!!

I left the key on the counter...

Today was the last day I cleaned for the office manager at Kevin's work. After we get back from our Christmas vacation in California, she's going to be my office manager too! I'm going to be the new receptionist/adminstrative assistant. Since I will be working full time, I won't have the time to clean her house.

Every time I went to clean, I had two happy greeters in the house. "Moody" and "Snitch" were just sooooo excited to see me every time I came in. Well, let me amend that. They weren't excited to see me the first time I came in--but every time after that they knew me and came bouncing over to me for their petting. They are Australian Terriers, a very "cute" little doggy. =)

I considered keeping the key so I could go in and see what she has done differently to the house each week (LOL I'm just kidding). Every time I went to clean, something was different--rugs, pictures, decorations moved around from room to room, new renovations in the kitchen, new furniture. I talked to her about how she's always moving things around, and she said it kind of bugs her husband. Hahaha he doesn't like to get up in the middle of the night and bump into things that she's moved around. Anyhow, it was so interesting to see how she was always moving things around. I tend to put something in one place, and that will be where it stays until we move. =)

Now that I've cleaned someone else's house, it's high time for me to get my own house clean and ready for our departure! I'm so excited! We're leaving for California in two days!!!

Look!!!

I realize this picture is kind of blurry, but it's the best I could get.

That is an actual snowflake! I don't know if the snow is dryer than usual, or what, but when I left the grocery store and went out to my car, there were snowflakes all over my car. Most of them had distinguishable 6 points too! I've never seen snowflakes like this! It was just so neat, had to share it!

Gift Ideas

I've compiled this list of gift ideas, and have it filed in my computer. It comes in handy sometimes, when I need a little gift for a lady, or perhaps a small collection of gifts. Most of the items are things that we ladies like to use but don't necessarily like to buy for ourselves. I thought perhaps this list might come in handy for stocking stuffers, or little gifts that you might need to pick up.

Barrette, hair stuff
Bath stuff
Bookmark
Books (fictional)
Calendar
Candleholders
Candles
Candy, Candy bars
Cassette Tape—personal message
CD—music
Chocolates
Coffee mug (with tea bags or coffee packet in it)
Coffee—trial size
Decorations—welcome sign
Devotional book
Dish towels/hot pads/dishcloths
Doily
Gel pens
Gum—double mint—“I hope all your blessings are doubled today”
Highlighters
Journal/notebook
Key chain
Lotion
Magazine(s)
Magnets
Mirror for purse
Night light
Note cards, Note pads/list pads
Organizer
Pencils
Pens
Photo album
Picture frame
Pin
Potpourri sachet
Puzzle
Recipe box
Recipe cards
Shower gel
Socks (slipper socks for around the house)
Stickers
Sticky notes
Tea

Smarter is better than harder...

My smart husband reads my blog on a daily basis. He read my previous post about the gloves and said to me, "Well, if you would have turned one of them inside out, it would have fit right."

Too bad he wasn't around to give us that advice. It certainly would have been easier!

But then again, I don't know if either my mom or myself would have put the "dirty" side of the glove next to our skin, and cleaned with the fleecy side of the glove out. Hmmmmm

Mom? would you have???

Two Left Gloves

Doesn't sound very comfie, does it? I've been using gloves to wash my dishes with lately (trying to keep my hands in decent shape! This weather does bad things to my hands!) and as I was washing my dishes a few nights ago, I recalled an incident that happened when I was around 15 years old.

My mom and I cleaned house for an old lady and her adult son. The house was kind of yucky. We put our gloves on before we even got in the house! One day when we went, we discovered that we had 3 left gloves and 1 right glove. It was my fault, since I had grabbed the gloves. We weren't about to clean without the gloves (did I mention we even used them to vacuum? hehehe). So we took turns having a set of gloves. My mom cleaned half the time with two left gloves, and I took them for the last half.

They weren't comfortable at all! The expression "fits like a glove" is true. The right hand is made a little differently than the left hand! =)

A pet peeve of mine...

Tonight Kevin and I went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner--their cheese fries. Even though it's an appetizer, it's quite filling.

Anyhow, the waitress was one who uses "we" frequently. "How are we doing tonight?" (Ummmm....WE are doing fine, how 'bout you?) "Are we getting low on drinks?" (Ummmm...you aren't drinking out of my glass are you???). She was a sweet gal, and did a good job waiting our table, but that "we" thing is just a little annoying!

Is that something waiters/waitresses are trained to do? It seems more and more common.

Well, "we" enjoyed our cheese fries tonight! ;-)

And the mystery dinner was...

Steak, kabobs (mushrooms, bell peppers, tomatoes), and twice-baked potato casserole.

MMMMMMMMMM It was so good!

How popular is your last name?

Kim posted this website a while ago. It's fun to see how popular your last name is in the United States. Click on: The Sweetest Sound and type in your last name. My maiden name was in the 4000 range, which actually surprised me. I didn't expect it to be that common. My married name came is in the 700 range. So if it's so popular, why do people always want to misspell it? =)

A Mystery

That's what dinner is: a mystery. At least, for me it is! Kevin just called me and said he's making dinner. Since he has to get the ingredients, he will be home later than usual. I have NO idea what he is making!

I'm painting again

I decided to get the hallway done. It's right off the kitchen, and leads to the bathroom, so I'm painting it the same color as the kitchen (a creamy buttery yellow).

I told Rebecca that I love to paint, and she actually called me a liar! *GASP* LOL Well, in this case, I do believe she was right. I do not like to paint. I'm too much of a perfectionist, and too bad of a painter to get it done the way I want it done. Oh well.

This morning I'm going to put another coat of primer on it. The previous owners painted it a muddy greyish brown. (And I might add that they didn't paint with my standards! There is paint splashed all over the woodwork.) The kitchen took four coats of paint to cover, so I'm assuming this will be the same.

I need to hurry up and get it painted because all our coats are in a heap on the recliner. We don't have a coat closet, so this hallway doubles as one during the winter.

I'm skipping off to have fun in paint land! *Grin*

Playing with fire

Well, maybe that should be "playing with candles". :-)

When I was little, my mom got drippy candles several years in a row. She remembered them from when she was little. Her mom had used them at Christmas time, and she had such fond memories of them, that she wanted to give us the same memories.

What she wasn't counting on was sibling rivalry. BIG time sibling rivalry. You see, the candles never dripped as much as the box showed. When they would drip, it was a huge deal. The person who could not see the dripping ended up feeling quite left out. So they would turn the candles in order to see the drip. Then the fighting would break out.

Finally my mom issued a decree that no one was to breath on, blow on, or touch the candles. That was great. We obeyed. Then came Dad. Of course, he was under no such stipulations, and he would bump the table to get them to drip. When that didn't work, he would take his fork and make a little indentation to get the candles to drip. We loved it when Dad was at the table (at supper time--we burned them at both lunch and dinner--I suspect it was to get rid of them as fast as possible)! Hahaha

Several years ago, I saw a box of these candles, and thought I'd burn them at Christmas. I forgot about them each year for several years. This year, I finally remembered them.

Kevin and I are having great fun with them. For the most part, they are pretty drippy on their own, but a little table shoving and blowing on them helps them along quite well. LOL Even though my candles were together in a box, they are burning differently, as you can see from the picture.

It's a Snowglobe outside

Shake up a snowglobe, and it will look exactly like what it looks like here. The snow is falling fast, in huge, soft clumps. It's beautiful! But...I did forget my boots today. This California girl isn't used to the boot thing. *Grin*

"Normal"

When things are going haywire, or things are just stressful, or new, or different, I make sure I have two things: a book and a project. If I have those two things, I feel somewhat normal in the midst of what I'm going through.

Whenever I've moved, the second place I find is the library. (The first place I look for is a grocery store! Food is slightly more important than a good book!)

When something is up, I find something I can crochet, or more recently, something I can knit. It keeps my hands busy during my spare time (however little of it I may happen to have at the time).

When we had just moved to a new church in California, I was way in over my head with things to do. I didn't find the library for three weeks--after the dust from moving had finally settled. I found a good book, and I got started on a doily.

Some people turn to food--they have to have their chocolate, for instance. Now, I like chocolate, don't get me wrong! But it doesn't do for me what a good book will do! :-)

Wedding present

I'm showing off again. *Grin* I love to make things with my hands, and I love to share what I've made with others.

When Kevin's mom got married, I wanted to give her something very special. This was my gift to the happy couple (click on the picture to enlarge it):



This was a fun project to complete. I bought it as a kit, and the kit included beads and gold thread. The gold thread that came with the kit didn't really work, so I bought something else to use, which worked up much nicer than it would have with the thread from the kit.

What's wrong with the picture?

OK--the blogger spell check has left out a few important words.

Blog
Blogs
Blogger

Um, those are words now, right? I spell-checked my last post, and it was wanting to change "blog" to "bloc" (What is a "bloc" anyhow???).

Hmmm...their dictionary is so obsolete. LOL

Christmas posts

Rebecca is posting facts about Christmas this month. I've been watching her blog for new updates--learning this way is easier than finding the facts myself. *grin*

Holly wrote about cutting out snowflakes, and posted an interesting website, where you can go to get patterns for your snowflakes. They have many different ways to cut them out. I always enjoyed cutting snowflakes out when I was a kid (and even as an adult--but I did it under the guise of "helping" a child! Hehe).

Melody also posted a snowflake website. This one is neat, it is animated, and goes step by step.

Me? I'm sipping hot apple cider, reading every one else's blogs. *smiles* My Christmas enthusiasm started earlier this year, for some reason. I haven't seen too many bloggers writing about Christmas stuff.

So far this year, I've got my Christmas tree up, and the decorations around the house. Oh yeah, I forgot. I bought lights and wrapped them around my bed. It's so pretty. That was my creativity for this year! I'm still hoping to get a garland for the doorway in between the living room and dining room, but I haven't had the chance to go shopping for it yet.