On the Move

What a glorious day it was today.  Got up at a decent hour and managed to get a few phone calls made about insurance coverage.  

Seems our Primary Care Doctor is no longer going to take our secondary insurance.  LOVELY!  Time to find a new Doctor............again!  She was nice enough to refill my prescriptions for 90 days so, I have time to look.

My favorite hair stylist was in the salon today so I got my haircut.  Boy, did it need it.  We cut it pretty short this time.  I am letting my undercut grow back out and will be going back to my normal pixie cut I have worn off and on for about 20 years.  It is just so easy to care for.  My hair is soooooo thick, I can not let it get long or I get headaches from it.  

After all of that, I had just enough time to come home and grab a banana before I had to go and pick up the Grand from school.  We made a date last week to go and order her letter jacket.  She lettered in swim this year.

Pretty unusual for a freshman, so we are super proud of her.  Unfortunately, the place to order the jacket was on the west side of Phoenix.  It is a 56 mile round trip from my house.  I made it longer than that because of a few missed turns and decided to take a little detour on the way home.  The Grand was fine with the 'road trip'.

One of the places I took her on the way home was here:

Mount Claret Retreat Center is located on the side of Camelback Mountain in Phoenix.  It is a Catholic retreat center and also homes where some of our retired priests live.  It is so peaceful there and the scenery is gorgeous.

I also got lost a couple of times on the way home so it took us 1.5 hours to get home.  That is ok, though,  It gave us plenty of time to talk about things without being interrupted by anything.  

It is nice to be home.  Hubby has steaks marinating.  There will be broccoli with cheese sauce and sweet potatoes to go along with it.  

Tomorrow we are picking up our Grand and our Godson and going to see the new Star Wars movie.  We seldom go to the theater but decided we wanted to see this one on the BIG screen.  Our Grand has seen it but wants to watch it again.  We have quite a few free movie passes so why not use them?  Right?  After the movie we will go to Mass and then come home and relax for the rest of the weekend.

The next 'Baby Yoda' is being started tonight.  Hopefully he will be done by the end of the weekend.  Since I have made him once, the next one should go much quicker.  I now know a few tricks I didn't the first time.  Like putting stitch markers where the eyes and ears go so I do not need to count after things are finished.  

Until next time...................happy crafting!

Can You Hear Them?

My dogs are barking!!!!   Can you hear them?  Hubby decided we needed to do our Sam's Club and Costco shopping today.  We also stopped at Winco, JoAnn's and Michael's craft stores.  It was only 4 hours of shopping.  My hips, back and feet are not happy campers tonight.  Thank goodness for my NSAID's!  

Once we got home hubby decided it would be fun to put together the rolling cart we bought to put my photo printer on.  Of course, after that is all put together you need to cut up the box and get all the styrofoam broken down to fit into the recycle and trash barrels.   In case you are wondering, Yes, we did get a new printer too.  (The photo printer is not the new one)  We got a great deal on one at Sam's club.  That will get connected tomorrow.

We did manage to sit down for about an hour after that and then headed off for our meeting with our law office.  Each month they have a 'teaching' session for those of us who have used them for our wills and trusts.  We left in plenty of time to make the meeting only to be stopped for almost 10 minutes by a train.  We were only 3 minutes late but late none the less.  I detest being late for any appointment.

Remember 'the child'?  Our Grand LOVED it!  She took it with her to trivia last night and it got passed around to so many people.  They all loved it.  There will be one more made for out Trivia MC.  His birthday is next week and he is a HUGE Mandalorian fan.  I have a week to get it done this time.  

Speaking of Trivia:

Guess who one 1st place last night.  Yup, yours truly.  Hubby and I had help from our daughter and our Grand.  It is so good to have different generations answering questions.  We got $30 in gift certificates and there is the 'belt' we need to add decor to.  The Grand has offered to do the decorating for us.  She is so sweet.

We still have Adoration tonight from 9-10.  I may send the hubby alone this time.  I don't know if my back can take sitting in hard wooden pews for an hour.  Right this moment, I am sitting in my recliner with my feet up and trying to convince myself to start on the next baby Yoda.  I figure, the sooner I start it the sooner it will be done and I can work on "MY" projects.  I have 3 birthday cards to make also.  Wish me luck!

Until next time...........happy crafting!

Another Wednesday Post

Hi and happy Wednesday everyone.  This lady was a busy little bee yesterday and this morning too.  I spend most of yesterday morning in the kitchen making homemade goodness for the husband and myself.

First thing I did was take my soaked pinto beans and drain them (helps alleviate gas issues) and the add fresh water, minced garlic, oregano (I actually forgot to add it) and put them on a slow boil.  Then I shredded the roast that had been cooking in the crockpot over night.  (I cover the roast with water, add garlic and put on low for at least 12 hours).  I drained most of the water out of the crockpot and put the shredded beef back in and added the puree red chili.  Add garlic powder, onion powder, salt and give it a good stirring and let it marinate on low until ready to eat.  This is one of our favorite meals.  You can also make this with pork or chicken.  

While all that was cooking away I made flour tortillas.

My Mother in Law taught me how to make tortillas when hubby and I were first married.  So for the past 44 years I have used her recipe.  I have substituted self rising flour for the all purpose flour and baking soda.  Saves me one step LOL.  It has been over 2 years since I have made tortillas.  The mess and the heat of the kitchen usually makes me shy away from making them.  But.................yes, there is always a but...............I now have a silicone pastry mat which helps with the mess and since it is winter here, the heat in the kitchen was welcomed.  

The other new item I had to make the tortillas with is this:

My solid marble rolling pin.  Love, love, love this pin.  It weighs a bit over 3 pounds and makes rolling dough a dream.  Did you notice it does not have 'handles'?  My mother in law also taught me how to use a rolling pin (hers was a cut up broom stick) without handles.  With this being so heavy, the rolling of the dough was much easier on my hands, wrists and shoulders.  The weight does most of the work.

After that was completed I made a loaf of beer bread.  It is a recipe I found in my new bread machine book.  I have made it before and it comes out so soft and just like store bought sandwich bread.  You do not taste the beer at all.  It is used as a rising agent along with about half of the yeast you normally use.

All this was accomplished by noon which is when we ate our red chili beef, beans and tortillas.  YUMMY!

Then I sat down and worked on "the child".  I completed all the pieces for it and even managed to get it all sewn together before I finally called it a night.

This morning, I got back to work on 'the child' and got its coat made and completed it.

I now remember why I do not make toys.  All the sewing of the parts is a pain.  I will give him to my Grand tonight.  Hopefully she will be happy with him.  The pattern can be found here.  I did change a couple of things.  First off I used worsted weight yarn as I had it in my stash.  I used a size G hook.  The last difference is I made the coat 16 stitches smaller than she did and I added arm holes.  

Hubby has been out and about looking at printers.  The print head on ours is dust and it cost almost as much to replace the head as it does to buy a new printer.  And the price of ink these days!  Good golly, it is ridiculous.  Yet, with hubby teaching we need a printer to do his lesson plans.  I use it quite a bit too, for recipes and patterns.    

We have trivia again tonight.  That means I get out of cooking again. WOOHOO!

It is time for lunch.  After that, I am going to work on making a birthday card and maybe even get a bit of knitting in on hubby' socks.

Until next time.....................happy crafting!

D.O.N.E.

Last time we talked, I said I was going to rearrange the furniture in my craftroom.  It is done.  I might add, so am I.  When you decide to rearrange a room that is full of 'stuff', you need to remove said 'stuff' so you can work around and move things hither and yon.  Sunday, I spent 90% of the day emptying out all the 'stuff' in order to move furniture from one side of the room to the other.  It also gave me a chance to go through some things and make decisions on what to keep, what to donate and what to trash.

Sunday evening, hubby joined me in the craftroom and helped me move two pieces of furniture.  Yup, that is all that was needed to move in order to allow more walking space in the room.  They were the two biggest pieces of furniture in the room too.

Monday I started putting things back in place in hopes of a bit more organization than there was before.  Unfortunately, I did not take any before photos but I do have plenty of after ones to show you.  

This little table stayed put but I cleared it off and put my Cricut Maker on it.  It is the perfect size for me to work there with this.  See the photo above the lamp?  That is my mom and dad's wedding photo from 1948.  Mom made her wedding dress out of heavy satin.  The thing must have weight about 20 pounds!

My sewing center.  Hubby bought this table back in 1984, stained it and put a finishing coat on it.  It is one of my favorite pieces of furniture ever.  See the photo to the right?  That is my Fraternal Grandmother who was born in 1899.  She was about 2 in this photo so it was taken in 1901. 

My large crafting table.  It is also where all my DK and fingering weight yarn is held.  I did not purge as much yarn as I thought I would.  The white bag on the chair is all I have gotten so far.  The worsted weight yarn still needs to be gone through.  I really love having this table under the window.  I do quite a bit of material cutting on this table and also weeding my vinyl from my Cricut.  The natural light is a blessing.

This is the room looking in from the doorway.  The large 'thing' to the right is our Teeter exercise machine.  It takes up quite a bit of room and is one of the main reasons I needed to rearrange in there.

I still have the closet to clean out in there.  There are clothes in there I have not worn in 2 years in hopes of getting into them again.  I do not think I will ever get that thin again so why not let someone else benefit from those clothes?  If I do get down to that size, they will all be out of style by then and I will need new anyway.

There are more craft items in there as well as all my wrapping 'stuff' for gifts, puzzles to be worked, bulky yarn, nylon yarn, fashion cotton thread, ironing board and iron and beading supplies.  Yes, it is a walk in closet but at the moment you can not walk into it LOL.

I did start a new project yesterday.

My local Grand and her dad watch Mandalorian and she is in love with "the child".  I found all the colors of yarn I needed in my stash and decided to make one for her.  I am hoping to have it done by tomorrow night.  She does not know I am doing it.  Hopefully she will love it.  Toy making is not my forte' at all.  

I have red chili beef in the crockpot, pinto beans cooking on the stove and am getting ready to make some flour tortillas.  Hubby teaches tonight so we will have our big meal at lunch today.  We do not like to eat heavy at 8pm.  Neither of us would sleep well after a heavy meal like this.  There will also be a loaf of bread made in the bread machine today.  It now has been almost 2 month since we have bought any store bought bread.  We do not miss it at all!

After all the cooking is completed, 'the child' will be worked on again.  There is a lot of attaching of body parts on this and that is normally where my expertise leaves me.  Fingers crossed it will look like baby yoda when completed.

Until next time........................happy crafting!

WEEK 28

Hi!  Welcome!  Pull up a chair, grab a beverage, kick your feet up, put on your favorite music and just enjoy the next 5 minutes reading the happenings of this left handed crafter.

Let's talk crafting first.  There are not any finishes this week.  Unless you consider turning a heel on a sock a finish LOL.

Yup, the heels are turned and I have started on doing the pattern all the way around the sock now.   The FKL heel was done as I never have a hole when I use this heel.  Hubby also thinks it is one of the best fitting heels.  

Do you remember this?

My "It really Fits" cardigan.  I pulled it out last night and did a few rows on the sleeve.  I was getting bored with the sock and knew better than to cast on anything else right now.  Plus, this sweater is nice and warm on my lap.  

That is all the actual knitting I worked on this week.  I did get a couple of acquisitions though.

My first ever shawl pin.  I wanted something very simple and Signature Needles was having a 25% off sale.  How could I pass this up.  I have a horrible time keeping my shawls on when I do my wrapping of them.  This will save me from messing with them all the time now.

Then, I got my belated Christmas present.

I completed my Signature circular needles when they had them on sale.  I am missing 1 circular still.  It is not a size I use too often so will just wait until they go on sale again.

In other crafting news...................I am officially registered for the Dallas Fort Worth Fiber Fest in April of this year.  I have my hotel reservations, my airline reservations and I was able to book 1 class and am on a wait list for several others. I am really looking forward to the vendor market.  It makes me all tingly to think of all the fiber and wares that will be there to look at and touch.  Not to mention being able to knit and crochet to my hearts content all day and night with other like minded people.  While I am there I will also be spending time with my son and his family that lives there.  This is a dream trip for me.  Hubby will be home taking care of the dogs and holding down the fort for the 10 days I will be away.    

In my 'normal' life I have this little cutie to show you.

I was getting ready to attend Grandparent's Day at our local Grand Daughter's school.  He knew I was going somewhere and was trying to look super sad about me leaving him.  I left anyway LOL.

Our Grand Dog came over the other day.  He has not learned how to pick up his toys after he plays with them.  Almost reminds me of when the kids were little and had their toys all over the living room.  Kind of miss those days..............NOT!

If you have been reading my blog this week, you know the past few weeks have been a bit rough and the coming weeks will continue to be that way. (off and on, that is)  So......tonight, I was getting ready to write in my journal and as I picked it up, the front cover screamed at me.

RIGHT?  So that is just what I did.  Everyone always says to 'Let go and Let God".  My problem is.........after I do that, I worry He might need some, help so I keep taking it back.  Must have something to do with my type A personality.  Or as my hubby says, my type AAA personality. LOL  

Today I am working on rearranging my craft room.  (Thanks Liz for that idea)  I have two large pieces of furniture that need to exchange places.  It will actually give me more walking area in there.  It will also give me the excuse to go through some drawers and cubicles and get rid of things I am not using and probably will never use.  (Thanks Becki)  I still have some of the crafts from my mom. (needlepoint)  I have never done needlepoint and never will.  My hands will not allow that fine of work.  No one else in the family does needlepoint either.  It is things like that, that I need to realize, holding on to it is not going to bring her back or help ease the pain of loosing her.  So POOF..........it is going to leave the house.  

After the craft room furniture is rearranged, I will just hang out with hubby watching the football play offs. (he will watch and I will knit and listen to an audio book)  Our food today is going to be super easy.........bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers, potato skins, and mozzarella sticks all cooked in the air fryer.  We call this pub food.  We only do it during football Sunday's, but not every one of those.  It gives me a little break from cooking a big meal and we both enjoy having a 'junk' food day once in a while.

May your day be filled with laughter and love.

Until Next Time................Happy Crafting!!!!

NORMAL

Yup, it was a pretty normal day here.  Thank goodness, right?  Last night we did go to trivia and we came in third place.  I will say that is 80% due to having our Grand Daughter with us.  It is good to have young blood when we get questions about modern music and movies.  With third place we received a $10 gift certificate for our next visit there.  Not too bad a deal.

I did not sleep well last night.  It is not unusual for me this time of year.  Between Christmas and the Valentine's day I have the anniversary of 4 immediate family members deaths.  It seems to make my moods go up and down without warning too.  My dear husband is such a saint.  He gets me to talk it out and then I am good for a while longer.  Once Valentine's day hits, I am all good again.  From what I have been told, this is not an uncommon occurrence for some people.  The best thing is, I am aware of it and so if the tears start I don't think I am going off my rocker.  All I need to do is look at the calendar and realize I am very near the date of one of those anniversaries.  Do any of you go through this phenomenon?  

Do any of you have Disney Plus on your TVs?  Are you watching Mandalorian?  Are you in love with The Child?  My local son and Grand love this show and of course The Child.  So I thought it would be fun to have these at our next family gathering.

Baby Yoda deviled eggs.  Too Cute!  We have one family member that always makes deviled eggs.  I think I should send the photo and link to the recipe to him.  

Today I only did one load of laundry.  I kind of went through our bedroom looking for items to  donate on Monday.  I found a few things but need the hubby to get on a ladder to take them down for me.  It is more knick knack stuff that just collects dust.  Out it will be going.  I also set up another puzzle this week and spent a bit of time working on it.  I was going to cook dinner tonight but my get up got up and left about 5pm this evening.  Subway became my hero.  Tonight we have Adoration.  I will enjoy the nice quiet time it brings.  Hubby's socks will be going with me.  

Tomorrow we have Grandparent's day at our local Grand Daughter's school.  We will pick her up from school, go to Mass with her and then take her out to lunch.  It should be a very fun time.  But then, anytime we get to spend with our grand children is a fun time.

Have any of you been watching the Jeopardy The Greatest of All Time?  Man, does it make me feel a bit unintelligent.  But it is fun to watch anyway.

Time to go and play HQ trivia on my phone.  Yes, I guess I am a trivia junkie.

Until next time...................Happy crafting!