Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own. I was not required to leave a positive review. This post contains affiliate links.
Showing posts with label kitchen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kitchen. Show all posts
January 21, 2015
August 12, 2014
September 18, 2013
Inexpensive Ground Turkey and Rice recipe Yummy!
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| mechanically separated turkey |
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| looks like some kind of paste |
September 12, 2013
August 26, 2013
Who made a button? I made a button!
A couple of weeks ago, I could not even manage to edit my HTML to make my comments work correctly. I had to get rid of my custom theme and go with a regular blogger theme. I was kind of sad about that, but hey, it's all okay.
Then, over the last few days especially, I started signing up for a lot of blogger opps. The problem was that half the time the HTML they used for their announcement posts didn't go with my color scheme. The links would be invisible or the words would be unreadable. So I started changing my color schemes repeatedly, trying to find a good compromise. My husband looks at me one night and says, why don't you just edit the HTML code and make the colors different on the posts, not on your theme. Hmmm said I. Actually it was more of a whine about how I didn't know how to do that, and that it was too hard. Then I started really reading the codes. Line by line. Figuring out what color hex code thingamajig went with what words and what backgrounds.
I am slowly starting to understand the HTML code stuff. I don't know it well enough to write anything myself, but I am starting to be able to edit for background colors and word colors and font pretty easily. Now if only I could figure out where to put that darn Alexa code! It is still in the wrong spot and my specs aren't showing on my dashboard.
So, here I am rambling on and on, and you are probably wondering what any of this has to do with buttons. Well. you know those grab my button things on the sides of people's blogs? I have one now! I made it! I used a tutorial on another blogger's site. You can find it HERE if you want to learn how to make one yourself. It is actually pretty easy. I had problems at first. I was doing something wrong but couldn't figure out what. Then I figured out that I was forgetting to change the " in the code. After I changed those it was fine. That is explained in the tutorial as well. I just didn't read all of it at first.
(They teach you in school to read all instructions before you start something. I guess I just forgot that lesson!)
I know it is silly to be this excited over something like a button, but I can't help myself. I love to learn new things. I feel that I am learning this HTML stuff slowly. Who knows, one day maybe I'll be designing my own themes or websites or who knows what!
You can find my button on the right side of this post if you want it. It says Grab My Button and then there is the picture followed by the code. I didn't know what picture to use on my button, so I used a picture of some of my yarn. I love the picture and miss the yarn that I used to have. I have either used, or lost in the move to Texas, most of the yarn in the picture.
OK so I am done rambling on about all of this. I hope you all have been enjoying my recipes, sweepstakes, and giveaways that I have been posting about. I haven't been doing much knitting and no gardening (it all died except for two plants that aren't producing anything), and very little of anything other than finding awesome giveaways to post about.
Until next time my ever faithful tanglers.... Happy Crafting!
Look! Here's my button and it's code! :)
Then, over the last few days especially, I started signing up for a lot of blogger opps. The problem was that half the time the HTML they used for their announcement posts didn't go with my color scheme. The links would be invisible or the words would be unreadable. So I started changing my color schemes repeatedly, trying to find a good compromise. My husband looks at me one night and says, why don't you just edit the HTML code and make the colors different on the posts, not on your theme. Hmmm said I. Actually it was more of a whine about how I didn't know how to do that, and that it was too hard. Then I started really reading the codes. Line by line. Figuring out what color hex code thingamajig went with what words and what backgrounds.
I am slowly starting to understand the HTML code stuff. I don't know it well enough to write anything myself, but I am starting to be able to edit for background colors and word colors and font pretty easily. Now if only I could figure out where to put that darn Alexa code! It is still in the wrong spot and my specs aren't showing on my dashboard.
So, here I am rambling on and on, and you are probably wondering what any of this has to do with buttons. Well. you know those grab my button things on the sides of people's blogs? I have one now! I made it! I used a tutorial on another blogger's site. You can find it HERE if you want to learn how to make one yourself. It is actually pretty easy. I had problems at first. I was doing something wrong but couldn't figure out what. Then I figured out that I was forgetting to change the " in the code. After I changed those it was fine. That is explained in the tutorial as well. I just didn't read all of it at first.
(They teach you in school to read all instructions before you start something. I guess I just forgot that lesson!)
I know it is silly to be this excited over something like a button, but I can't help myself. I love to learn new things. I feel that I am learning this HTML stuff slowly. Who knows, one day maybe I'll be designing my own themes or websites or who knows what!
You can find my button on the right side of this post if you want it. It says Grab My Button and then there is the picture followed by the code. I didn't know what picture to use on my button, so I used a picture of some of my yarn. I love the picture and miss the yarn that I used to have. I have either used, or lost in the move to Texas, most of the yarn in the picture.
OK so I am done rambling on about all of this. I hope you all have been enjoying my recipes, sweepstakes, and giveaways that I have been posting about. I haven't been doing much knitting and no gardening (it all died except for two plants that aren't producing anything), and very little of anything other than finding awesome giveaways to post about.
Until next time my ever faithful tanglers.... Happy Crafting!
Look! Here's my button and it's code! :)
<a href="http://adayinthetangledskeinsofmylife.blogspot.com" target="_self"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Q6UKwWAUl1oBjOPBmcl8qAyRLOQY99vqTZmlJHRt4lKVvxUXbAl-HdwWw02mJZvhGvP1tx89sNvOdIVgIr1XDRHNNY5FTeDVI5qO5AWUKASo26iiAmu7mUuqLoQcVvvd3sSOY0BkLR0/s125-no/skeinsbutton.jpgL" alt="YourSiteTitle" width="125" height="125" /></a>
August 25, 2013
A recipe done in Pictures! Another $5 or less meal to feed a family of 4 or more!
This meal fed my family of four for two days and cost less than five dollars to make! The written recipe is after the pictures. Enjoy!
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| about a pound of skinless, boneless chicken, cubed |
August 21, 2013
So excited over my affiliate link for Craftsy!
I just joined up with ShareASale to be a Craftsy affiliate. I absolutely love Craftsy and have enrolled in several of their classes. So it is an honor for me to have affiliate links on my site for them. There are three on my blog page right now. One to the right, one to the left, and one above my posts. Click any of them to take you to the Craftsy site and you can browse their classes and patterns.
Just $5 to make this meal that feeds us for 2 Days
Today I thought I would share one of my families favorite (and cheapest) belly-filling meals. It is a simple recipe. It only uses four ingredients plus whatever seasonings you want to add. Usually there's enough to feed my family of four until we're ready to pop, with enough leftovers for the next night. My grandmother used to make it when I was little and called it Italian Spaghetti. Now that I'm grown I know that there are recipes for American Goulash that are very similar to what we make. But, I continue to call it Italian Spaghetti. So here is the recipe if you'd like to try it out. Different seasonings result in different flavors, of course. The recipe is very versatile as you will see in the ingredients. I use what I have on hand in the quantities I have in hand.
Amanda's Italian Spaghetti
Ingredients:
- Ground beef approx 1 lb ( I tend to buy the five pound chubs at my local grocery store and then separate them into six or seven packages so it differs each time I make this) approx $3
- Part of an onion ( I use whatever I have leftover in my fridge, usually somewhere between a quarter and a half of a small to medium yellow or white onion) approx $0.20
- A can of diced tomatoes around $0.80
- A box of pasta approx $1.00
Total approximate $5.00 depending on what brands you use and sales prices
Prep time depends on how long it takes you to chop the onion! Sometimes the tears slow me down.
Cook time around twenty minutes.
- Brown and crumble ground beef with the onion and your seasonings. I prefer some oregano and basil (or Italian seasoning if I have it), salt, pepper, and garlic powder
- While beef is cooking, prepare pasta according to packaging in a separate pan, drain
- Add pasta and diced tomatoes to ground beef/onion and simmer for ten minutes
- Enjoy
I was going to take pictures of the steps, but my son cooked tonight and had it done before I realized he had really started it! Bonus points for him for cooking dinner for all of us, negative points for me for not taking the pictures. My son even filled bowls and brought them to us! Here is a picture of the dish after it was cooked and mostly eaten.
.JPG) |
| yummy |
.JPG) |
| This is how much was left after the four of us had eaten PLUS my husband and son both got a second bowl full! So there's only about two bowl fulls left probably. But that is fine. It still made about eight bowls full. And when I say bowls full, I mean full to the top! |
August 19, 2013
Sloppy Turkey Sandwiches, or is it Turkey Joes?
I am probably the last person to have tried using ground turkey in sloppy joes! I have seen other people blog about it and have run across many recipes for it, but had never gotten around to trying it myself. So today, while trying to figure out what to cook and not in the mood to do anything complex, I decided to go for it. I chose the simplest route of course!
August 11, 2013
Meat Pies Gone Bland!
I am in one of those "nothing sounds good to eat" moods lately. I am getting bored with most recipes I usually like to make. Being cut down to about 40 dollars a week to feed my family of four doesn't help much either. Doesn't give me a lot of fresh produce and different ingredients to use. So I decided to try something new.
July 11, 2013
Who knits a blanket? I do!
Not a whole lot to report. I finished a cowl for my aunt. She sent me a pattern and asked me if I could knit it for her. I am not pleased with the end result at all. It was all mitered squares which I guess is a lot like entrelac. It used four colors for the squares. Every square I had to pick up stitches and apparently I don't do it right because it looks weird where I did. But it's done and I'll send it off to her and hope she likes it ok.
June 14, 2013
Wow it's been a long time!
I can't believe it's been almost a year since I have posted. Not much has happened really. We moved to Texas, I found a job, I quit a job, now I'm staying at hone as usual. I garden, knit, cross stitch, read, and watch Netflix a lot.
Gardening here has been a challenge for me. The soil is a mixture of clay and sand. I'm starting to get some peppers growing but my tomatoes haven't even tried to bloom, much less grow actual tomatoes. Other people are already getting big fat green maters around here! My plants are still really small. I know the upper ninety degree weather isn't helping any. As for my indoor herb growing, I'm doing just as bad at that as I did back home in Indiana! They start to grow, get a few inches tall and stay real spindly, then fall over dead. I've tried watering more, watering less, more sun, less sun..... I just have no idea what I'm doing wrong!
As for my knitting, I've been working on several things. I've made some shawls, hats for Christmas last year, a baby blanket, and am currently (as in today and yesterday) working on a mitered square cowl and also a full sized bed spread/afghan thing. The cowl has me tense. I always wanted to try entrelac. Now I'm wondering why I ever wanted to. It's just not looking real pretty right now and oh my gosh the ends! There are so many dangling bits I'm going to have to weave in! Sigh!
Well I think I'll leave it there for now. I want to start posting at least once a month again, if not more often. I miss our weekly chats though. I'd post, you all would comment or email, I'd respond, I'd feel like I actually had friends! It's a pain to post from my phone though. My hubby ( still feels weird saying that sometimes even though our first anniversary is next month) is buying me an iPad soon, so maybe that'll help. Bigger screen and all that.
So goodby for now my ever faithful tanglers. Happy Crafting!
Gardening here has been a challenge for me. The soil is a mixture of clay and sand. I'm starting to get some peppers growing but my tomatoes haven't even tried to bloom, much less grow actual tomatoes. Other people are already getting big fat green maters around here! My plants are still really small. I know the upper ninety degree weather isn't helping any. As for my indoor herb growing, I'm doing just as bad at that as I did back home in Indiana! They start to grow, get a few inches tall and stay real spindly, then fall over dead. I've tried watering more, watering less, more sun, less sun..... I just have no idea what I'm doing wrong!
As for my knitting, I've been working on several things. I've made some shawls, hats for Christmas last year, a baby blanket, and am currently (as in today and yesterday) working on a mitered square cowl and also a full sized bed spread/afghan thing. The cowl has me tense. I always wanted to try entrelac. Now I'm wondering why I ever wanted to. It's just not looking real pretty right now and oh my gosh the ends! There are so many dangling bits I'm going to have to weave in! Sigh!
Well I think I'll leave it there for now. I want to start posting at least once a month again, if not more often. I miss our weekly chats though. I'd post, you all would comment or email, I'd respond, I'd feel like I actually had friends! It's a pain to post from my phone though. My hubby ( still feels weird saying that sometimes even though our first anniversary is next month) is buying me an iPad soon, so maybe that'll help. Bigger screen and all that.
So goodby for now my ever faithful tanglers. Happy Crafting!
July 8, 2012
No wedding gifts?
And here I thought I would get wedding gifts from my ravelry friends! I didn't get even one pattern.
I'm so selfish lol.
I'm really not whining. It's more like passive aggressive hinting around to my friends that know me as anonymous76 on ravelry ;-) I have a wishlist on there.
So as you can tell I Am MARRIED now! I still can't get used to the idea that my last name is now Price! How crazy is that! Also, in just one short week, I will be living in Texas instead of Indiana. What a huge change for me and the kiddos. We are super excited. Maybe there will be new knitting friends for me there! I wonder what kind of job I'll find. That is going to be a big change for me as well. I haven't worked steadily in years.
So my life is changing quickly and I haven't had time to sit down and really knit on anything. I hope that I will find the energy once we are done with the move to pick up some needles and lose myself in a wonderful pattern. I have a few things that I am wanting to cast on. I also would like to get back into my cross stitching. I have so many stitchy UFOs laying around and really need to finish them.
Well that is about it for now. Busy busy busy you know! Until next time my loyal tanglers ... Happy Crafting!!
I'm so selfish lol.
I'm really not whining. It's more like passive aggressive hinting around to my friends that know me as anonymous76 on ravelry ;-) I have a wishlist on there.
So as you can tell I Am MARRIED now! I still can't get used to the idea that my last name is now Price! How crazy is that! Also, in just one short week, I will be living in Texas instead of Indiana. What a huge change for me and the kiddos. We are super excited. Maybe there will be new knitting friends for me there! I wonder what kind of job I'll find. That is going to be a big change for me as well. I haven't worked steadily in years.
So my life is changing quickly and I haven't had time to sit down and really knit on anything. I hope that I will find the energy once we are done with the move to pick up some needles and lose myself in a wonderful pattern. I have a few things that I am wanting to cast on. I also would like to get back into my cross stitching. I have so many stitchy UFOs laying around and really need to finish them.
Well that is about it for now. Busy busy busy you know! Until next time my loyal tanglers ... Happy Crafting!!
June 30, 2012
A wedding, a move, a new start
I am so excited. In the month of July I will get married, move from Indiana to Texas, and start a new life with my new husband and our kiddos in a new house in a new town in another state! How awesome is that?!?! We can't wait to get started. Now I just got to get through packing and deciding what to take with us. I look forward to seeing if there are any yarn stores near where I'm moving. Maybe there will be a local knitting group! I apologize for such sporadic updates lately. Bobby was in the hospital for a week and now we have all this happening so quickly! It has been almost way too overwhelming. I've hardly done any knitting these last few weeks. I am almost done with my Uhura and that's all I've been working on. My garden is going good, but I'm sad that I'll be moving before any of the tomatoes ripen. Sigh.
Well that's about all I've got to tell! Until next time my faithful tanglers.....
Happy Crafting!
Well that's about all I've got to tell! Until next time my faithful tanglers.....
Happy Crafting!
June 25, 2012
Wedding jitters
Not a lot to report. Bobby was in the hospital for a week so I didn't accomplish much. I've been knitting on my Uhura Shawlette and that's about it. My garden is growing pretty good. I have lots of green maters out there! I also have a zucchini plant blooming and three squash plants growing. One hot wax pepper plant is trying to grow but I'm not sure it will produce much.
The biggest news is that we are leaving in about two hours to go get our wedding bands and marriage certificate. We are getting married this week! For some reason I'm nervous. I have no idea why. I've been waiting for this for a while now. We have been together for six years and have no doubts about getting married and staying together forever. Yet I have butterflies in my stomach and couldn't sleep last night. Wish me luck!
Well that's about it for now. I will try to do a better update soon with pictures.
Until then... Happy Crafting!
The biggest news is that we are leaving in about two hours to go get our wedding bands and marriage certificate. We are getting married this week! For some reason I'm nervous. I have no idea why. I've been waiting for this for a while now. We have been together for six years and have no doubts about getting married and staying together forever. Yet I have butterflies in my stomach and couldn't sleep last night. Wish me luck!
Well that's about it for now. I will try to do a better update soon with pictures.
Until then... Happy Crafting!
June 15, 2012
MMS Tutorial
Sorry I havent updated. I will get on that as soon as life stops throwing punches and everything settles down. The quick and dirty update is this: been knitting some, pics coming soon, been gardening some, maybe some pics coming of that too. No real experiments or finds in the kitchen lately. Been cooking a bunch of the same ole stuff.
Now here is the link to the tutorial I promised. Just copy and paste!
http://www.youtube.com/embed/u7TMDzkuJlk
Now here is the link to the tutorial I promised. Just copy and paste!
http://www.youtube.com/embed/u7TMDzkuJlk
May 29, 2012
Extremely sad and incredibly tear-inducing
Just finished watching Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Wow that movie is quite the tear jerker! I was teary eyed almost all the way through that movie. If you can watch that movie without at least one teary eyed moment then you've either grown too cold hearted or you've never experienced loss I would guess. Everyone is different though. Maybe I'm just over emotional.
Anyway on to my knitting!
On the needles
I've been working on two different projects this week.
I cast on the Uhura Shawlette. It is a free pattern on Ravelry. I am using what I think is Mini Mochi yarn. I don't have the band for the yarn. A friend in a local knitting group gave me the yarn because she didn't like knitting with it. I can see why! The yarn likes to meld together for one thing. It's very difficult to tink back if you need to because of this. Also it tends to break for no reason. It doesn't so much break as it just really tends to come apart. One second you are knitting with yarn, the next second you feel it thin out and just let go of the rest of the yarn. It's like what I experienced with the little bit of roving I had tried spinning. Pull too hard or long on it and it just slips apart. Very frustrating. So... I've set it aside for the moment and cast on...
The Library Capelet! I've never done a cape or Capelet before so I am excited to see how it turns out. I am using what I believe is Jiffy yarn. Once again I don't have any info on it, but have a skein of Jiffy that I used before and this has the same look, feel, and thickness to it. I am changing up the pattern slightly by using more than one color. It is an easy pattern so far and I am loving how it's turning out.
FOs
I finished my Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief. I like how it turned out. If I ever make another, I think I will add some repeats and make a nice, large shawl out of it. It was a fun and easy pattern.
I also have an almost finished object. I ran out of yarn on my Candleflame and am really sad about it. I need to rip back to the beginning of the border pattern. I have 1400 stitches of the border done and around 520 to go to finish the shawl. Sigh. There is a lot of knit two together and pass slipped stitch over, so I am worried that I am going to mess it up while I try to undo all of that. The yarn I used was Crystal Palace Yarns Meringue and it is discontinued. I have found one skein on ravelry but it is five dollars plus shipping, so that isn't going to be able to happen. Gotta live note having money! I am going to try to rip it back in a week or two. I think. Wish me luck!
Gardening/cooking
Not much to tell on the gardening or cooking front. I have fifteen tomato plants still growing steadily out there. None of the seeds I direct sowed even tried to sprout. I'm trying to decided if I want to try some inside and move them out in a few weeks. I don't know if they would produce much before fall though. Wonder if it would be worth it.
My gas stove went out on me and we got rid of it and replaced it with an electric stove I had in storage for the last six years or so. I had forgotten how different it is to cook with an electric stove! I tried making some eggless oatmeal cookies in it last week and ended up cooking them too long or in too high a temp and they turned out mega crunchy. I have to set the oven temp a lot lower on this stove so as not to burn everything. I'm getting the hang of it though. Now our microwave has stopped working so I have to use the stove for even just warming up leftovers, so I'm glad i have it.
Not much more to tell really. I keep wanting to cast on more projects. I've heard it called startitis. I have been denying the impulse, but am almost ready to cave. I really need to finish what I've got on the needles though. I don't want another project like Serenity's skirt that has been languishing for over a year now. I can't even find it at the moment. If I don't get it finished soon then it won't even fit her when she finally gets it.
I keep meaning to do some book reviews on here. I haven't been reading much lately! (gasp) I went from reading a few books a week to reading a book every few months. Me and my weird cycles! I'll try to get out a pattern book and review it next week. I know all of mine are older books, but maybe I have one that you haven't seen or haven't heard about before. Who knows!
Fishes
My fishies are doing well. One had babies but they all got eaten. It was expected but still kind of sad. I didn't know about it until this Saturday. I got a bubble stone and put it in the tank. While I was rearranging everything around it I spied a baby fish hiding under a shell. It swam off to hide under another one and that is the last I saw of it. It was the only one I saw and I don't think it survived Mike and The Mollies, which is what we call our Black Mollies. I moved some stuff around trying to find it Monday. I was going to separate it from the rest if it were still there and make sure it got some food. No luck. Oh well, there will be plenty more for me to try to save. I read that they have around thirty babies every two months. Times that by three females and that is a lot of fishies.
Oh! I will review something after all! It's not a book though.
I just realized I never told you about the totally awesome hand lotion sample I got a few weeks ago! I started watching a podcast I had heard about. It's called Wolfe Farms. The lady knits, of course, but also makes lotions and soaps and such. I can't tell you much about the podcast yet, as I've only seen two episodes so far. As with any podcast I find, I'm starting with the first episode and am playing catch up. Anyway I joined her ravelry group and she sent me a coupon code to get a free one ounce sample of her lotion free. I chose the scent called World's Best Coffee. I got the package amazingly fast. She had included a free sample of the coordinating soap and a coupon good towards a future purchase. Let me tell you, this is now my absolute favorite lotion! It smells so mouthwateringly good. It is absorbed into the skin quickly and doesn't leave a greasy feeling behind. It worked wonders on my fingers, which were all dried and getting callused from all my knitting. Within a few days my skin was pretty soft and all but the worst calluses were gone. I only have the one semi rough spot left now on my index finger where I tend to push the point of my knitting needles through while knitting. I thought that was amazing. I haven't tried the soap yet. I'm saving it and keeping it in my drawer to smell from time to time. I'm weird like that. The lotion I use several times a day. The one ounce bottle was full to the very brim and is lasting a good while. It doesn't take but a little bit at a time to rub into both hands, so it might last me a while. I still love the scent of it as much as when I first opened the bottle. It perks me up and kind of makes me crave some coffee candy.
So now that is everything!
Until next week my tightly tangled tanglers.....
Happy Crafting!
Anyway on to my knitting!
On the needles
I've been working on two different projects this week.
I cast on the Uhura Shawlette. It is a free pattern on Ravelry. I am using what I think is Mini Mochi yarn. I don't have the band for the yarn. A friend in a local knitting group gave me the yarn because she didn't like knitting with it. I can see why! The yarn likes to meld together for one thing. It's very difficult to tink back if you need to because of this. Also it tends to break for no reason. It doesn't so much break as it just really tends to come apart. One second you are knitting with yarn, the next second you feel it thin out and just let go of the rest of the yarn. It's like what I experienced with the little bit of roving I had tried spinning. Pull too hard or long on it and it just slips apart. Very frustrating. So... I've set it aside for the moment and cast on...
 |
| Uhura Shawlette |
The Library Capelet! I've never done a cape or Capelet before so I am excited to see how it turns out. I am using what I believe is Jiffy yarn. Once again I don't have any info on it, but have a skein of Jiffy that I used before and this has the same look, feel, and thickness to it. I am changing up the pattern slightly by using more than one color. It is an easy pattern so far and I am loving how it's turning out.
FOs
I finished my Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief. I like how it turned out. If I ever make another, I think I will add some repeats and make a nice, large shawl out of it. It was a fun and easy pattern.
I also have an almost finished object. I ran out of yarn on my Candleflame and am really sad about it. I need to rip back to the beginning of the border pattern. I have 1400 stitches of the border done and around 520 to go to finish the shawl. Sigh. There is a lot of knit two together and pass slipped stitch over, so I am worried that I am going to mess it up while I try to undo all of that. The yarn I used was Crystal Palace Yarns Meringue and it is discontinued. I have found one skein on ravelry but it is five dollars plus shipping, so that isn't going to be able to happen. Gotta live note having money! I am going to try to rip it back in a week or two. I think. Wish me luck!
 |
| candlflame shawl |
Gardening/cooking
Not much to tell on the gardening or cooking front. I have fifteen tomato plants still growing steadily out there. None of the seeds I direct sowed even tried to sprout. I'm trying to decided if I want to try some inside and move them out in a few weeks. I don't know if they would produce much before fall though. Wonder if it would be worth it.
My gas stove went out on me and we got rid of it and replaced it with an electric stove I had in storage for the last six years or so. I had forgotten how different it is to cook with an electric stove! I tried making some eggless oatmeal cookies in it last week and ended up cooking them too long or in too high a temp and they turned out mega crunchy. I have to set the oven temp a lot lower on this stove so as not to burn everything. I'm getting the hang of it though. Now our microwave has stopped working so I have to use the stove for even just warming up leftovers, so I'm glad i have it.
Not much more to tell really. I keep wanting to cast on more projects. I've heard it called startitis. I have been denying the impulse, but am almost ready to cave. I really need to finish what I've got on the needles though. I don't want another project like Serenity's skirt that has been languishing for over a year now. I can't even find it at the moment. If I don't get it finished soon then it won't even fit her when she finally gets it.
I keep meaning to do some book reviews on here. I haven't been reading much lately! (gasp) I went from reading a few books a week to reading a book every few months. Me and my weird cycles! I'll try to get out a pattern book and review it next week. I know all of mine are older books, but maybe I have one that you haven't seen or haven't heard about before. Who knows!
Fishes
My fishies are doing well. One had babies but they all got eaten. It was expected but still kind of sad. I didn't know about it until this Saturday. I got a bubble stone and put it in the tank. While I was rearranging everything around it I spied a baby fish hiding under a shell. It swam off to hide under another one and that is the last I saw of it. It was the only one I saw and I don't think it survived Mike and The Mollies, which is what we call our Black Mollies. I moved some stuff around trying to find it Monday. I was going to separate it from the rest if it were still there and make sure it got some food. No luck. Oh well, there will be plenty more for me to try to save. I read that they have around thirty babies every two months. Times that by three females and that is a lot of fishies.
Oh! I will review something after all! It's not a book though.
I just realized I never told you about the totally awesome hand lotion sample I got a few weeks ago! I started watching a podcast I had heard about. It's called Wolfe Farms. The lady knits, of course, but also makes lotions and soaps and such. I can't tell you much about the podcast yet, as I've only seen two episodes so far. As with any podcast I find, I'm starting with the first episode and am playing catch up. Anyway I joined her ravelry group and she sent me a coupon code to get a free one ounce sample of her lotion free. I chose the scent called World's Best Coffee. I got the package amazingly fast. She had included a free sample of the coordinating soap and a coupon good towards a future purchase. Let me tell you, this is now my absolute favorite lotion! It smells so mouthwateringly good. It is absorbed into the skin quickly and doesn't leave a greasy feeling behind. It worked wonders on my fingers, which were all dried and getting callused from all my knitting. Within a few days my skin was pretty soft and all but the worst calluses were gone. I only have the one semi rough spot left now on my index finger where I tend to push the point of my knitting needles through while knitting. I thought that was amazing. I haven't tried the soap yet. I'm saving it and keeping it in my drawer to smell from time to time. I'm weird like that. The lotion I use several times a day. The one ounce bottle was full to the very brim and is lasting a good while. It doesn't take but a little bit at a time to rub into both hands, so it might last me a while. I still love the scent of it as much as when I first opened the bottle. It perks me up and kind of makes me crave some coffee candy.
So now that is everything!
Until next week my tightly tangled tanglers.....
Happy Crafting!
May 21, 2012
Summer vacation starts today
Well there's not a whole lot to talk about today. Kids are out of school for the summer vacation so I'm sure the crazy starts today. Should be interesting.
Knitting
On the needles
I've been knitting on an Age of Brass and Steam these last few days. Almost have it done. I also am almost done with the Candle Flame. Pics are below. Other than that I haven't been doing much.
FOs
I finished the test knit hat and cowl set. I like how it turned out. I plan on starting another set soon using this pattern. I may use the same color combo as well. My bestie liked the set I knit and wants a set for herself. I think it would make a good gift for her birthday or maybe Christmas if I can wait that long to give it to her.
RAKs
I got RAKed again! Isn't that awesome? Received a nice little project bag along with a couple of stitch markers, a couple peppermint tea bags, a pretty appliqué, some floral ribbon, purple buttons, a purple emery board, and some Nivea Soft Moisturizing Creme. What a wonderful package to open this morning. Started my day off great!
In the Garden
Most of my tomato plants that I found in the garden have survived the transplanting. I have about fifteen plants that look pretty healthy. I gave a few away that I hadn't had room for and several that I kept died, but all in all I'm pretty happy with the number I have. I planted some various seeds as well, but so far none have sprouted. I hope some do. I will be a little disappointed if all I get to grow this year are tomatoes.
Pets
I bought more fish! I couldn't help myself. I had asked Mother for a few dollars to buy some aquarium salt and water treatment and as usual she gave me more than I asked for. So while I was in Evansville at the junk yard getting parts for the car I went by Harps Pets and got what I needed along with two more female Black Mollies and a Banana plant for the aquarium. I think the Mollies frenzied movements stress Zade out a little during feedings, but other than that our sweet Betta seems to accept the new additions to his tank.
So that's about it for today. I am getting very spontaneous with my knitting and not been planning out what I'm going to knit next. So it will be a surprise what I decide to do next! I will keep you all updated as usual on Sundays or Mondays. Until then my tangled tanglers ....
Happy Crafting
Enjoy the pics of my fishes that I threw in here along with a pic of some pretty flowers growing in my yard :-)
Knitting
On the needles
I've been knitting on an Age of Brass and Steam these last few days. Almost have it done. I also am almost done with the Candle Flame. Pics are below. Other than that I haven't been doing much.
FOs
I finished the test knit hat and cowl set. I like how it turned out. I plan on starting another set soon using this pattern. I may use the same color combo as well. My bestie liked the set I knit and wants a set for herself. I think it would make a good gift for her birthday or maybe Christmas if I can wait that long to give it to her.
RAKs
I got RAKed again! Isn't that awesome? Received a nice little project bag along with a couple of stitch markers, a couple peppermint tea bags, a pretty appliqué, some floral ribbon, purple buttons, a purple emery board, and some Nivea Soft Moisturizing Creme. What a wonderful package to open this morning. Started my day off great!
In the Garden
Most of my tomato plants that I found in the garden have survived the transplanting. I have about fifteen plants that look pretty healthy. I gave a few away that I hadn't had room for and several that I kept died, but all in all I'm pretty happy with the number I have. I planted some various seeds as well, but so far none have sprouted. I hope some do. I will be a little disappointed if all I get to grow this year are tomatoes.
Pets
I bought more fish! I couldn't help myself. I had asked Mother for a few dollars to buy some aquarium salt and water treatment and as usual she gave me more than I asked for. So while I was in Evansville at the junk yard getting parts for the car I went by Harps Pets and got what I needed along with two more female Black Mollies and a Banana plant for the aquarium. I think the Mollies frenzied movements stress Zade out a little during feedings, but other than that our sweet Betta seems to accept the new additions to his tank.
So that's about it for today. I am getting very spontaneous with my knitting and not been planning out what I'm going to knit next. So it will be a surprise what I decide to do next! I will keep you all updated as usual on Sundays or Mondays. Until then my tangled tanglers ....
Happy Crafting
Enjoy the pics of my fishes that I threw in here along with a pic of some pretty flowers growing in my yard :-)
May 13, 2012
Happy Mother's Day
So this will be another short update. I can now show pics of what I made for my bestie. Her baby shower was really nice and she got lots of lovely gifts for the bebe!
I made her a circular knit baby blanket, a quilt, a knit baby kick sack, and cross stitch baby bloomers. I gave her a few things I picked up here and there as well. Pics of my handmade gifts are below.
Knitting
On the needles
Currently I am working on another test knit for dartfrog911 on ravelry. It is a hat and cowl set. I actually caught a mistake and helped correct it! I am thoroughly enjoying this pattern and plan on making another set after this one to gift to my best friend for this winter. This set I made in scratchy red heart so I will keep it for myself. The pattern is for an advanced beginner. It uses slip stitches and four different colors, so it might be a challenge for beginners at first if you've never done anything like that before. I hadn't knitted anything quite like this before but it isn't overly difficult. I would definitely recommend this pattern.
I am still working on my candle flame shawl. It hasn't gotten much love this week though. I am almost finished with it and am really wishing I had another skein of the yarn. It's nowhere near as big as I would like it to be.
Gardening
Well all of my seedlings have died. I am sad because I don't have any more of the different tomato seeds I had started. They were a mix of types I had never heard of before.
I did manage to finally get my garden tilled this week. When I went out there I found a large group of tomato plants ranging from three inches tall to about seven inches tall. I dug them up, tilled the garden, then separated and replanted about twenty of them. I still have a group of about ten of them in a big clod of dirt out there. I noticed that some of the smallest transplanted ones are dying, so I will try to replace them with the larger ones from the clod. Hopefully this means I will have a ton of tomatoes this summer! I was so surprised that the tomatoes I planted last year had reseeded themselves like that. They are all the same type, which I can't recall the name of right now. The fruits were about four inches across and not overly juicy but with a really great flavor. We used them for cooking and for sandwiches last year.
I am going to direct sow some squash, zucchini, bell peppers, wax peppers, and banana peppers tomorrow and hope some of them grow, if I have room left out there that is. I am not growing any okra or beans this year. I was going to grow some watermelon, cantaloupe, and pumpkin this year but I am so short on space I will have to pass on them. I was going to plant them outside my fenced in garden, but we have the cat now and I fear cat feces in my garden patches.
In other news I got some fish for Mother's Day. I got two Black Mollies that I've named Mike and Molly. I got four young snails that are either Mystery snails or Ramshorns or Ramhorns. Whichever is the right way to say that. I got four ghost shrimp as well but two of them are already dead. I'm going to call the pet store and see if they want me to bring them in and get more and if they have any ideas as to why they died. They are all getting along with Serenity's betta fish Zade. I hope none of the rest die!
I'm trying to remember if I had told you all about Miss Kitty. She is our new cat. She lives outside and for the most part seems to like it out there. She was my aunt's cat that she had found in a parking lot. A week of so after she brought her home, Miss Kitty had kittens and was renamed Mama Cat. As soon as she weaned the kittens, my aunt put them all outside. The problem was that shortly afterward baby chicks started showing up dead. Miss Kitty is an excellent mouser, but my aunt was worried that she was the one killing the chicks. Instead of taking her off to a pound my daughter talked me into bringing her home with us. She wandered a bit the first couple of days, getting into fights. She has settled down a lot and likes to sit with me on the deck and doze. She is always wanting food, even if she has just eaten. I worried when I didn't see her most of today and she hadn't even been home to eat, but she turned up right at dinner time. Who knows, maybe she wants to have another litter soon and that is why she was out prowling the neighborhood today.
So that about wraps it up today. No new finishes. Pictures of my no longer super secret gifts. A new test knit. And new pets.
Until next time my faithful tanglers....
Happy Crafting
and
Happy Mother's Day
I made her a circular knit baby blanket, a quilt, a knit baby kick sack, and cross stitch baby bloomers. I gave her a few things I picked up here and there as well. Pics of my handmade gifts are below.
Knitting
On the needles
Currently I am working on another test knit for dartfrog911 on ravelry. It is a hat and cowl set. I actually caught a mistake and helped correct it! I am thoroughly enjoying this pattern and plan on making another set after this one to gift to my best friend for this winter. This set I made in scratchy red heart so I will keep it for myself. The pattern is for an advanced beginner. It uses slip stitches and four different colors, so it might be a challenge for beginners at first if you've never done anything like that before. I hadn't knitted anything quite like this before but it isn't overly difficult. I would definitely recommend this pattern.
I am still working on my candle flame shawl. It hasn't gotten much love this week though. I am almost finished with it and am really wishing I had another skein of the yarn. It's nowhere near as big as I would like it to be.
Gardening
Well all of my seedlings have died. I am sad because I don't have any more of the different tomato seeds I had started. They were a mix of types I had never heard of before.
I did manage to finally get my garden tilled this week. When I went out there I found a large group of tomato plants ranging from three inches tall to about seven inches tall. I dug them up, tilled the garden, then separated and replanted about twenty of them. I still have a group of about ten of them in a big clod of dirt out there. I noticed that some of the smallest transplanted ones are dying, so I will try to replace them with the larger ones from the clod. Hopefully this means I will have a ton of tomatoes this summer! I was so surprised that the tomatoes I planted last year had reseeded themselves like that. They are all the same type, which I can't recall the name of right now. The fruits were about four inches across and not overly juicy but with a really great flavor. We used them for cooking and for sandwiches last year.
I am going to direct sow some squash, zucchini, bell peppers, wax peppers, and banana peppers tomorrow and hope some of them grow, if I have room left out there that is. I am not growing any okra or beans this year. I was going to grow some watermelon, cantaloupe, and pumpkin this year but I am so short on space I will have to pass on them. I was going to plant them outside my fenced in garden, but we have the cat now and I fear cat feces in my garden patches.
In other news I got some fish for Mother's Day. I got two Black Mollies that I've named Mike and Molly. I got four young snails that are either Mystery snails or Ramshorns or Ramhorns. Whichever is the right way to say that. I got four ghost shrimp as well but two of them are already dead. I'm going to call the pet store and see if they want me to bring them in and get more and if they have any ideas as to why they died. They are all getting along with Serenity's betta fish Zade. I hope none of the rest die!
I'm trying to remember if I had told you all about Miss Kitty. She is our new cat. She lives outside and for the most part seems to like it out there. She was my aunt's cat that she had found in a parking lot. A week of so after she brought her home, Miss Kitty had kittens and was renamed Mama Cat. As soon as she weaned the kittens, my aunt put them all outside. The problem was that shortly afterward baby chicks started showing up dead. Miss Kitty is an excellent mouser, but my aunt was worried that she was the one killing the chicks. Instead of taking her off to a pound my daughter talked me into bringing her home with us. She wandered a bit the first couple of days, getting into fights. She has settled down a lot and likes to sit with me on the deck and doze. She is always wanting food, even if she has just eaten. I worried when I didn't see her most of today and she hadn't even been home to eat, but she turned up right at dinner time. Who knows, maybe she wants to have another litter soon and that is why she was out prowling the neighborhood today.
So that about wraps it up today. No new finishes. Pictures of my no longer super secret gifts. A new test knit. And new pets.
Until next time my faithful tanglers....
Happy Crafting
and
Happy Mother's Day
April 30, 2012
My first test knit and other fun stuff
I have lots to talk about today! I have been knitting steadily and have pictures to show you. We have another new pet. I was going to review a book today but will just review the test knit pattern instead. So here we go!
Sorry again for how the pictures are all at the bottom and mixed up. I don't know why this app won't at least put them in the order I choose.
Sorry again for how the pictures are all at the bottom and mixed up. I don't know why this app won't at least put them in the order I choose.
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