Leaf Job!

 Today Dear One put our new leaf rake to work.  Of course, there had been a lot of rain overnight so the leaves were heavy and sludgy but still, he did manage to rake up thirteen piles.  

This afternoon it turned out that he needed a couple of extra hands to hold the bags to put the leaves in the garbage bag.  Since we cannot have a compost pile, we could not use the leaves.  Unless I went down to the garden. and dug them in.  This is something I considered since we are hoping to put in blueberries in the next season, BUT the day was pretty much done by then and I did not want to walk that close to the HOA bad line...NO COMPOST PILES in our neighborhood....

The lawn really does look better.  Interestingly enough, the live oak trees that dropped all the leaves are not on our property!  

Another thing, not interesting, but something I learned today: I might have learned why they call these trees "live oaks".  I have wondered about that since the very first book I ever read many years ago that referenced "live oaks".  I thought that was the dumbest thing ever since of course the trees must have been alive.  Well, it turns out that they do not drop all their leaves.  We do have some sort of native tree on our own lawn which shades us beautifully in the summer, but which does lose its leaves.

It is a great day when you learn new stuff!

Royally Miffed...

 Do you ever get up in the morning and, after your morning rituals, find yourself really miffed?  And realize that, yet again, you have only yourself to blame for the predicament you are in?!  Well, that happened to me today.  I am not happy.  Not at all.  And there is no way to point fingers at anyone but myself.

This being the case, I have proclaimed today the first day of the new year and am changing my ways.  At least, that is what happened early this morning.  Now nearing the end of the day I find my resolution was not wholly carried out, but still, today was better than yesterday.  That is a plus.

Of course, as usual, Dear One gets the brunt of my dissatisfaction.  I have also made a proclamation about eating upstairs in the evening.  WE WILL NOT HAVE IT PE RIOD.  Anyone who wants to eat must go downstairs to eat in the kitchen or dining room.  It is just too easy to eat a cup of Chex mix in the evening,  Or even more. Especially when one's hands are not busy knitting or doing some other handwork.  The lap is empty and the hands are idle so what to do but pick up the canister of salty buttery nutty treats.  VERY BAD IDEA.  At least as far as health is concerned.

Do you have a plan for better health for the new year?  Please share!

One of my plans is to continue on with hand work when I am upstairs in the evening.  Tonight I will work on the initialed hem of my Jacqueline Fee Sweater Workshop sampler. I am getting ready to share that book in a class starting the first week in January.  We shall see how it goes.  I needed to get a sampler made in advance to catch any problems I might have forgotten since the last time I made that sampler.  It really is a useful workshop.

While the book is not available currently on ThriftBooks, it does appear to be available in several other places. Maybe even in the local library.  It is worth getting.  Another book worth getting is Knitting Workshop (or any other book by Elizabeth Zimmermann)!  ThriftBooks does not have Elizabeth Zimmermann, either, but I am confident her books are available at Schoolhouse Press.   

One final book I want to mention that helps me keep my hands, and my mind, busy instead of eating bad stuff is Sweater 101 by Cheryl Brunette.    I have owned at least three copies of Sweater 101 though I only have one now.  I had the great fun of following her directions and made a size two sweater for a child.  I finished that sweater just in time to go to a knitting guild meeting in Vancouver, Washington when Cheryl was there to speak to us and encourage us in our knitting,  I loved learning at her feet and was so pleased that she admired the work of my hands that night. Another dear sister from our mission also attended and brought her sweater which also was perfect.  That sister has knit a sweater for herself following Cheryl's instructions and it fit her perfectly!!!

So--new year, and this time I plan to keep promises I made to myself. I hope you do, too.

The Cookie House

 Despite its appearance, this Oreo cookie house seems to be consumed a little more every thing I enter the dining room.  This does make me happy.  Especially since I am not the one eating it...!  Though I have had a few nibbles...

We hope you all had a wonderful sacred Christmas with family and friends.

Christmas Packages 2021

 This year the build up to Christmas has been very very full.  It did not include handmade gifts for our family members. I don't know if that has ever happened before.  It will be different next year because I already have a plan!!  It makes me smile. I hope it will make our family smile...next Christmas!

Anyway, it is not as if we did not plan to send gifts.  We did.  And as of this writing the packages are in the mail.  They promised me at the P O that they would arrive by Christmas Eve.  I hope so...though everyone in the family does know that timing does not always work well for me...!

Here are the packages ready to go to the Post Office. If you like a guessing game, tell me what you think they are!  You probably will get it, though not specifically!

Another Finished Project

 This time the project was a crochet project.  It was shark slippers for a friend's family members.  I needed to up my game with crochet as the designer was Dutch and translated the pattern to English.  She put it on Ravelry.com.  I learned that when a designer says "join 2 stitches", she actually means to decrease 1 stitch.  I finally got it and was able to complete the slippers.

These are the slippers.  The photo does not do them justice.  They really are cute.  The particulars are on my project page on Ravelry in case you are interested in them.

Big Surprise Today!!

 Recently I have become impatient and dissatisfied with my homemaking prowess.  A few days, maybe weeks ago, I began mildly carping about my need for a bureau.  At present all my clothing is stored in the closet.  Don't get me wrong, it is a great closet with a lot of hanging space and a shelf over all.  I have my underwear and socks stored on the shelf along with many other things.  The shelf is just a bit too high for me so I have to throw my undies up there.  That does not make for a nice neat stack, thus the carping.

Well, today, when I was about at the end of my rope for many many reason, Dear One told me UPS had arrived. I knew he was expecting a package but no idea what it was.  I asked him if he wanted me to come see the box. He said, "No. I want you to come help."  When I got to the entry way there was a big box from Vietnam!  I thought he had broken down and gotten me a bookcase for the side of the bed which I ALSO have been carping about for about two years...!  We have already ordered and put together a beautiful bookcase, a table, and two chairs all from rubber wood from Vietnam so I was pleased.

It was NOT a bookcase!

There he is with the packing box mostly emptied, well, half emptied as you can see other things in the big box, but he was organizing the refuse so it would be easy to take care of.

We decided to put it together upstairs since it was going to be very heavy and we have had incidents as we have taken things upstairs in a put-together situation which were very heavy.

Here is the bureau together except for the drawers!

Now the complete bureau sitting next to my mother's slipper chair. I could not be happier.  And, yes, my underwear and socks are happily ensconced in the new bureau and I am a happy camper.  

How I love my kind, generous, considerate, thoughtful, hard-working, loving husband.  I am most fortunate among women.

When it was complete, he smiled at me and said, "Merry Christmas!" So nice.

Listen to The Spirit! Then Act Immediately!

 This morning as I was reading scriptures a #LightTheWorld prompt showed up.  Today it was suggested that we share an inspirational story, presumably from our own lives. I spent some time thinking about what I had to offer and nothing popped into my mind first thing.  The day was busy so I put it out of my mind.

After a lot longer than I expected at the car service center and about half a dozen other errands,  I finally arrived home.  I was so tired I did not even make a late lunch.  I sat on the loveseat and reclined.  I thought that I had not seen Kate at The Last Homely House East of the Sea for the last week or two so I looked for her on YouTube.

There on her channel was a video from last year with her tutorial on making a no-sew Christmas star.  As I started watching it for a moment I stopped because it crossed my mind that I should see if I could get a second appointment at the temple tomorrow.  It is Dear One's day as assistant shift coordinator so we will be there until at least 1:00 PM.  I had already been able to schedule a 9:00 AM appointment several weeks ago and even though I have been checking back day by day there has never been an available spot.

Today, you guessed it, when I went to the temple appointment page, there was one spot available at 11:00 AM!!  Immediately I registered for it and now, tomorrow, I will be able to serve two sisters while Dear One serves in other ways. I am so happy.

So my inspirational personal story is to say that when we feel or hear the whisperings of the Spirit, and they usually are just the quietest of feelings or thoughts, it is good to act on them immediately.  That way Heavenly Father can bless us right away.  I am so grateful for this.

Both session tomorrow!  So happy!

Christmas Lights In The Neighborhood

 One of the things I love about Christmas each year is seeing the lighting displays people in our neighborhood put out as part of their celebrations.  Here is one of them:

This picture was taken through the windshield at the stop sign at the end of our road.  This is way not the most fantastic lighting set up in the area. I am sorry to say that someone came up behind me while I took the picture and started honking his or her horn.  That put me off my stride and I only took this picture...Still, I do think it gives a good flavor of what it looked like.

#Light The World Prompt for Today

 This morning I was reading scriptures using the Come Follow Me Foundation App.  I have just noticed that at the top of the page there are some little grayed-out dashed lines and each time I do one of the suggested readings the dashed line lights up.

Today I noticed that one of the options now available is the #Light The World Initiative prompt for the day. (If you don't know about #Light The World, just Google it.  There is a calendar of prompts for each day leading up to Christmas.) Today's prompt was to feed the hungry.  The prompt suggested dropping off food to someone who could use it, or create a donation package for a local food bank...even suggested recruiting a friend to help.

This is what I am doing with this post!  I am specifically inviting people to make a donation package for a local food bank.  I personally am gutless.  I am so happy to help people and will do almost anything that is suggested to me, especially if someone else has already paved the way.  In this case I bit the bullet, found the address of a local food bank, got in the car and drove to the location.  

The building was rather un-pre-possessing with some tall (older-looking) wooden stairs leading up to a door.  From the foot of the stairs I could see a batch of notices on the door but since I had some hope that they would be open I hauled my heft up the stairs, found a locked door, knocked, and in a bit a very nice gentleman with a soft very Southern accent/dialect opened to ask what I wanted. At least that is what I thought he asked....I told him I wanted to maybe make some donations and needed to talk with someone about details.  He asked me to come in and someone who had information would come talk with me.

A very nice lady named Sherry came to speak with me.  She gave me information that I mean to share in this post, so I will get to it rather than working up to it with a long drawn out possibly very boring story.

What they need at that food bank (Sumter United Ministries at 36 Artillery Drive, Sumter) is:

Paper towels--these can be singletons in case you buy large amounts at Sam's Club, Costco, or the like

Toilet paper--these can also be singletons

Feminine hygiene products

Tooth brushes

Tooth Paste

Shampoo in small bottles

There is a fence at the building.  It should be open from 9 AM to 3 PM Monday through Friday.  If you drive through the open gate to the back of the building there is a covered area which has bins.  There are bins for Food and bins for Clothes.  All the above items go in the Food bin.  

They DO NOT need clothing at this time.

While there at United Ministries, Sherry told me about the Emmanuel Soup Kitchen at 421 South Main Street in Sumter.  Sherry volunteers there on Wednesday, or at least she did yesterday.  

She says they accept anything you have that could be used by homeless and less fortunate people, including clothing.  I myself was hoping to bring some of the multitudes of spices we have acquired since arriving in the South two years ago with the idea I would make some fabulous meals. 

 It turns out that most of these spices turned into meals "my family" did not enjoy!!!  So I will take them over to Emmanuel Soup Kitchen.  If they cannot use the spices themselves they will put them out on a table and let their guests take what they want.  WIN WIN WIN!

These two photos show SOME of the spices in our kitchen...there are lots more.  I think divesting will be a very good thing.

It happens that I also tried to put gutlessness aside a second time in the same day and drove to Emmanuel Soup Kitchen.  I had driven by it many times but did not recognize what it was as I drove by.  There was a very slim older gentleman hanging around outside the door (which did not have a handle to open it from the outside!!) and when I got out of the car I immediately realized the stroller was critically important at that location as the ground was very uneven.  Anyway, I walked over to him and he started talking with me.  The dialect was so heavy I could not understand him.  Not at first.  Eventually I caught a word here and there.  There was another gentleman sitting in his truck with the door open.  Shortly after I got there he began drumming on the door of his truck. I could not grasp the beat.

Eventually I told the waiting gentleman that I was looking into making donations.  He told me to go around to the back door and speak with Jean.  I did it.  Knocked on the door. Twice. There were voices inside but it was lunch time and since the soup kitchen door was still locked, I assumed they were still in the rush of preparing food so I went back out to the front.  And waited some more.  The door still did not open so I decided to come back again later. Probably another day.

That is the end of the story for today...

So, this is information for Sumter people.  In your town or city there must be similar places.  #Light The World today by finding them!

Christmas Party Games!

 Last week I attended a wonderful Christmas party.  Let me tell you about the games!

Each person coming to the party brought a pair of socks that they had filled with all sorts of fun inexpensive little gifts.  The socks were attached to each other by rubber bands at the top and a ribbon was put on.  When they arrived at the party the socks were hung on a tree and numbered.  Later on guests drew a number from a bowl.  If the number was even, they got that pair of socks. If their number was odd, they could choose any socks that had already been removed from the tree.  (In this case the "tree" was a hall coat tree!)

This was my pair of socks:

Sorry I cannot figure out how to rotate the photo so you can look at it straight on.

These socks make me so happy.  They are the first real project I did on the Brother KX 350 knitting machine.  I used Patons Classic Wool in Bright Red, Pine, and Winter White.  I have a good mind to make more of them!  The knitting look less than an hour but the handwork to move them from flat to socks took WAY longer!

One thing I am very happy about is the bow!  Basically I took a wide piece of the black and red checkered fabric, attached the fluffy white stuff to the ends then sewed it into a tube.  Next was to turn the tube.  It worked!  I was really so pleased.

Another day I will describe another party game...

Quick and Easy Tree Ornament, Sewing Project

 The other day I found a red and black plain metal tin that I immediately loved and thought I would fill with chocolates and give in the big Christmas stocking I knit on the knitting machine.  I was in Hobby Lobby at the moment and was passing by the fabric area.  THERE WAS THE SAME FABRIC!  So I had to buy it to make a stocking ornament.

After exploring YouTube a bit I found orangebettie.com who had a very easy pattern for a lined stocking ornament.

This is the ornament.  It probably took 30 minutes from start to finish.  If I wanted to make more I could do assembly-line and get lots more made in a short time.  If I wanted it to be perfect, I could press it at various junctures, but chose not to get up from the sewing machine.

This makes me happy, even though it is not perfect.  And I did not hand stitch closed the  few stitches needed in the white fluff.  Oh well.

Learning To Knit on the Brother KX-350 Knitting Machine

 Years ago I acquired a fabulous standard gauge punch card knitting machine. It had all the bells and whistles.  For some reason I thought I needed to divest.  I am now sad for that but recently acquired a new-to-me more-than-30-years-old flat bed knitting machine.  I have a Bond Incredible knitting machine which I used to make many items for our family and others.  This "new" machine is a step up.

May I say that I love to learn new things!  AND I love to learn useful practical things. A first project on the KX350 has been a Christmas stocking.  I used an Anna Haferman pattern and was mostly successful.

The learning part came in with the short rows on the heel and toes.  I did a pretty pathetic job but learned a ton.  

This picture is of the first heel.  Pitiful but...learning experience.

This is the toe, also bad, but also think I solidified some learning with this one.

What I now know is that on the decrease part of the short rows you put the needle next to the carriage into hold and knit across to the other side.  Then do the same thing on the row back.  

On the increase part of the heel, which immediately follows the last of the decrease rows (and the decrease rows go until you have one-third of the heel stitches remaining in work-) you pull out the needle farthest from the carriage back into work.  Do this on every side until all the heel stitches are back in work.

Before beginning to work on the heel, you need to put half of the stitches on the needle bed into holding position AND you need to put the levers on both sides of the carriage into hold.  This way you will only be working on the heel stitches and not the top of the foot stitches.

Just a reminder to self and others--the heels and toes are knitted using half of the needles on the project and decreasing until one-third of the needles remain un-knitted, then increasing until all the needles are back in work. I believe I worked one more row with the carriage still in hold then, when knitting back across from the left side, I returned the carriage to Normal knitting.  I learned that if you return the carriage to Normal before that last row with the carriage in Hold then you will effectively knit at least half of the stitches off the bed.  Which necessitates laboriously picking each of them up one by one and returning the stitches to the needles.  No need to make THAT mistake again!!!

The cuff is the first thing I did after casting on and I am rather pleased with how the picot edge worked. I think it looks pretty nice.

The cast on that I did for this stocking was to pull out every other stitch and put the remaining stitches out of work.  Using waste yarn knit across one row then hang the cast on comb.  Put the out-of-work stitches into work then knit across again.  Hang weights on the cast on comb then knit 8 or 10 rows of waste yarn.  Thread the carriage with the cuff yarn then knit half the number of rows you want for the cuff.  In my case I cast on 54 stitches then knit 20 rows after the waste yarn.  At this point to make the picot hem each stitch is removed from its needle and place on its neighbor's needle, making every other needle empty.  Knit across one row to solidify that picot edge then knit 20 more rows.

Now comes the fun part of picking up stitches from the waste yarn and placing them on the needles so you can close up the hem.  It is really easier than it sounds after the first one and it looks really nice.

After that first bad stocking, well, bad heels and toes, I made two more.  They came out pretty well though each one gave me a bit of a challenge. In the end, I am pretty happy with them.  Now to fill them...

Another thing I learned:  you cannot always trust what Ebay sellers have to say about their products!  If you go to the Anna Haferman video you will see she used needle pushers.  The woman who sold me her very old KX 350 did not give me either the row counter or the needle pushers.  This machine is a 7 mm machine.  That is different from a 6.5 mm machine.  AND despite what Ebay sellers say, you CAN NOT use the same needle pushers on both the 6.5 mm and the 7 mm machines!  Makes me very crabby that I did know understand that at the beginning.  Now I am smarter.  I also had to order a row counter for the second time because the Ebay seller failed to tell me he was only selling me the counter and NOT the critical connector for the machine.  Money down the drain.  Makes me VERY crabby.  And now I have been waiting since 28 October for a (possibly!) correct row counter to arrive from England.  If this one does not come, I believe I will stop all internet commerce and just buy things that I see face to face.  Will save money (and time!) in the end probably.

Cute Kid on Mom's Back!

 We went to the ward Christmas brunch on Saturday at the Judson Family Farms.  It was a really wonderful event.  The main food was breakfast burritos with all the fixings plus pastries and juices.  EVERYONE loved the food!

There was a lovely short talk on the real meaning of Christmas and how we could enjoy that in our lives.  So nice. Plus other activities including picture-taking and a sweet gift for everyone.

We also had the blessing of walking around the farmyard and seeing the variety of farm animals there.  One of the cutest things was the baby goats/kids!  The babies were docile when we got there to the pen in the large clean tidy barn but then they decided to entertain us by jumping on Mom's back!  Here is one of them:

Both kids were trying to do it at the same time which had the effect of one of them dropping off so it was rugged to get a picture with one actually on the back.  This must happen regularly because Mom just stood there and took it!

Such a funny thing.

Giving Thanks.

 In the United States of America today is a holiday.  Or you might even say it is a “holy day”.  It is a day to pause and give thanks for the myriad blessings we have been given to us by our Heavenly Father.

Some items on my gratitude list:

My dear husband who is so kind and generous and thoughtful and treats me with love every day

Our angel family to include our siblings and their families

The most wonderful friends imaginable

This glorious beautiful earth on which we are privileged to live

A church which builds my spirit and gives us many opportunities to serve

A very comfortable home

A neighborhood of very kind and thoughtful people

A pond where in the last little while the alligator has not been singing

Tools that help us tackle our own needs such as strollers and bicycles and self-propelled lawnmowers and garden hoses

A car that runs very well and is paid for

No debt

Money enough to fund my charitable projects

Opportunities to learn about health and how to improve it

Nearby grocery stores

Nearby craft stores

Nearby hardware stores

Work to do to keep ourselves busy and productive and feeling virtuous

Music everywhere

Libraries with very helpful staff

Telephones that work

Electricity, and other utilities to keep us warm and comfy

Birds in the backyard singing their hearts out

Vacations every so often

And today the blessing of making many many pies for the Marines who serve us all and who are willing to  give their lives on our behalf if called upon to do so

This box of dinner was brought home to me from the Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station Thanksgiving dinner where Dear One and sister’s husband went to serve the Marines and take them 137 pies.  I helped make pies but did not go to the base.  My sister stayed home this year for the first time in ten years since she and her husband started the homemade pie project.  She remained at home because after getting up way before dawn and making eleven more pies, she had an accident which encouraged her to stay home.  She will be fine but was uncomfortable and let discretion guide her today.

I am so grateful for all the above and so MANY MORE!  I know you are, too.  Spending a moment to enumerate a few of the things for which one is grateful can make our hearts sing with joy.

May you all have had a very happy Thanksgiving.

Vacation Troubles!

 We had a fun day today.  Until we arrived home after spending part of the day with my sister.  It was just getting dark.  It was quite cool outside.  We walked up the sixteen stairs to the front door and Dear One's key card would not work in the lock. AT ALL!!  So I tried.  My key card did not work, either.  

Dear One shone his phone light onto the phone numbers to call. As it happens, it was after 5 PM so no one answered the office phone so we called the Emergency Number (for emergencies that could not wait until the next day the office was to be open...) A rather impersonal male answered, asked all kinds of questions, I presume to see if we should be there at that condo.  Eventually I told him I was without a sweater or jacket and I was in urgent need of the LGR....which I was.  He then said he would call the security office and if they did not come rescue us within ten minutes that we should call a third number.  

They did not come in the promised ten minutes so I called the third number.  A nice-sounding girl answered the phone and said she would send security soon.  OK, well, soon is as soon does!

Finally a nice security girl came up the stairs and opened the door with her key card.  Except that IT DID NOT OPEN!  She said she would have to go call Mr. Someone...who usually was able to arrive in about thirty minutes. He probably would need to pull off the lock and install a new battery. Well, I had been standing there with legs crossed for almost 45 minutes so time had run out.  

After the nice security girl left I carefully made my way down the stairs to the outside facilities.  Embarrassing but necessary.

In about fifteen minutes Mr. Someone came, went upstairs while we remained in the car which was idling with the heater blowing on us, and came back down almost instantly.  He handed us each a key card in a wrinkled holder.  He told us that the resort had done a system update today and re-installed the  firmware so all the keys no longer worked so they had put our new keys under our mat! Can you believe ie?  They did not attempt to call us all day.  Dear One and I both had our phones so they could have notified us.  Oh, well.

The good news about that is that #1. we are now inside and comfy and almost warm again, and #2.  while shivering outside at the front door, a deer family walked by just at the foot of the stairs!  A big deer, a smaller deer, and three baby deer.  So sweet to see them.  Heavenly Father blesses us in so very many ways.

Such a sweet thing to see,  Dear One was in the car with the hazard lights on as requested by the original callee and he saw the deer family also.  Nice way to get our minds on something other than discomfort.

Vacation Preparations!!

 We did not have a vacation for nearly five years.  We have a timeshare and "banked" the weeks we should have used. Now those weeks are going to go away if we do not use them, so now we have scheduled a second vacation.  This time we will be about half an hour from my sister.  That will be so great to spend time with her and her family.  Plus we will be able to help with the Cherry Point MCAS Thanksgiving dinner by making pies.  Dear One will help serve the Marines at the base.

Well, getting ready to go happened in a week that was already completely full.  So hard to get things together.  When we arrived at the vacation condo we found I had left some things at home...This may be because the night before, I awoke before midnight and was awake until 6 AM.  Have not had a night as rough as that for a while.

Around 4 AM I had already used up all the quiet, in-the-other-room projects, so I moved into our bedroom where the Brother KX 350 knitting machine is set up.  I had seen a YouTube video by Anna Haferman about knitting a pumpkin.  I followed her pattern and made this pumpkin:

Anna's pattern called for casting on 80 stitches.  I wanted a smaller pumpkin so I cast on 50 stitches then did a bit of math to figure out the spacing of the pattern stitches.  It did turn out.  Well, I seem to remember that I set the tension at 3.5 which is pretty tight, but there was not a lot of trouble with the fluffy stuffing showing through those stitches.

So, it was not fabulous but it could have been worse.  I wanted to bring a gift to my sister and this is what it turned out to be.  Plus a dozen little orange boxes with green pompom stems on top and Hershey's Kisses and Peanut Butter Cups inside.

Rats, Rats, RATS!!! And I mean that Sincerely!

 Tonight we are having a Relief Society activity.  We will be making freezer meals for compassionate service emergencies.  We will also be having a pie night.  Everyone will bring a sweet pie or a savory pie to share.  There will even be pie judging.   Since I wanted to use up ingredients in our refrigerator I decided to do both.  This is how it went...

First thing this morning I was downstairs, still in nightgown, making the tollhouse pie which I have bragged about multiple times on this blog.  I got it in the oven and decided it was too early to be up and around so I went back to bed, setting an alarm on my phone and with Siri.  I was sound asleep when the alarms rang and I carefully made my way back down stairs...no desire AT ALL to fall down all those stairs.

When I got downstairs the pie looked so great, but I was pretty sure it was not quite cooked, so I shut off the oven,  cracked the door for 3 minutes, then closed the door so the residual heat would finish cooking the pie.

We were having brunch some hours later. I had put together the savory pie and while we were eating our salad I set the oven heating at 400 degrees F.  The bell went off to tell us the oven was ready but I was still eating salad (I had just learned that spinach is very good for cardiac health, as well as possibly helping with fatty liver disease so I did not want to miss even one leaf of spinach) so I decided the oven could keep heating until I was done.

When I finished my brunch I went to the oven to put in the savory pie to cook, the top crust of which  I had smartly (I thought) used a tomato basil tortilla.  When I opened the oven door, to my horror, there was the beautiful tollhouse pie!  No longer beautiful.  I did take it out of the oven and let it cool. I knew I was not taking it to Relief Society but I thought possibly I could pawn it off on Dear One who loves just about everything sweet.  Turns out he was smart enough to reject it.  Such a disappointment.  Not his rejection, but the pie disaster...

Well, I will take the stainless steel bowls, the three bags of cooked rice, some large spoons for stirring ingredients, and the savory vegetarian pie over to Relief Society.  I do not have high hopes for its reception...

Better luck next time, I guess.

Here is the Tollhouse Pie.  It does not look THAT bad, does it?  Well, yes.  It really does.  And it really is bad. I tried some of it cool and it just about finished me off...!

Quick Knit Simple Pocket Doll

 Many years ago I had the blessing of knitting a few pocket dolls for a charity near home in Vermont.   Recently I met a darling little boy who was nearing his first birthday. I wanted to make him something and the pocket doll came to mind.

The actual pattern can be found on Knitting4Peace.org.

This is the one I made: (you cannot see this really but the hair is gray in case he was missing his grandpa...)

In general these are the instructions:

Cast on 32 stitches on US 4 double pointed needles.

Knit 4 rounds in shoe color.

Change to pants color and knit 12 rounds.

Change to belt color and knit 1 round.

Change to shirt color and knit 12 rounds.

Change to face color and knit 10 rounds.

Change to hair color and knit 4 rounds  then start the decrease rounds starting with K4, K2tog around.

Every other round at this point is plain knitting then K3, K2tog; K2, K2tog, K1;  K2tog. 

The final round is a plain knitting round and you will have 12 stitches.

Now comes the part where you should go look at the real pattern for the finishing work!

The yarn I used for this doll was worsted weight cotton yarn since it needed to be able to be thrown into the washing machine regularly.

The doll, including finding the yarn, and all finishing work took about 2 hours.  No.  Less than two hours.  My plan is to make a few more and send them to Knitting4Peace as a thank you for the pattern.

Have fun with this.  K4P has many other patterns as well...something for everyone who wants to contribute

Creamy Wild Rice Soup

 Finally I made. Lenny and Shalva Gale's Cream Wild Rice Soup.  It is SO GOOD!!!  #LifeisNOYOKE

Start out by soaking 1 cup raw cashew overnight.

In the morning:

chop--

 4 ribs celery
2-3 carrots
1 sweet onion
4 large cloves garlic

8 ounces well-washed and chopped mushrooms

Place 1 1/2 quarts vegetable stock in a large pot and bring to a boil. Add the vegetables and 1 cup wild rice that you rinsed well.  Add in 1 Tablespoon thyme and 2 bay leaves.

Set a timer for 30 minutes for this all to cook.  Put the cover on.

In a blender  place 2 cups vegetable broth.  Drain the cashews and add them and one can white beans (drain the beans ) or 1 1/2 cups home cooked white beans to the blender.  Blend for one minute until completely creamy.  Stir into the cooking vegetables and rice and set timer for another 15 minutes.  When the timer goes off, check to see if the rice is cooked.  It should be chewy.  Not hard!

Serve hot.  Though I can say that I also enjoy this soup cold.  Dear One not so much, but he does like it when it is hot.

Be sure to remove the bay leaves as they are not so pleasant to bite into...

This recipe makes about 3 quarts of soup.  So good!

Raspberry Cheesecake Capelet Test Knit Report

 The Raspberry Cheesecake Capelet test knit is completed and reported to the designer.  I am so glad I was able to complete it.  It took many many hours.  I thought it was a success.

Test knitting has been something I have enjoyed doing these past few years.  In case anyone else would like to participate here is some information you need.

What is test knitting?  Knitting designers create knitting patterns.  In order to be sure their patterns are in good order and that Josephine Knitter will be successful knitting the patterns, the designers invite other knitters to make the project and give feedback on how the pattern worked for the tester.

There is a website called Yarnpond.com where more and more knitting designers are inviting testing of their patterns.

This is the process:

1. Go to Yarnpond.com and create and account.  You will be invited to share your knitting experience.

2. Look at the current testing calls.  If one looks like you would like to knit it, then

3. Look at the specifics of the pattern, i.e. what yarn, what needles, what deadlines, etc are required.  If this still looks good then

4. Apply for the test knitting.  Sometimes you will receive a response the same day.  Usually it is longer.  The designer states how many testers of each size.  If there are more sizes and testers wanted, you have a better chance of being selected.  

5. Check your knitting "stash" to see if you already have the yarn you need for the project.  I personally do not usually buy new yarn for the project, though I did for the Raspberry Capelet since I wanted white yarn and did not have it.

6.  You will need to keep going back to Yarnpond to see if you have been selected.  Once selected, go to town on the project.

7. Now is the fun part:  knitting, and finding errors in the pattern.  Or finding it perfect.  You give feedback to the designer through the Chat Room option on Yarnpond.  You also get to post your pictures there and on Ravelry.com.  Most designers want you to put up a page on Ravelry for photos and notes.  After all, they are trying to get a pattern ready for sale and it needs exposure.  That is your job.  Many designers want you to share on social media as well, but not all so you have to watch the test call for that.

8.  When you have completed the knitting, and completed your Ravelry page, you go back to Yarnpond and complete the final feedback page and you are done.  Plus you have a nice new knitted project to enjoy yourself or gift to someone either now or later.

This is something I enjoy, though the most recent one was taxing because A.  I had several other critical knitting projects ongoing and B. there were actually problems with the pattern which I discovered which meant I had to start over since one very crucial error was that the cast-on stitch count for the size I was making was wrong!  That was quite good to find out, though I had done a fair amount of knitting when I realized there was an issue.  The designer was fabulous and immediately realized what the problem was, corrected it, and notified all who were knitting the sizes where there were issues so they could start again.

To see my Ravelry projects where I have put photographs (and sometimes notes) of some of the knitting I have done over the last fourteen years, click here.

If you go to my Ravelry page, you will see that the personal information is outdated!  We now have 10 grandchildren and one great grandchild!  When you get there, to see the pictures I mentioned, click on Projects.  Have fun!  Please try not to laugh too much at some of the projects.  Sadly, many of the pictures are not there as I was storing them on Flickr but my account there vanished and so did the pictures.  Now I just put them on my phone/computer/cloud so I have control.  At least some control...!

The Sweater is In The MAIL!

 After nearly a year and a half this sweater has been completed and is in the mail.  More about it later...!

The End of the Evening!

Well, all is well here, not in Lake Wobegon, but in our neighborhood.  We had many little ghosts, ghouls, fairies, princesses, and TV characters that I did not know.  Even when I asked and the kids told me, I could not grasp what they were talking about.  I may be getting old...

Anyway, Dear One had gotten enough candy, both chocolate and straight sugar, to fill two separate 13-quart stainless steel bowls.  When the last batch of kids came by at 7:15 and one little kiddo lifted the bowl to empty it into his back pack, I called it a night.  A few bugs had started finding the light over my head attractive at about the same time.  I had mentioned to Dear One  earlier (when he turned on the lights) that the first bug that came by was it for me.  He looked at me, smiled, and said. "You can tough it out!"  Funny guy.  Really funny guy!

This is all that was left from 26 quarts of chocolate and sugar.  Hallelujah!  No temptation lying around here now!

Here is the extent of my "costume" back on its high shelf until next year!  It was a pretty good buy the day after Halloween at Michaels two years ago: $2.99 or maybe it was $4.99 but either way...I am set for costumes until the end...!

Instant Pot Quick and Easy Lentil Meal

 Last night I was watching Brittany Jaroudi present at the American Health Association Conference in Cleveland, Ohio.  She spoke about her health journey.  She also prepared four recipes in less than an hour.  The first one was this lentil meal.

In the Instant Pot place:

1/2 cup green or brown lentils
1/2 cup chopped red onions
3/4 cup grain--she used bulgar wheat; we used long grain brown rice
1 3/4 cup vegetable broth
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1/2 cup hummus put on top--NOT STIRRED IN

With the ingredients in the Pot, turn on HIGH for 6 minutes then let reduce pressure naturally.  Because I used long grain brown rice, I cooked for 10 minutes on HIGH.  It cooled down for about 23 minutes.

It may not look appealing, but it is very healthy!  Keep that firmly in mind...!  Dear One was not a fan.  He got out the Tajin and sprinkled some on top.  Brittany says to "tweek it" for your family.  I think it could have used some garlic.  Also a slug of salt, but I have read so many articles lately swearing that salt is bad for our health that I am trying to go without.  At least today!

One of the best things about this recipe, as it was made by me, was that it did not make meals and meals worth.  We can each have one small bowl tomorrow.  Then I will make some other healthy meal. Not sure I am thrilled about cooking anymore but I am certainly thrilled about living so I guess I will continue...

Fall Decor

 A couple of weeks ago, after one of his daily walks around the neighborhood after viewing all the decorations in yards and on houses, Dear One asked me if I was going to decorate our house for fall.  You could have knocked me over with a feather...an almost impossible act!  I thought to myself, "Have I EVER decorated for fall?  Or anything else except the mitten garland on the fireplace at Christmas?"

So I thought about it for a while.  One day when I was at Hobby Lobby to get some rings to make Dorset buttons for our daughter's sweater I walked around the store a little bit.  There are some UNBELIEVABLE decorations available!!!  I could not believe my eyes.  Not being a fan of Halloween, I looked for generic fall things.

Many things were gigantically expensive.  Many also were so gaudy as to turn the stomach. Or they had spiders on them.  I will NEVER encourage spiders of any kind...

Amazingly I found a door decoration that I liked. Besides being like-able, it also was fifty percent off price! Bonus!

This is it hanging on the door.  You will notice I had to purchase a wreath holder to get it to hang reasonably.  

Now I am thinking about how to make that into a Christmas decoration! We really do not have much storage space so I don't want to get into the habit of buying, or preferably making, things for decoration purposes. (Yes, our house is very boring...but does not bother me one fig.)  Well...not much storage space that does not already have plenty of other things using it...!

Funny Thing About Halloween Candy

 Dear One is the mastermind of the Halloween candy for Trick-or-Treaters at our house. I am very grateful as it keeps candy out of my hands, and often, out of my mouth!

We purchased this year's candy while on our vacation in Myrtle Beach.  When we came home it was set in the beautiful wooden rocking chair that we bought last year for the porch but turned out to be too large for our little porch. Sad. On Monday we were able to pass along (with only a little wrenching of the heart...) that chair to someone who could use it. In process of moving the candy out of the chair for the sale of the chair, I noticed something interesting!

Can you see it?!  The bag that holds several types of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups appeared to have a small slash in the top!  SOMEONE (and it was not me...!) had been into the candy!  This makes me smile.  I am sure he enjoyed every piece he ate.  There is still plenty in the bag so he probably only ate a few pieces.  Well, he bought them, so why not enjoy a few,

After seeing that bag was opened, for some inexplicable reason, my fingers found their way into the bag. I pulled out a Frankenstein cup.  I had never heard of such a thing.  It turns out the bottom of the cup is green.  Funny.

Race Away Rett 2021. 8th Year!

 

Here am I wearing the 8th annual Race Away Rett tee shirt.  This photo was taken ten days after doing the actual 5K.  I always do a walk.  Could not run if I wanted to!  The walk was done in Myrtle Beach while we were on our first vacation since before our full-time mission in 2017.  I walked on the sidewalk as far as the Boardwalk when followed the Boardwalk down to the 2nd Avenue Pier since it seemed like a good thing to do.  On the way back, now in the dark, every time I met someone on the sidewalk going the other direction I stopped  and let them pass.  I did not dare sit down and rest for fear of never getting moving  again!

May I say there may be something to be said for working gradually into things...such as walking a little every day and building up stamina then increasing the distance and time.  Smashing into a long walk (long to me) all at once had very noticeable repercussions.  As in I did no more walking, or even very much standing, for three days!  I DID get a lot of knitting done.  But then that overtaxed my hands, so maybe there is some merit in moderation in all things...!

Pumpkin Treats and Paper-Crafting!

 We are having a Relief Society activity.  All of us are invited to bring a pumpkin-themed treat to share.  Since I did plenty of "sharing" food last week on vacation it occurred to me that it would be a grand idea NOT to make a pumpkin roll.  Nor a pumpkin cheesecake.  Nor any other real food item that might not get consumed and which would then have to be returned home.  For me to eat.

In the past I have made many different boxes.  I thought a tiny box with a couple of treats in it would be ideal for this activity.  Since we had two different shades of orange card stock, I settled on this project.

This shows the paper cut out and ready to put together.  Plus a LOT of boxes already put together.  The starting size of paper for the boxes was 6.375 by 4.875 inches.  Both sides are scored at 1.5, 3.0, 4.5, and 6.0 on the long side and 1.5, 3.0, and 4.5 on the short side.  You can see where to cut.  More or less.  If I can find the original video which shared this project I will link to it. (You can see I did not do this exactly as Ann did.)

These boxes have been glued and the "stems" have been put on two of them.   The pom poms are 1.375" inches in size.  It takes about three minutes to make each one of the little pom poms.

Here is the storage box filled with completed pumpkin treats.  I think they are just adorable. 

AND I think I can walk away from the treats inside.  I say this as I look in the waste basket beside me and see four empty wrappers for which I know I must take responsibility...

Organization, and Another Knitting Set-back

Yesterday morning as I was in the Come, Follow Me app for study, part of the message was an excerpt from President Russell M. Nelson about removing debris from our lives. I took it to heart and immediately started removing/organizing real debris from my desk. After many hours it is still not done but the surface of the desk is visible in multiple places. Such a boost to my spirit. I REALLY need a nap right now, though.

Just because things are looking better is not a good reason to show off pictures. Pretty soon I will be more likely to show-and-tell. Now it is just telling...

As I was sitting here working at removing and sorting and placing in final resting places all kinds of things from recipes to knitting patterns to Relief Society paperwork to hoped-for paper-crafting projects, I started thinking about the Elizabeth's Percentage System Yoked Sweater I have been working on for months for our daughter. The yoke was finished during our vacation last week, even though the final five inches was knitted more than once! (When really tired and not really able to focus, it is probably a good idea NOT to work on precision-needed projects.) All at once I thought of the collar ribbing.

Here you can see that the ribbing was knit with too-large needles.

What a bust!!! I had already knitted it twice with different needles. As I was sitting here I realized I needed to have gone down another couple of needle sizes! Rats! Well, there are so many other flaws with this sweater that this one which is so easy to correct shall be corrected. Of course at the moment I am writing I just want to go to bed but it is not quite 5:30. This would be a mistake. The last few days I have been so tired mid-afternoon that I took a nap. This raised Hob with my night-time sleeping, which is the second reason I am so fagged out right now.

Better get to the sweater...

Food Success! Yippee Yi Yo!!!

 Yesterday I saw a recipe for Vegan Alfredo Sauce.  I had made some once from a different cook.  It was pretty nasty. This one was not at all nasty!  Dear One ate a reasonable serving. THEN he took an even larger second serving.  Made me happy, I can tell you!

There are several steps to the recipe, all easy but several steps.

The whole recipe will not go here but I will tell you the ingredients as I used them.  Jessica's are a little different so you might like hers better:

12 ounces pasta-we had spaghetti purchased for $0.25/pound. I worried it would not be good but it was.
1 sweet Vidalia onion, diced
 1 cup raw cashews soaked in plain water overnight
1/4 cup pasta cooking water

1 1/2 cup plain unsweetened WestSoy soy milk
4 cloves ROASTED just before you use them garlic!
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 Tablespoons vegan parm
1 Tablespoon lime juice

First thing to do is start roasting the head of garlic. I put a sheet of parchment paper on top of a sheet of foil, placed the garlic bulb on top...though I cut off a little bit of the top first.  I did put in a teaspoon or so of vegetable oil before closing up the package though I won't use the oil next time. Then I put it in the oven to roast at 450 degrees F for 45 minutes.

Next put the pasta water heating.  When boiling add your pasta and cook the way you like it.  Drain and return to pan.  We poured the sauce over the pasta, tossed, and served.

To make the sauce, dry sautée the onion until soft and golden, about five minuted, stirring often.  Place the cooked onion, drained and rinsed cashews, pasta water, soy milk, roasted garlic, nutritional yeast, salt, vegan parm, and lime juice in food processor.  You can use a high speed bender but it is more of a pain to remove the sauce from it so I went with the food processor.  Process until very smooth.  Ours processed probably 8-10 minutes. I did not time it.  I was doing other stuff at the time.

When the sauce is really smooth and the pasta is cooked and drained as mentioned elsewhere, pour on the sauce.  Sit down at the table with your bib and tucker on and dig it.  You will almost certainly like it.

This picture is of the pasta when the sauce has just been added and not very well stirred in but with steam rising so the picture is yet another not-good-picture.  Please don't ask me to photograph your children or pets or wedding, You will be sorely disappointed!

Vegan Parm Recipe

3/4 cup raw cashews
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic (you have to watch me like a hawk: I first listed 1/2 CUP granulated garlic...)
1/4 teaspoon granulated onion
1/2 teaspoon regular iodized salt

This is also Jessica's recipe which you will find when you go to her page linked above.  For us, I just put all the ingredients in the food processor and pulsed until pretty much parm-like.  I put it in a one-cup jelly jar with a plastic lid and am storing it in the refrigerator

Just so you can see the quantity and appearance of this vegan parm.  Pretty nice stuff.  You could use it to sprinkle on many different savory foods.

Different Kind of Topic Today!

The other night I watched/listened to a talk by Brent L. Top at BYU Education Week from 2010.  I found it very interesting.  You might too.

Knitting Tales Again

 It flabbergasts me how fast the days are going by.  It must be the Last Days when time is speeded up...!

There were so many things I planned to blog about but it did not happen.  A lot of other things did, though, never fear. I am not just lying around rotting out!  Not. At. All.  More is the pity, some days, anyway.  I could use a good lie-about.

Today I just want to say that the beautiful test knit is completed and reported.  It is on my Ravelry page if you want to look at it.  I am "The Country Wife" there, too.  I think you can see it. The pattern will be published on 28 October so maybe not until then, but I do think it can be seen.

Besides finding a few errors in the pattern, which, when corrected, made a HUGE difference in the satisfying nature of the knitting process, I found it a lovely job.  It DID take me quite a while, though.  Maybe about 40 hours, but I had to restart it three times.  Anyone who reads, actually understands and FOLLOWS the pattern will not take as long as I did.  I feel absolutely certain of that.

There were several things going on in each round:  increasing ribs, increasing sleeve cables, and the central cable motif.  I was driving myself crazing looking at the pattern, looking at the knitting, working a few stitches, then looking back to make sure I was doing it properly...since I did NOT want to keep ripping out and repeating the work.

SO...I made my own increase chart.  I say that as if I just whipped it out but it took me six tries before it was totally right and that was only about 20 rounds before the bind-off!!

This was the fifth try and was really helpful until I was so near the end I could see it, then realized I had mis-read the pattern and had many more rows to go.  So deflating, but I just made a 6th chart and went to town on it.

This was the final chart.  The whole reason for this increases chart was that the three types of increases in every round were getting my goat.  I was so glad when I had increased enough on the front and back of the capelet and was ready for the motif chart so after that, on those two sections, there were no increases, just ribs.  So relaxing for 40 stitches in front and back!

Anyway, I did finish it and before the deadline.  I will post a picture here and give the name of the pattern on the 28th.  If I remember. Otherwise, go to Ravelry.com and see it and the notes--though many of the notes were written VERY late in the game!

One more day and we are off to the Beach!!!!  So excited.

Munchie Monday: Pad Thai!

 Sometimes I hanker for something different.  Many years ago I had some Pad Thai somewhere and really liked it. I have realized since then that Pad Thai is more or less a clean-out-the-refrigerator dish but so good even though it is impossible to replicate exactly.  This time I made it from a recipe, sort of.

Brittany Jaroudi has posted a recipe on her YouTube channel that worked for us. Dear One said it was okay.  That is high praise!  As you know!.  

We had the sauce made from her recipe:

1/2 cup cooked white beans
2 Tablespoons peanut butter or a little more
1 Tablespoon lime juice
1 Tablespoon white miso or a little more
2 pitted Deglet Noor dates
1 large clove garlic
1/2 cup water

All these ingredients I put in our high speed blender until they looked beautiful and smooth.

We had some Udon noodles in the freezer that I thawed and boiled with the peas and corn that I also brought out of the freezer.  When they were happily soft and cooked through I drained them and threw back in the pot. After pouring the sauce on top and mixing well, I set it on the table and held my breath, hoping for the best. I was pretty happy Dear One liked it okay. I will try to replicate it!

This may not look appetizing because there are no fun toppings or a nicely wiped down dish before taking the picture, but is really was so good. We have other noodles we will try next time.

Food Friday: Air Fried Potato Spears/Wedges

 As you can tell from the recent dearth of blog posts, life has been quite the thing lately.  Finally here is a simple to make and quick and easy food item to share.

Since I love baked potatoes and also since I hate to heat up the oven and the kitchen with just two potatoes in the oven, I threw in six large harvest baking potatoes yesterday.  We each ate one as a baked potato.  They were so good.  I COVERED mine with fresh salsa from Sam's Club.  Yummy.

So, there were four left over.  This morning I cut two of them into wedges/spears lengthwise, used a tiny bit of oil spray on them then sprinkled on salt-free seasoning for a little umph. Then killed the benefit of salt-free by sprinkling a very tiny bit of iodized salt on top.  At this point I put them in the air fryer for 20 minutes at 375 degrees F.  They were done just as Dear One returned from his bike ride so we just sat down and ate them.  

They were nice and crispy, crunchy on the outside and soft inside. I used a lot of catsup on mine since that came to hand before the salsa, but the salsa would also have been good with these spears.

For our next meal I am planning to cut the remaining two potatoes in half, pull out the flesh, mix it with seasonings, then return to the waiting skins and bake in the oven until hot.  Or maybe use the air fryer on the baking option. We shall see.  That with slaw and veggie burger should be a good meal.  

For myself I might eat some leftover "cabbage soup" stuff that I made using some bags of nearly-gone-by slaw mix, some broccoli, and some mixed cauliflower and broccoli, as well as the last of the tomato juice plus carrots and two chopped onions.  This was only okay.  It was probably good the first go round in the Instant Pot, but I set it going then forgot about it when I went out to do some needed RS work.  When I came home it had gone off Keep Warm so I started it to pressurize again just in case a few germs might have invaded and the same thing happened...so it was pressurized three times.  Dear One ate part of a bowl but said it was bitter.  My fault entirely.  So, I will not inflict it upon him again but feel like I need to give it another try myself before disposing of it another way.

With good fortune I will get life together and become more regular in posting again.  No breath holding, though...!