Betsy is EIGHT!

Happy Birthday to my princess!!!



For her birthday, she got a new room ... special thanks to everyone who was part of this wonderful gift! She loves her new furniture and has definitely been spending more time hanging out in her room. Brendan doesn't appreciate it - that of course means she's spending less time with him - but I see it as a rite of passage that would have come sooner or later. :)





If you have the time, please take a moment and wish my girl a Happy Birthday!

Here's a desperate attempt

to get myself back into blogging. I haven't done one of these before, but after hitting Deneen and Elizabeth's blogs, this one struck my fancy. And thus I'm initiated into memes.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said 'I love you' and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 10 provinces
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow (Okay I'm not sure I actually milked it ... but I tried.)
56. Alphabetized your cds
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an "expert"
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror.
96. Raised children.
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Created and named your own constellation of stars
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an illness that you shouldn't have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school (can't WAIT to do this one myself)
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146: Dyed your hair
147: Been a DJ
148: Shaved your head
149: Caused a car accident
150: Saved someone's life

Happy Birthday to me!!!

I'm 30 today! I thought 30 meant you were a well grounded adult but seems I'm still working on growing up.

I have so many reasons to count my blessings today!

It's all about Andrew!!!

Pictures from Andrew's first ever t-ball game last night!! Brendan missed the first few innings of his game just so he could be there! It was adorable - I think seeing those kids running around is one of the cutest things I've ever seen! I got one short video but don't know how to post it - if I figure it out I'll have share!

All decked out (why don't they make the stuff smaller??)


First at bat


All four - I think this is one of my favorite pictures ever!

Just the kids

Just to get you current, here's a recent picture of each of the kids!

Brendan


Betsy (check out the hair, Gramma!)


Andrew


Justin

Playing catch up

Here are some pictures ...

These gorgeous flowers (some of my favorites - I love irises) were sent to be by the THBC moms as an RAOK and thank you for the "hug"ghans I've done. They really, really didn't have to do that, but the gesture meant so much to me and I love them for it. And as you see, Cinder approves, too!



From our trip to the Boston Children's Museum in February with "Uncle" Todd and "Auntie" Jen

On the rock wall ...

Andrew did great on his own but Justin needed a little help


Betsy surprised us - she did really well on the rock walls, she's very determined and didn't give up - Brendan jumped on and off half a dozen times.


Justin in a tunnel (no clue who the girls are)


In the "Blue Man Group" room - they had mock ups of some of their instruments - this room was on of Betsy's favorites - notice the length on her hair


In the wind room (ignore the lady in the pink, focus on the cute kids)


Justin in the bubble room

Happy Valentine's Day!

A friend of mine shared these with me - and I think they're appropriate for today! I don't know where they originated from, so I can't give you a source, but I hope they give you a smile, a chuckle, and maybe even a tear or two.

Enjoy!

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Slow down for three minutes to read this. It is so worth it.
Touching words from the mouth of babes.

What does Love mean?
A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, "What does love mean?"

The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined See what you think:


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"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore.

So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love."

Rebecca- age 8

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"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."

Billy - age 4

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"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other."

Karl - age 5

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"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs."

Chrissy - age 6

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"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired"

Terri - age 4

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"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK."

Danny - age 7

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"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss"

Emily - age 8

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"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."

Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)

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"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,"

Nikka - age 6
(we need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)

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"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday."

Noelle - age 7

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"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well."

Tommy - age 6

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"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore."

Cindy - age 8

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"My mommy loves me more than anybody You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night."

Clare - age 6

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"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken."

Elaine-age 5

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"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford."

Chris - age 7

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"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day."

Mary Ann - age 4

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"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones."

Lauren - age 4

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"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." (what an image)

Karen - age 7

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"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross."

Mark - age 6

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"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget."

Jessica - age 8

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And the final one -- Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge.

The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.

The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.

Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.

When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,

"Nothing, I just helped him cry"

Still no camera

Mike has a new one, so I can use his if necessary, but I am still lacking mine. We need to ship it to CT and I am afraid to mail it. It may actually be easier to drive it there, lol. Anyway, I figure that despite not having the ability to share pictures I can still bog. I prefer having the security of pictures, but what can it hurt to bare my soul a little? LOL

I'm doing "The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here for?", by Rick Warren, with a group of very good friends. We're only on Day 4 and I am already reeling a little bit. I've been feeling the need to put myself back in gear - almost a decade of rebellion against my beliefs needs to end, and I have been working to that purpose especially the last 6 months - but man oh man I wasn't expecting it to touch so deep. It will be interesting to see where the next weeks take us.

Current crochet projects - let's see - I am making another "hug"ghan; I need to block and mount a threadghan and frame it; I'm testing a doily for Kathy - you can see some of the incredible work she does here - she's currently working up a year of doilies, and I'm trying out May. It is slow going but I am making progress - I'm using plain white instead of the emerald with blending filament - I'm a sucker for white doilies; my ultimate goal is to buy one of those see through frames and hang it in that (will have to see if that will work though - depends on how "tight" it's held in the frame).

In other news - oh man, I'm becoming a yarn snob. And a thread snob. Jackie sent me some Monaco threads to try and I am HOOKED on them - there is nothing in the US like it - soft, no splitting, a dream to work with - I just ordered a bunch from her and I know I will be ordering more in the future! Yarns - I find myself dropping by KnitPicks almost daily and drooling. It's kind of funny, actually, because I have worked with little but acrylics and kitchen cotton - I am itching to try the good stuff. Maybe in the next month or two I will get to try their wares - I want to try dyeing, too, and in the grocery store I catch myself eyeing the koolaid and food coloring! LOL, I even have some tucked away already - I just need the wool now.

Teas - I still love adagio, and highly recommend their teas, but if you are looking for the perfect decaf teas, check out Simpson & Vail - their flavored decaf teas are wonderful. Thank you to Lori for the recommendation (and my latest addiction)!

It's been a long time!

I don't know why, but I just can't get into chatty blogging. I like being able to post about something specific - like a project - and with my camera dead (yes, my NEW camera) blogging seems to lack something. Mike's camera was in the shop and now that he has a new one (they couldn't fix his old one) I feel more inspired.

Two "hug"ghans completed - finished while my dad was visiting a couple of weeks ago, and the picture is courtesy his camera - thanks Daddy (yes I call him Daddy, despite being almost 30)!



I've started a recipe site - I'll have to link to it here sooner or later - but I'm finally trying to get all my recipes into one place. People are always asking me for recipes and this way I can send them right to it. :)

Here's one of our favorite recipes - I hadn't made it in months but Saturday I had a craving for it - so good! Definitely comfort food, and not TOO too hideously unhealthy - the worst of it is the butter in the topping!

Sour Cream Chicken

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts, cooked (see directions for easy cooking below)
salt & pepper
garlic & onion powder (to taste)
sage
1 can cream of chicken soup (98% fat free)
1 cup light sour cream (don't use fat free)
1 cup stuffing mix (crushed ritz crackers, crushed saltines, crushed croutons, etc also work)
1/4 cup margarine or butter, melted (can use up to 50% less)

Cut cooked chicken into bite sized pieces. Place evenly into a single layer in a casserole dish sprayed with pam (1.5 quart or 7" x 10.5" work well). Sprinkle with salt & pepper and seasonings. Combine cream of chicken soup and sour cream, spread over chicken. Toss topping with melted butter and sprinkle over the casserole. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Our favorite way to eat it is to serve with potatoes (in any form) or over whole wheat noodles and green beans or broccoli. Doubles very well.

To cook chicken: place chicken in large pot, cover to one inch above meat with COLD water. Place on burner, bring to a boil, and simmer until tender. It takes about 1/2 an hour from the time you turn on the burner to the chicken being cooked.

I will often cook 8 breasts and freeze half. The broth, if you skim off the foam, can be saved (even frozen) if you like and used to cook rice or for making mashed potatoes - I will sometimes toss in a quartered onion (whole - the skin gives a lovely color to the "broth"), a celery stalk and a quartered carrot (anything you'd put in a stock pot) while the chicken cooks. You can use whole breasts for a better broth if you like, they will just take a bit longer to cook.

My boys

No pics of Betsy today ... sorry. I'll have to get one later. :)

Here's my baby all dressed up in one of my sweaters. LOL!



My oldest and my youngest - gee, it's a shame they don't like each other!



Here's my Andrew!

Fisherman Bangle Bag

This is an experiment - totally from scratch, inspired originally by Donna's Bangle Purse only it wasn't quite what I was looking for. Anyway, I started sketching some stuff, researched the popcorn stitch (which I had never done before - not sure why, it's super easy?!?), adjusted the cable she used, and came up with this bag. I'm not sure quite what I think and I'm even less sure what the aunt it was designed for is going to think.

Be kind - it still needs lining.

The front:



The back:



And next to my cat (who is actually pretty petite - only about 9 pounds maybe) for a size reference - it's about 14" wide.



The bangles (bamboo) are 7" wide; the yarn is just plain old caron pounder in off white; I'm going to see if I can find a matching off white corduroy to line it with the cords facing towards the outside so the smooth side of the fabric is on the inside of the purse. If I can't find a decent off white, I should be able to find a dark brown or olive green, which I think would also work.

Tension Tamers

Not what you think! LOL I'm talking about the crocheting kind of tension - even stitches. ;) I have been working on some thread projects and I find that when I start out I have somewhat of an uneven tension, so I started making some little things to help me get on track.

Here are a couple - you can definitely see a difference; the lavendar one was done first and is all over the place, with the red one you can tell I'm getting more comfortable working with thread.



The red is my favorite!

Another Christmas present done!

Oh, that feels so good!! This is the Five-Sided Pineapple Doily from Better Homes and Gardens "Forever Favorite Crochet" - I used size 10 thread and a size 5 hook - not even close to what they suggested, lol. Finished size is about 12" in diameter. I still need to block it and that's it - I'm debating framing it. Hmmm ...

Finally!

These are going in the mail tomorrow to my various ornament swap partners at Crochetville, finally! Took me long enough!



Everything there is off the top of my head - it took me five stockings before finally I found a finished product I liked - so the two on the left are my favorites. :) I like the hats, too, those were a lot of fun. I love ornaments that aren't of a traditional Christmas orientation!

Elegant Lace Stole

Another amazing pattern by Dot!! Thank you for your wonderful patterns, Dot - I love them! They're easy to read, easy to make, and always lovely.

Elegant Lace Stole

I used red heart in cherry red - it's for my grandmother - her favorite color is red and she's always cold - this is very wash and wearable yarn, so I thought it would work for something to throw over her shoulders. We won't be able to be there on Christmas, and are going to be possibly celebrating with my family in February, but I wanted her to have something to open ON Christmas since I know that's important to her.





I think another time I would want to use a more "drapable" yarn (like simply soft) but I wanted to use up stuff in my stash ... so red heart it was! :)

A hat for Justin

I was looking at the weather forecast for Syracuse yesterday and guess what I saw? Cold, snow and wind! So, I pulled out our box of hats and mittens to see what we needed. We're okay for mittens and gloves but only had hats for Brendan & Betsy. So, I'm scrambling to make one for the two younger boys so they stay nice and toasty.

This is completely from scratch, no pattern. It has small flaps on the sides and ties, since we all know that three year olds WILL remove hats when they can!

Doesn't he look thrilled? LOL I had to bribe him with scrambled eggs to get him to put it on with his coat and hat together.





I'm quite pleased with it - it fits him well and goes quite nicely with his coat!

We have been so busy!!

It's been 2 months since I've updated! Things are crazy - we have Brendan in cub scouts and basketball, and Betsy is in brownies, gymnastics and an arts & crafts thing. We attempted putting Andrew & Justin in a tumble tots class but that has been an out and out flop. Which is actually not a bad thing - that means that Saturdays are free days now.

Here are some projects I've finished - I have quite a few in the works, long ones (4 afghans going right now - eek) - these are all small ones, I just don't have a ton of time for crocheting.

This will be a Christmas present for the newest baby in the family:


These are scarves I made for a scarf swap at Crochetville:


My squares for Blue Squares Too:


A poncho I made for one of dd's friends - I love it, I think it came out really cute!


And a little fishy made out of ribbon - came up with this in a moment where I wanted a quick project but didn't feel like using yarn. LOL


A couple recipes - since it's been a LOOOOONG time since I've posted one!

Italian Beef Roast

3-4 pound roast - frozen (I buy the cheapest I can find, and trim off the fat before freezing)
1 large can (28 oz) diced tomatoes with Italian herbs
1 packet spaghetti seasoning

Place roast in crockpot. Lightly drain tomatoes, then pour over the roast. Sprinkle with spaghetti seasoning. Cover and cook all day on low.

I've added in frozen green beans (YUM - I just stick them in the bottom of the pot under the roast) and carrots (not quite as good) so that all I have to do is toss on some whole wheat noodles or some low fat crescent rolls in the oven and we have a full meal. Leftovers - the flavors get stronger as it sits; it's good shredded, heated in the sauce, and served over baked potatoes - the potato mellows the flavors, very yummy.

The leftovers freeze pretty well, too.

Shortcut Roasted Potatoes

2.5 pounds potatoes, washed and pricked with a fork
1-2 tbsp canola oil
french fry seasoning (can be purchased at big lots) or Mrs. Dash (for no sodium)

Bake potatoes in your microwave according to manufacturer's instructions. When cool enough to handle, cut into pieces. Dump into a 9 x 13 pan. Drizzle with oil, toss to coat. Sprinkle liberally with FF seasoning, then bake in a 500F oven for 15-20 minutes.

Happy Birthday Andrew!!!!

One of my babies is 5 years old today - happy birthday sweetie!!

Found it!

I agreed to test a pattern for Jessi ages ago - back before we moved! - packed the top, and then lost track of it after moving. I found it this morning, so here it is:

Sherbet Tank Top (Scroll down to the bottom)



I changed two things - I switched to a larger hook the last few rows so it would "flair" a little to fit me better, and did a row of sc around the straps.

Poofs, puffs, and bags

Very punchy today ... please forgive me. I just had one of those weekends were you just fudge around, do the few things that HAVE to be done, and hit Monday thinking "what on earth did I do?" Oops.

I did make two of Natalie's Econo-Shopper. Both in sugar 'n cream, both the small size - it took me a little to figure out how to form the bag - frogged the handle once, oiy - but I love the end result. My apologies for the poor picture, my flash isn't working - need to get my NEW camera fixed - grrr.

f

Filled with yarn - well, half filled with yarn; there are 11 balls of sugar 'n cream in it, it could have held twice as much easily. Amazing how much they can hold!



Today marked my first venture into making stitch markers - thanks to the findings Deneen sent, and some beads that I had (purchased a while ago for some forgotten project), I made these. Obviously a few kinks to work out, but I like them. :)



I also tried the Rose Bath Pouf at Crochet Me! - sorry no link, I can't get the page to come up, I'll try and add it later. And yes, I know that roses aren't blue.



And after reading on Drew's (The Crochet Dude) blog about Stuff on My Cat, I had to test the theory on my long suffering kitty.



She didn't move, not even an ear or whisker twitch. Interesting ...

Oh - a side note to my Secret Pal, and anyone else who may like to leave me anonymous comments - I've switched my settings to registered users only, and added word recognition; I've had a lot of problems with spam the last few weeks, every post has had at least one anonymous post. I can still be contacted through my email. Sorry for the inconvenience.