pink towels

A few weeks ago my husband and I had our annual fight discussion about towels. I cannot stand to use a towel that someone else has already used. He goes brain dead in the shower and just grabs a towel. Any towel. Occasionally I can understand using my towel if yours is missing...but when yours is hanging where it belongs and mine is on the other side of the room? (it is a very small room, but still...) Like I said he just goes brain dead is thinking of other things and grabs.
So we had our little disagreement and he said, 'Please go buy yourself some pink towels.' (That is BIG, he is VERY tight careful with money.) So I did. It took me a couple of weeks to find 100% cotton pink towels. We'll see if it works....maybe I should add some lace and ribbon?

making it from scratch

When they were small my youngest 2 hated Sundays so I started a tradition that we kept for several years; ice cream to eat as soon as we got home. I usually heated up peanut butter to use for the sauce and it didn't take long for Sunday's to become more popular around here. The transition to bread was gradual once they got older and their older sister started making it every Sunday.
Now the 10 year old and 12 year old take turns making all our bread. We have been making all our bread for about 15 years. When there were 4 children at home and they all packed their own lunches we went through 2 loaves of bread a day. Brian made a loaf before he went to school and before he went to bed in our first bread machine. Before that I made it sporadically, in fact when our first child was born (1978) her labor was 'induced' by putting the bread on the floor (in a large bowl) to knead it, since I couldn't reach it on the table. I guess the scrunching of my body broke my water...well maybe it was time anyway :-)
This is the recipe I have posted near the bread machine:
water-12 ounces
salt-1/2 Tablespoon
olive oil-2 Tablespoons (we have a spout that measures it, so they just tip it over)
oatmeal-1/2 cup
whole wheat flour-1 cup (we grind our own wheat and keep it in a bag in the refrigerator)
flour-2 1/2 cups
dry milk-3 Tablespoons
yeast-2 1/2 teaspoons
sugar-2 Tablespoons (we like to use honey instead but I hate to measure it.)

(I really should have taken a picture of what the counter looks like after he measures everything...on the other hand maybe I don't want to remember.) I keep most of the stuff all together so it easier to make; Brian had it down to 2 1/2 minutes; Andrew takes about 30 minutes :P
Andrew made a loaf last Sunday before church so as soon as we got home they had a slice or 2 of bread and then I worked on dinner. Their favorite way to eat it is to fix a dip with olive oil, salt and garlic powder. They love it and if they don't make it we just wait to eat until I can get something fixed. I love when the consequence's of their disobedience doesn't have to be manipulated by me.

chocolate mint

Several years ago I discovered Russell Stovers French Chocolate mint candy bar. I loved that bar. I knew which stores had it and would go out of my way to get one. I especially loved unwrapping it and putting it on a plate and softening it in the microwave for a few seconds. YUM! NOW, however there are NO stores in my area that sells ANY of the French chocolate mint products. I was probably the only consumer in my area and when I quit purchasing them there was no longer any demand here and now I can't find them anywhere!
One time I splurged and bought myself a box of the individual mints. When I got home I
realized that they were not in the best condition. They had obviously melted a bit in the box so I called their customer service center and complained; then ate all the chocolates anyway. They sent me a box in the mail PLUS a coupon for another box to purchase at the store.
I've NEVER had a boyfriend surprise me with a box of chocolates but WOW it was really a boost when a strange man (the UPS guy) knocks on your door and hands you a box of chocolates! They had packaged it in a Styrofoam cooler and included a frozen cooler pack but it was still a bit soft, but did I care? No, they tasted great anyway and that is when I discovered that I loved them a bit soft.
When a local grocery store went out of business I bought all 10 of their boxes of mints and served them at our first daughter's wedding. I could not believe it when they weren't all eaten, if I'd been near the table I would have eaten half of them! My son and future daughter in law packaged everything up and hid put them in the freezer. The next day I looked and looked for them and NEVER FOUND THEM! About a year later my darling younger daughter admitted to finding them and over the course of the next few weeks eating ALL of them.
I am still bitter.

blanket edging tutorial

Receiving blankets;

• First step is to determine the size of your blanket. I like to make them larger than the store's 32 inch squares. I usually use 45 inch wide flannel and purchase 1 1/4 yards so the blanket is square. I round the corners using a plate. 
• Then I zig zag around the edge. Here you can see the backside which I did in a dark thread so you can see it. The front thread matches the fabric and is difficult to see. I stitch about 1/4 inch from edge of fabric and the edge then folds over the back while crocheting. I use the zigzag to space my stitches evenly; so far I've crocheted into every other stitch. 
• Use an awl, or a large needle or in my case a homemade awl (I took one of my tiny crochet hooks that I had 2 of and filed it to a point, look at the shadow.) and enlarge the hole in every other stitch. You can see the enlarged holes in the first picture. Some fabrics work fine to enlarge a lot of holes then crochet, other fabric won't hold the hole very long and can only be prepunched a couple holes at a time. I found some edge patterns here.

• The Elephant blanket is single crocheted with pearl cotton, once around. 
• The Alligator is 2 single crochet in each hole with a variegated nylon thread that hurt my fingers after using it for a while.
• The bicycle one is *single crochet in hole, chain three, slip stitch in top of sc, sc in same hole repeat from *. 
• The pink is sc in hole chain 3 sc in same hole.

I appliquéd motifs from fabric since I haven't been able to find any but pink embroidery floss.

sweet and sour pork

We are having our blue and gold banquet for cub scouts Thursday and I get to make sweet and sour pork. I'll actually use chicken since my husband doesn't eat any meat with 4 legs :) . I received this recipe 29 years ago from a friend; Adelle Leavitt. Her husband had gone on a mission for our church to ...well to an Oriental country. I don't remember if it was Japan or Taiwan but he got this recipe over there. It tastes better than any sweet and sour I've had in any restaurant.

SWEET AND SOUR PORK From Adele Leavitt 1977 Wyoming

1 lb. pork cut into 1” pieces marinate 20 minutes in:
1 T. cornstarch
1T. soy sauce
1 egg yolk
After the 20 minutes add;
3-6 Tablespoons cornstarch to stick to meat.
Deep fat fry 3 minutes at 375 degrees until crisp Mix and set aside.
Sweet and Sour Sauce
3 T. vinegar
3 T. sugar
3 T water
3 T. catsup
1 T cornstarch
1 medium green pepper
1 can chunk pineapple drained
½ clove garlic (I used 3 cloves of roasted garlic mashed with a fork and added towards the end.)
2-3 Tablespoon oil in fry pan.
Heat oil then add garlic; when fragrant add the other ingredients except meat. Cook until thickened and add meat. Serve over rice.
This is as good as I remembered, but I'll make more sauce so the proportions of sauce to green pepper and pineapple is larger. I'm sure that my kids will want to pick the stuff out and just eat the sauce. (I'm not sure they will even eat the sauce plain.) Cornstarch left in the fridge for a long time lumps-I had to sift it.
Here's what I did with the left over egg whites.
COCOA KISSES 1987
From Joy of Cooking 1976 pg. 710
Preheat oven to 250
Sift:
1 cup sugar
Whip until stiff, but not dry:
3 egg whites
1/8 teaspoon salt
Add gradually half of the sugar.
Combine:
2 teaspoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla
Add the liquid, a few drops at a time, alternately with the remaining sugar.
Whip constantly. Fold in:
3 tablespoons cocoa
¾ cup chopped pecans
Drop the batter from a spoon onto a lightly greased cookie sheet and shape into cones. Bake until the kisses are firm to the touch but soft inside, about 30 minutes. Remove from the pan while hot. Makes about 40 1-inch meringues.

Guess what happens if you don't beat the egg whites long enough? I didn't but still put them on the cookie sheet, a flat mess, but it tasted great, chewey with crisp bits. I only cooked one pan with the flat egg whites then I made another batch with the egg whites beat up well and with out the vanilla, water, cocoa, and nuts then folded the other batter into the second and they turned out pretty and marbled but took about 50 minutes to cook. Next time I will cut down on the sugar, they were too sweet.

giving

I found this article on page 16 of the Marriot Alumni Journal via Merry Marleen and read parts of it to Jeffrey this morning.

John D. Rockefeller was famously quoted as saying in 1905, “God
gave me my money to use as I see fit for the benefit of my fellow man.” He believed that if he did not do so, God would take the
money back. In other words, he thought he was rich because he gave.

I decided to test this and prove the theory was incorrect, so the next time an entrepreneur told me that part of his or her
success was due to their giving, I could say,“I actually tested that, and it’s not correct.”It turns out the joke was on me. I’m going to show you how wrong I was, why I think it matters, and how it changed my understanding of charitable giving.

Reading it reminded me of one of the things I learned while in college. One day I was depressed and discouraged and homesick but I thought about how to feel better and decided to do something in secret for one of my roommates. It was so simple but I had to make myself move since I kind of wanted to continue to feel sorry for myself. I walked to town and got a pink rubber ball and stopped at an ice-cream parlor and bought 1 empty ice-cream cone, marked the ball with a red marker so it kind of looked like her favorite ice-cream-pink peppermint- and left it by the front door for her with a note. She never learned who left it there but I felt better. It was the first time I really realized the link between me doing something for someone else and feeling better myself.

So if you are in the doldroms pick yourself up and give to someone else.

give-away winners

I ended up having 2 drawings. I just assigned a number to each comment and used a random number generator to pick 2 numbers. It is really fun to think about 2 people in the world having something I made. So I've got to get busy; the apron isn't even cut out yet. :)
Brandy over at artbrat won a heart pin and Porter over at Porter's Ponderings won an apron. If you want to know more about the give-away go to the hostess's blog here.

find of the week (last week)

Last week as I was fixing my daughters birthday gift box I realized I could either fill the box with bubble wrap or I could go to the thrift store and see if I could find one more wee baby outfit to fill in the space. I went to 2 thrift stores; in the second I found a pristine, never used 'Joy of Cooking' cookbook. Above you can see how badly I needed it. My husband gave me one for Christmas, our first Christmas together, 31 years go. I have used it a lot. My daughter would love to have the cookbook that she grew up with. I really need to replace my broken down, well used cookbook.
I mailed her the cookbook. Do I love my daughter, or what?

She called and had found a squirrel recipe; she was sending her husband out to shoot a squirrel. Is there a season for squirrels? do you need a license? did he get one? was she just making fun of my cookbook gift? Did it taste grreeat? inquiring minds want to know.

some more hearts

This is a small sampler of chocolates box that my sister mosaiced. Isn't it nice? The framed piece I cut and colored myself. It is a paper cutting pattern from Claudia Hopf, she has published a couple of pattern books and I love them. My children and I have cut many papercuttings (notice I didn't try to type the scher..... word since spell check isn't working there is no hope that I'd get it right.) I marbled the frame too. I took it outside to get a photo of it and I think the reflection of the trees is very interesting. Much better than the one with a reflection of my head.

some hearts

My little sister and I exchange a hand crafted valentine each year. I posted about my 'offering' this year here.

You can tell from these photos of some of her 'offerings' that I got the better deal. She really overdid it with this old heart shaped candy box that she mosaiced with pearls and other found beads and earrings. I keep it out all year with a glass pie plate upside down over it. I don't think I ever want to clean it and the pie plate isn't elegant but I haven't found anything better.

last minute giveaway

I just found out about this 'one world one heart' give away and since I have some lovely heart pins that I haven't given all away I thought I'd participate. The heart pins are simple hearts made from a thrift store cashmere sweater. The winner will have their choice of 6 hearts; 3 are cashmere, 2 are wool, 1 is acrylic but has old rick-rack and a tiny button(it's the cutest). (I know there are 10 pictured here, but this is the last minute and 4 have already been given away. I'll edit this post later when I've had a chance to retake the pictures.) If I get over 50 comments I'll do 2 drawings and one will be of an apron. I'll do the drawing on February 13th and post the winner on the 14th. Have fun. If you want to look at the other 'give aways' go to 'one world, one heart' .
The picture on the upper left is of the 6 hearts I have left; I can add a button to the winner's choice of pins if they would like. I have 56 comments now so I'm off to the fabric store to get the rest of the fabric for the apron I said I'd do. (I sent the finished one to my daughter in law last week :( (I posted a picture of 3 aprons I made for February 1st here, the new one will be similar to the stripped one but with no polka dots.)

random bites of knowledge

DS12, 'Mom, what does the acronym LASER stand for?'
Me; 'Laser isn't an acronym, son, it's a light.'
DS12; 'Mom, it stands for "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation"'
Me; 'What?
DS12; 'It stands for "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation"'
Me; 'Are you sure?'
DS12; 'Yes '
me; 'So saying give me a laser light is redundant?'
DS12; ' Not exactly because laser is a verb. It is a verb because it is light amplification which is an
action and not light amplifier which is an object. So the acronym LASER should not be used in context such as "Warning laser radiation" of course that is assuming that the acronym laser is not also a word which it probably is by now.... So now, 'warning laser radiation' would be grammatically correct instead of incorrect.'

dear daughter 22!

One of my babies is 22 today. When she was 4 she wouldn't let me out of her sight; now she lives in Idaho. The first day of kindergarten she wore cows to school... she loved that outfit. (I think a child should get to dress as a child and not a miniature adult.)I don't suppose you could get her to wear any animal today. Look at her happy smile on her wedding day! Soon she will have her own baby to hold (about 6 weeks away) .
I sent her a package with her favorite cookies; Fudge Ecstasies, that's what she said she wanted but she didn't think they would come since I am pretty bad at sending packages. I included the thrift store 'find of the week' in her package (maybe a blog about it tomorrow.) Here is the recipe for her cookies.
Fudge Ecstasies
I first made these in 1990, an instant hit.
Like some brownies, the surface is crackly, but inside they're soft, fudgy, and nutty.
From Better Homes and Gardens Cookies for Christmas 1985

1 12-ounce package (2 cups) semisweet chocolate pieces
2 squares (2 ounces) unsweetened chocolate
2 tablespoons butter
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder Dash salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts

In a heavy medium saucepan heat 1 cup of the chocolate pieces, unsweetened chocolate, and butter till melted, stirring constantly. Transfer to a large mixer bowl to cool slightly. In soup bowl stir together flour, baking powder, and salt.

Add eggs, sugar, and vanilla to chocolate mixture and beat well. Add flour mixture and beat till well mixed. Stir in remaining chocolate pieces and nuts.

Drop by heaping teaspoons onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake in a 350' oven for 8 to 10 minutes or till edges are firm and surface is dull and cracked. Cool on cookie sheet for 1minute, then remove and cool thoroughly. Makes about 36.

The recipe should really be doubled there are never enough cookies, but that could be a good thing. It doesn’t work to mix this up and make it later. Forget about putting it in the refrigerator and baking it later you can’t even put it aside for an hour the chocolate gets hard and it’s impossible to get out of the bowl! It’s so good with a bowl of ice cream but a glass of milk goes with it great too.

Liz had them for breakfast yesterday. :-P

sew behind continued

This is what we did last Saturday. I went for the bike ride also, but someone had to take the picture and since Dad is missing in a great many of our photos I elected to take this one. I've learned that if I want to go on a 30 minute bike ride I have to go away from my house for 15 minutes then I have to go the last 15 minutes to get home. If I'm just going around the neighborhood I end up giving out at 20 minutes or 28 minutes but never make it to 30.
Here are the five blankets I've crocheted around, each is crocheted with a different pattern. The pink one is the only one that doesn't have the crochet finished. Now I'm hunting alligator embroidery patterns ;( they don't exsist. I have looked at 987 pictures of alligators on google pictures and nothing seems right. I don't think I'll put an alligator on the pink one. Finding an idea for a 'girl' things is easy; finding a cool boy thing to embroider is a bit harder. oh, I bought flannel for 2 more. I sure hope no one else is making blankets for my 2 grandson's.




Attending the temple today was my way to commemorate Brian's death since it is difficult to put flowers on his grave when I live so far away. I have spent a lot of time lately thinking of him. I think attending the weddings of his friends makes me think more of him. It's not terribly sad, although I am weepy, because I am at peace about what his mission is. I just sometimes wish he could send me a picture. I dreamt about him last week for the first time since he died 9 years ago. In the dream he was leading us to safety; which I think could be literally true since he was so careful to always choose the right, if we follow his example we will be led in the right direction.
It dawned on me that his hair is still very red since he won't be aging like normal red-heads. Do you have freckles in heaven?

sew behind

I have not forgotten you.
I decided to post a picture of what I've been working on instead of waiting until I finished.
I have 2 daughters, both are expecting their first child. Both are expecting boys.
I decided to crochet around a couple of pieces of flannel for them some receiving blankets. This is one of them. I am not finished with any of the 5 I've started. I'm close and evidently my new policy of deleting the worst photos immediately eliminated the photo of the stack of them. They will get finished, they will get photographed and they will get blogged about. Soon.

kids

So today my child expected me to be able to answer these questions:

1. How much would a marble coffin cost?
2. How much would it cost to be mummified?