Beef And A New Ride

First off, an yarn addition to the tree:

This was cotton yarn bought years ago. It goes from dark khaki to white. The only problem is that when the yarn changes colors, there's a knot in the flow! Not a good thing when you're knitting a continuous piece. I sacrificed the cake of yarn for the tree.

I made beef for dinner in the slow cooker. I added a flank steak, a large can of plum tomatoes (torn up), 4 cut up carrots, 2 sticks of celery cut up, an onion, a can of sliced mushrooms (didn't have any fresh) and a large cut up potato. Lots of oregano and basil and other spices thrown in. Served it with curly macaroni. It filled us up, and was pretty good. Here's what's left before I put it away:

Lastly, my husband has been waiting and tracking a shipment all day today. He bought a new ride, and was axiously awaiting its arrival. Finally, at 6:15 PM we heard the big truck roll up. As I speak, he's out there finding its new parking spot in the garage, and reading about its great attributes. Here's a picture:

Our hired mower guy decided to stop doing it as a side job after 5 years. He only had a few clients, but decided to have his weekends free. The husband has decided to take over. Sweet ride!

Bloom Where You're Planted

First, some yarnbombing:

Yesterday was a new stitch for me. I went on YouTube to learn a stitch that would give some texture. The result:

Bumpy texture. 

Today, I put up some love. I had a very good weekend, celebrating a birthday over the internet with family. I also helped a neighbor in need. I am feeling the love. 

I also "supervised" my dear husband in transplanting a small tree. A few years ago, a Rose of Sharon grew from a seed in the back of my property. I didn't plant it. I only noticed it because of the beautiful pink blooms peeking between the pine trees.  I suggested that it could be transplanted and become a more prominent fixture in the yard. After all, to buy one of these plants at a garden center would probably cost $75.00 or more. So DH dug it up and we decided to put it in our fenced back yard. I can't wait for it to bloom. It is a true gift given to me by Mother Nature. 

From here......

To here!

Can't Stop Baking

I think that I'm finding too much comfort in baking these days. Knitting is my go-to form of calm, but lately I just love baking. I don't know if it's my newly remodeled kitchen (It was badly needed) or the current isolation situation. But if I could, I would bake something every day. Now if I could keep from consuming the end results, I might be ok. Here is today's bake:

Apple Pie bars. Much easier than apple pie, and just as good.

HERE Is the recipe. 

Also, I started a new sock:

I'll catch you up on my yarnbombing tomorrow. 

Saturday?

It's Saturday. I'm quite certain. I admit that it does take a bit of time now for me to figure out what day it is. Being home like this is making everything meld together. The weekly things that I do and the groups that I meet with no longer exist. At least for now.  So I really think that a good thing for me to start doing is to schedule my day. I'm not going to go crazy with it, but a little structure could be good for the mind.

So, I plan on scheduling yarnbombing in the morning, mid morning is treadmill, blogging late morning, afternoon is Reggie walk, evening is knitting. This will be sprinkled with cooking and baking. I have been "meeting" with my two groups of women that I usually meet with weekly in person. Skype is a wonderful thing. Also, I "meet" with my daughter and family as well.  We will get through this. Just have to fill our days with things.

Here's today's yarnbomb.  The two major yarns are a mystery to me. Not sure when or where I bought them. And WHY I bought them. The acid green is not my color. And the orange yarn is very scratchy.   I don't know what I was thinking!

Have a good evening. Fill it with something enjoyable.

Socks and Tassels

I finished my socks today. They're knit from hand-dyed yarn that I purchased long ago. Not even sure where. Unless you knit your socks two at a time, you run the risk of knitting this kind of yarn and ending up with mis-matched socks. These aren't too bad, but as Stacy and Clinton used to say on What Not To Wear, "It doesn't match. It goes". I'm ok with that. These are socks, after all. Not really a visible garment.

Today I added a little flair to the tree. Added a tassel to the yarn bomb! I hope my neighbors and passers-by are getting a kick out of my tree. The weekend comes. What shall I work on next? I have a few inches of a sweater knit up that needs attention. Maybe I'll go back to it.

Walnuts in Everything

I made a coffee cake today. It has been proven that baking can calm you and make you less anxious. (It must be true. I read it on the internet.) Anyway, whenever I bake anything, my husband asks me if I'm going to put walnuts in it. The man is a walnut freak. So today, I pulled out a simple yellow cake mix and mixed the batter. To which I added the following topping once the batter was in the 9X13 pan:

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup flour 

1/2 cup butter

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup of walnuts

I then washed my hands really well (again), and started to mush the above ingredients together to make a crumble topping. 

Baked it according to cake box. Here's the end result:

So good.

I also added to the yarnbomb tree today:

That's leftover baby yarn from a sweater that I made my great niece many years ago.

Here is a picture of Jolene, our cat. She came into the family when I married my husband. She looks over the yard and monitors the squirrel and bird activity.

Hope you all have a good day.

Blooming

At a time when things look a bit bleak and the future uncertain, it's nice to feel the renewal of the season through nature. I try to focus on the birds at my feeder and the emerging leaves on the trees every day. Yesterday morning, I saw a young fox pass through my yard. Nature has always been a part of my life. Lately, it gives me hope and a feeling of order and purpose. My advice to anyone who feels like things are out of their control, is to go outside and see that nature has an order and a way of calming the spirit. 

Just remember that we have better days ahead of us. And now, today's addition to the yarnbombed tree:

Stay strong! Stay inside unless out in nature and away from others.

Upside-Down Chicken and Bears

Hello, all.

First, today's Yarnbomb installment. I wanted to add a bloom to the tree, so here you go. Petals were knit as I go, no pattern. Every one is a little different in shape, because I didn't write down what I did between petals! Ah, well nature isn't perfect, right?

Also, I made a chicken with what fresh vegetables I had on hand. I did something that I've never done. I cooked it breast down! It wasn't intentional. I honestly looked at both sides, and thought that the bottom was the top. When I first cut into it, my thought was that it was the most anemic chicken I'd ever seen!

Like many neighbors in my area, I joined the movement of putting a teddy bear (or two) in my window for the kids to have "bear hunts" when they are out walking or being driven by parents. The little one was my son's (I think) and the big one was mine in college. They have both seen better days, and I'm sure that they were happy and grateful to be out of the musty plastic container in the garage. 

See you tomorrow! Working on some stripes for the tree...

Yarn and Positivity

Remember when it was common to hear "What did you do this weekend?" on a Monday morning? Things seem to be revolving around what we DIDN'T or COULDN'T do these days. I look forward to when things are back to normal, but until then, tell me what you DID do this weekend!

Here's what I did:

I made applesauce. The bowl of peelings were tossed out back for the deer that wander through. 

It was delicious. 7 big green Granny Smith apples, juice of one lemon, cinnamon, cup of apple juice(I used water. Didn't have juice) and 1/2 cup of brown sugar. Peel and slice up the apples. Toss it all together in the Instant Pot for 8 minutes, natural release. And a ginger molasses cookie added to the bowl doesn't hurt either.

I added more to the yarn bombing. A little more color and texture this time.

I also made spaghetti sauce, walked a bit with Reggie and husband, danced in the kitchen to some Van Morrison while cooking, checked on the gardens to see what's popping up, had a great video chat with four of my friends(all together), watched some good TV and some really bad TV and worked on my second sock. 

Happy Monday! What did you do this weekend?

Yarn

So, in order to keep socially distanced and not distanced from sanity, I decided to yarn bomb my tree out front. Here is the first piece. Simple garter stitch sleeve from my leftover yarn. I may get more elaborate in my stitches and color patterns as I add pieces. For now, I have put out the beginning flag of creativity (which my neighbors may see as the flag of an unbalanced person). It will stay up and grow until the quarantine comes down. Or until there are pitchfork-and-torch carrying neighbors asking me to remove it.

Reggie

This is Reggie. He's a five month old Boston Terrier. He can be a Boston Terror  if he wants to be. He can also melt the human heart. He's a lovable knucklehead, and is part of my family. 

He likes to chew shoes and torment his aging old lady pug sister Bella. He also likes to jump up and snooze next to me when I'm sitting. He loves the husband, and likes to try to lick his face off. He thinks every human meal is meant to share. Reggie is a primo pup in this crazy world. 

Creativity

I am a knitter. I'm a lot of other things, but when I'm at my calmest, it is when I'm knitting. I knit with two groups of women that I've known for years. Knitting brings people together and helps to foster relationships. I've knitted afghans, baby blankets, socks, scarves, more socks, stuffed animals and sweaters. Did I mention socks?
A very good portion of my knitting is given away. I never ever take money for knitting. I sometimes take requests, but mostly I just like to knit for people. Socks are my go-to project. They fit in a bag to take anywhere. I have knitted in many doctor's waiting rooms while relatives who have had various surgeries or check-ups. I've knitted on a plane, in a train, in restaurants with other knitters and of course at home.

This is my latest project. Soon, sock #2 will be finished. There's its cuff on Lamby-pie. It is knitting up completely differently than the cuff on sock #1, but it will be fine. It's called color pooling, and you can't predict it.

Yesterday's inside life caused me to bake. I made molasses ginger cookies for my husband. You might as well know now that when I say this, it is a veiled attempt to hide the fact that I make them for me as well as him.  It sounds better if I make cookies for my sweet tooth hubby out of the goodness of my heart. This is true, but it's also for the goodness of my stomach.

There's a movement in my neighborhood of people and children chalking up their sidewalks and the street out front so that when people take their walks (the one safe thing that a lot of us still do) they can see all the artwork. We don't have any chalk, so I was thinking that I might yarn bomb my tree out front. Boredom does breed creativity in me.

HERE's what I'm talking about. Stay tuned...

Feeling Disconnected

Hello. I have blogged before in another life. I'm now in self-imposed isolation due to this stupid virus. I am not at in the highest risk group, but could potentially have a stronger case if I ever got it.  So, we (husband and I) are staying inside and away from others.

What I have found this week to dull the insanity:

1. Form a group of friends on Skype or IM and meet once in a while via video chat. I'm doing this with friends. The written word is lovely, but to hear a friend's voice is really comforting. To see others in their own homes has a bonding quality.

2. Get creative! Look on YouTube if there's something that you want to try. I am a knitter. I like to bake, as well. My husband loves his sweets, so this works out nicely. As far as knitting, the rhythmic click of the needles is very calming. I have enough stashed yarn to last me for decades, so I'm good.

3. Organize. If there's a collection of photos, recipes, books or anything that you have put aside to find time to organize, now is the time! That's one thing we have now. Time.

4. Walk! Go out and see your world. If your parks are open, go see them. Really look at the world around you. Nature is amazing.  At some point in the walk, stop and take it in. Find something that makes you feel calm and focus on it. If thoughts come into your head, see them as clouds and blow them out of the way. Try to focus in the NOW and clear your head. Look at you! You're meditating!

I'll be back with some photos tomorrow. We can get through this together.