Marked for death

PS - There's nothing wrong with the tree.  They are getting ready to add shoulder to the road and moving the power lines.  The electric company is taking the life of this beautiful tree.

 

Time for a snack

Making my first sock

The first sock I am attempting is just done on two needles. After that I will try the double pointed needle, working in rounds way.

Knitting needle caddy.

The towel dispenser is going to poop on my hands?

A Month of Scary Movies - part 2

1. Creep - held our attention, not bad. . .


2. Rosewood Lane - again, not bad


3. Rest Stop (Dead Ahead) - for some reason I like this movie, like the 3rd time I've seen it - even though there's so much wrong with it, lol.  Husband has a good time pointing out all the wrongs and how the movie could have ended in the first few minutes if someone wasn't so stupid, lol.


4. Rest Stop Don't Look Back - seems more pointless than the first one, like the only point is blood and more blood


5. Mortuary - Stopped after a few minutes because we realized we had seen it before and it wasn't that great the first time


6. Memory - Dennis Hopper, Billy Zane, Ann Margaret. . .need I say more?


7. The Serpent and the Rainbow - Saw this one back in the 80s when it came out and a few times since, always holds my attention


8. The Funhouse - weird, start was better than finish, lol


9. Phantasm II - The ball has always scared the beejeebers outta me, lol.


10. Last House on the Left - heart pounding, screaming for the good guys while they fight their way through


11. Strangers - for some reason this one creeps me out majorly!  I think it's because the whole reason is, "because you were home"

Part 2 of the month of scary movies. 11 more left. :)  Living in this farmhouse with fields around I have to watch these when hubs is home, just can't watch them on a night when I am alone - toooooo creepy!

Hmmm, wonder what the story is

Sir Lancelot searching for Queen Guinevere call Lancelot at . . .

A month of scary movies - part 1

1. Skeleton Man - thumbs down


2.  Wages of Sin - Better than last night's, but only so/so


3. Live Animals - eh, think it was creepier because I watched it alone


4. Roman - better than the first 3, but still kinda slow


5. Boy Eats Girl - well, didn't shut it off


6. Tamara - lots of "ew" moments, great effects


7. The Tall Man - Totally enjoyed, not really scary, but good


8. Drive-thru - Turned off midway through - lots of slow, boring stuff, then some blood, repeat


9. No Tell Motel - We got into this one, maybe just because we had watched so many boring ones lately, lol.


10. The Letter - With Winona Rider and James Franco we though it stood a chance - uh, no

You may remember we bought a stack of scary movies last month with the idea of watching one a night through the month of October.  Above you see the first 10 days of movies.  So far, not a good start.  Thankfully, we have The Shining and Halloween to liven things up soon.

Substitutions

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Has anyone tried substituting whey for instant milk in loaves of bread in a bread machine?



I love substituting flaxseed for my butter and the eggs. I think it gives the bread a much better texture.



And I substitute a little soy flour for some of the bread flour. How healthy can we make this bread?

Bye bye ravioli

After 6 years with our cute lil rav4, we decided to trade her for another. We've been talking for a while about getting a jeep but we didn't want to have a car payment again. So we saved our pennies and looked around and found this sunny one with less miles than our ravioli has. We think we'll like her.

Frog coin purse

Have you ever seen such a thing!?!? This was once a live frog, toad, whatever. Weird!!!

What a find!

What is Dennis going to do with these?



Well, he's stacked them up creatively, hasn't he. . .



I asked for a bookshelf for this little nitch and when he saw the crates at a garage sale an idea was born.  This is at the top of the stairs, that little funky landing area.



It's really hard for me to get a good photo of the area but hopefully you can see how cool it is turning out. Some books where they will live.

Completing some UFOs (unfinished objects)

I found some dates on my papers amongst the quilt stuff, it was 2004 the last time I worked on my quilts.  I completed my first quilt that year, sent it off for quilting and my youngest son ran off with it when he moved out, lol.  I completed one more quilt top, and nearly completed two others.  The quilt that was completed and two others were all in plaids, the first one, nothing but blue plaids.  I just love plaids.  But I had a hard time finding any in the stores.  So I had to find shirts at rummage sales and in our own closets, lol.

I decided to start with the top that was already all put together.  Husband and I decided to just back it in flannel so we'd have a lighter weight quilt.  Here I have it draped on the table, getting ready to pin it so I can quilt it.



Pinned and about half way done quilting.



I did this one in a diagonal pattern, rather than stitching in the ditch.  I was going to do diamond shapes, diagonal one way then back the other way but we thought it looked fine after once across so I stopped there.



All the blocks to this one were done and the first three rows were sewn together.  I had to finish putting it together before I could begin pinning the quilt.  I finished this one up and gave it to my grandma for Christmas.

 

The New Bed

While I was working on these log cabin blocks. . .



. . .my husband was shaping these hickory boards into a bed frame.



While I was pinning the layers of the joined blocks, batting, and backing, to make a quilt. . .



. . .my husband was planning the headboard of hickory and aspen.



While I was quilting my first quilt (wow, what an experience!). . .



. . .my husband was staining and assembling the headboard and attaching to the bed frame.



Together, we created our new bed.

Sidenote - All the photos were taken with my cell phone - the most convenient camera while crafting, lol.

Second sidenote - Although the head/horns had been hanging above the bed for about 4 1/2 years, the wire recently broke and the horns crashed onto us - they are no longer there, lol.

Do you use Redbox?

Since our local video store raised their prices, after running the chains out, we quit going there and just wait for the movie to come to redbox. Can't beat $1 a night!  If you click through my link I can get a free rental until March 17th, and if it's your first time you get a free rental too. :)  There are apps on iPhone and Droid.

Sookie aka Patches

Sookie found a home. I know several of you fell in love with her too, but distance and such made it difficult. I'm really happy with the people who are taking her because she is only moving next door. I feel so lucky that I will be able to continue watching her grow up.

The funny thing is, she is going to the people we thought of first, when she came into our world by surprise. Our neighbors lost a dear friend, a 13 year old yellow Lab named Blue back in August, and when Surprise Puppy popped out we immediately thought of them. But we didn't know if it would be too soon, etc. I introduced Sookie to them a week ago and they fell in love. One day last week they took her home for about 3 hours to see how she fit in with everyone (they have 3 sons) and a cat. When they brought her back, they let me know they wanted her and we set up a date for her to go. The youngest boy has renamed her Patches and I think they will all be fine, but if not, she'll only be right next door. :0)

A couple of weeks ago, Sookie went to the vet and got her first shots, I snapped this with the cell phone while she hid under the bench, lol.  Couldn't remember if I had shared it, if I had, oops!

She discovered the grandkids' nerf soccer ball - she loves it! Flips it and rolls it and bites it.

Adrianna watching her. Addy and the puppy get along pretty well. These were all snapped with the cell phone Sunday - yeah we still have nice weather - shocking!

Sookie kept zipping between Addy's legs and biting the bottom of her dress, lol.

She's so feisty and fun!

Playing with daddy.

She will be missed by us all, especially her mommy.

6 weeks old tomorrow

Sookie loves people! Can you tell? If I look at her, she looks at me, and she wiggles all over. Sookie in the shade. . .

Sookie in the sun. She loves to play with leaves. I've bought her a couple of toys but she still prefers leaves, lol.  All of these are straight out of the camera, no editing at all, and taken with the point and shoot - she loves playing with the wrist strap.

I caught her sleeping with mama.  See the box in the background, well that ended up being the whelping box and where she spent the first 5 weeks of her life - she was a surprise puppy after all.  But a week ago, she learned to climb out and there's no stopping her.  I finally cut a little opening (you can see it behind Fibi) to make it easier for her to get in and out.  She still puts herself to bed in the box.  But last night Fibi was sleeping on the cushion outside the box and she climbed up with her mama.  So sweet!

Tonight she's been sleeping on her daddy's pillows.  She is a sweetheart.

Belt's Ice Cream

Well, we finally tried Belt's Ice Cream and I have to say that we do not see what all the fuss is about. It was really lacking in our books, but the people of Wisconsin have never tried Shake's (Missouri - the best anywhere in my opinion!) I had the Chocolate Thunder Flurry - not very chocolatey, despite the name.

And Dennis had some Banana Cream something or other flurry - his was prettier, lol. The prices were descent though, especially when compared to Culver's, but Culver's is better tasting too.

Tamarind Treat

Have you ever heard of a Tamarind (Tamarindus indica L. ~ Leguminosae (Fabaceae) ~Common Names: Tamarind, Tamarindo, Tamarin, Sampalok) I had never heard of it before our trip to Florida. We stopped at a fruit stand and Dennis was excited to find some. He could remember enjoying it as a boy, a kind of treat in Honduras.

I was hesitant to try it. As you can see it kind of looks like a bean. The outside is hard and rough. Once you break it open it's gooey inside. You can easily pull some off, it's very sticky! And each little mound you see is a seed.

So you pop the sticky mess in your mouth and try to deal with your fingers. But take the seed out once you have the goodness off, lol. The taste reminded me of sour candy, like sourheads. Haden loved it, I could handle a small amount but not a whole "bean". I did keep some seeds and I would like to see if I could grow one of the plants. I'm sure I'll tell you all about it if I can.

Hosted by Cecily and Life With Kaishon

Decisions, decisions

When I met my husband, January 2002, we had a little turmoil blending our families - 6 teenagers can make life. . .well, pleasant - NOT! And there were moments I was not sure we would be able to be together. We weren't sure the issues with the kids could be worked out. I'm happy to say they did work out and this May we will be married 7 years.

Now you may wonder what books have to do with any of this. The thing was that during those moments of stress and anguish, when we thought we might have to stop seeing each other I would assure him each time, that I would be ok "I still have my books". I've always been a reader, getting all the reading certificates all through grade school and junior high, earning my lifetime award - uh, yeah, who cares, right. But books have always been a very important part of my life and it was my way of telling him that I would live through it. I wouldn't like it but I would survive.

Eight years later books remain a little joke between us. Through the years I have read many and we have read many more. You see, I pulled him into my love of books and rather than listening to the radio in the car I read to him while he drives. I think I'm just as excited for our trips because of what places books will take us as I am about the places we're going.

He's very good about keeping me stocked in new books, so a few weeks ago when I mentioned my to-read pile was down to just a couple of books he promptly took me on a search to find some new ones. It took a few shopping expeditions but I acquired a nice pile to read alone and to share with him.

Before you ask, yes I have contemplated getting an electronic reader of sorts, it would diminish my need for a book light in bed I assume. But I couldn't take it in the tub with me, could I? Or to the beach, etc? Are they waterproof. Besides, there's something I like about holding it in my hands and turning the pages. The only time I hate my books is when we move, lugging 10+ plastic tubs of books is really not much fun, and our teenagers have since grown and moved out - except for Haden and he's pretty tired of moving my boxes of books around for me, lol.

Oh well, no matter what happens, I still have my books.