Changing Things Up

Important:  I will mostly be posting on Always in Stitches now.  Sharing Quilting, Knitting, etc.  But also my ramblings.  Less often I will be posting on The Trashy Turtle - it will be chronicling our experience building an earthship, we have just made an offer on a piece of land.

I started my blog March 2005 - the day we closed on a construction loan and broke ground. It was a place to share the house building process with our far away family. When I was diagnosed with cancer two weeks after moving into that house it was a place I ranted and cried through surgeries and chemo. My greatest support (outside of my husband) was the people I met through my blog - long before facebook. We went from a chaotic house with 5 teenagers to an empty nest through these years. We got our first, second, third, fourth and fifth grandchildren through these years. My blog helped find my husband's oldest daughter. It helped celebrate 5 years cancer-free, living longer than I "should" have.  But I've been winding it down and this blog is almost done. Lisa's Chaos, will be no more.

Facebook has changed the blogosphere.  I know I'm not alone in that feeling.  I miss the old days.  But just like real life, internet communication is always changing.  I don't blog near like I used to, but I update my facebook page pretty much every day.  I would be happy to have you as a facebook friend.

Thank you SO much for always being here for me!  Hope to continue to chat with you on facebook or either/both of the new blogs.

Getting dark

 

The Prius has a little more privacy in it now.  We got the windows tinted today. :)  Ready for Florida.

Yarn bombing the Prius

I was looking for a small project yesterday while the snow piled up outside, so I whipped up a cozy for my gearshift, lol.



The Prius is not getting out today, so much snow and wind!



The Jeep had no trouble plowing right through it though. :) Was able to get out and get the needles I need to make a sweater.

Making Yogurt

 

Homemade yogurt has become a staple in our house.  We have a bowl every morning for breakfast.  Yogurt is amazingly simple to make. All you need is some milk and some starter.  After making it a couple of times a week since January, we have got it exactly the way we like it.

Let's start by putting the milk in the pan, start heating it.  I'm using 5 cups of whole milk - you can use 2%, soy, almond, whatever you want - those will take a longer time to grow.  I'm using this amount because that's what fits in my maker.  If you want to use a heating pad to grow your culture you can start heating a half gallon milk.



 

While the milk heats you want your starter to sit out and get room temperature.  I have read varying amounts to use from 2 tablespoons up.  I use one small container of Dannon Oikos Plain Yogurt.  You can use any PLAIN/unflavored yogurt.  I've had good success using the same small container when making a half gallon as well.

At some point while your milk if heating you'll want to add in about 1/4 cup of dry milk.  This just helps make the yogurt thicker.  If you like thinner yogurt you can leave this out.



 

Get the milk to about 190 degrees Fahrenheit, whisking frequently.  When the milk gets near ready, turn your yogurt machine on to preheat a bit, OR, if you're using a heating pad, plug it in and turn it on medium.  Remove from heat when it reaches temperature.  At this point, you can let it sit and check it periodically until it reaches 105-110 degrees, OR, since this takes about an hour, I have found a shortcut. . .



 

Partially fill a sink with cold water (add ice if you like) then take your pot and sit it in the cold water.  I whisk the milk while it's cooling.  Doing it this way cuts the cooling to about 15 minutes or less.  I like to remove it from the cold water when it reaches 109 degrees.

Whisk in the starter yogurt.  Once you have made yogurt you can use some of it for your start next time.  I generally use what I've made for 4-5 times then get a new starter.



 

Pour the yogurt into your jars, cover and set the timer to 9 hours.  I really like how it turns out at 9 hours.  If you're using 2%, almond, etc, you will need more time, most like 10-12 hours, you'll have to play with it to see what you like.

If you don't have a maker you can leave your yogurt in the pan with a lid on it.  Sit the pan on the heating pad set at medium, cover with a bath towel or two and leave it be for 8-9 hours.  Once the time is up just pour it into containers and refrigerate.



 

When the time is up, put lids on the jars and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before enjoying.  It will last up to 10 days, never makes it that long around here though.



 

I add a scoop of protein powder to my yogurt, then whatever fruit I'm in the mood for.  I usually combine more than one fruit as you can see, and I chop up a couple of Brazil nuts to toss in.  Get creative and find what you like.  Great way to start the day!

Breakfast

For most of this year my morning has been started out like this. Homemade yogurt with fresh fruit and nuts.

Knitting Bag

I took a break from knitting yesterday to make a couple of knitting bags, lol. Now I can take my obsession with me.





I can think of so many great uses for these bags! What would you do with one?

My nose took these photos - no lie!

A friend of ours made these wristlets for me last winter and I love them! As a child my mom had a knitter friend and I always admired her creations. For years, I have admired the sock patterns that abound in this frozen tundra I live in, and have wanted to learn to knit them. Amanda, the maker of these colorful hand warmers, and that desire to make socks, inspired me to try my hand at knitting.



This is where I'm at so far.  I made this simple pair.  I'll just keep clicking my needles and working my way down to the smaller yarns until I get there.

Btw, how do you take a photo of both your hands with your iPhone?  I sat the phone on a box, placed a stapler on the edge to keep it from falling off, then stood on a chair and poked the screen with my nose to make the camer click, lol.

Knitted headband

My second knitted project is this cool headband slash ear warmer.

Practice makes perfect

It's been 24 years since I held knitting needles. Back then, I was pregnant with my third child and determined to make him an afghan. I succeeded in teaching myself and he got his afghan lol

While I teach myself the stitches again, (you didn't expect me to remember them this long did you?) I am making my husband a simple scarf. It is my hope to finally teach myself how to make socks. Fingers crossed.

Perfect Socks

I have been having tons of foot trouble since May. We've been doing a lot of 5Ks and I'm still trying to figure out the best combination of things for my feet. Can you believe they make socks specific to each foot? There's a little extra padding in the heel and ball of foot/pushing off areas, arch support and perfect fit to reduce blisters. I wore them for the first time today and really like them! We walked 4 miles in the Moon Walk this evening and they did me well. :)

Birds will have a hard time drinking around here

The last two mornings I have woken up to frozen birdbaths.  Winter's coming! PS - That's Dennis' fitbit on the ice, proving it's frozen, lol.

Enter for a chance to win a fitbit One

I just purchased a fitbit One Monday and I LOVE IT! Of course, today I run across a contest for a free one, so I'll pass the link on, maybe one of you can win it. :0) If you already use fitbit, lets be friends and encourage each other! :) PS, I'm also on myfitnesspal and mapmyfitness if you use one of those.

 

The link, where maybe you can win a neat little motivational device!

http://www.appsumo.com/~sIZbb/

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!

Negative results

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.

We should play more :)

Do what you can with what you have. I happen to have a corn field behind my house.



So I spent some time riding my bike up and down the rows looking for golf balls my family had hit into it. Great exercise, and fun!

Success!

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?

Happy Macro Monday

For a couple of years husband and I have teased about him getting "smile" tattooed on his shooting finger. But he hasn't gotten around to it, so I decided I would get a smile face on mine as a little reminder to our clients to say "cheese".



I have to credit my husband with taking these two photos as it would have been hard for me to do.  Hope you spend your week smiling. :)

Macro Monday is easy to play, snap a macro (or any close-up) photo, post it on your blog and come back here and sign MckLinky. :) MM started on Sept 29, 2008 - THANX to all of you for helping make it such a fun start to the week!

My Survivor Tattoo is growing

With moving and, well just life, I'm a little late adding to my survivor tattoo. I should have added butterfly #6 in May, but better late than never, lol.  For those of you who are new, or may have forgotten, the chinese symbol means "to live" or "to survive", then I'm adding a butterfly each year.



Butterfly #5 has a 5 in it (Thanx again Leeanne for designing it!), it's also bigger than the rest because I was given about a 20% chance of living to see that butterfly, so I really celebrated, lol.  However #5 seemed to be out there dangling alone, so we took care of that this year.   We added a lazy path which I think really helps him connect more.  I have the path made out of semicolons ; because I'm a semicolon, lol. :)

I decided to turn my survivor tattoo into a travel bug on geocaching.com so we added the tracking code for that.



Tada - butterfly #6, pooping out star #9 - the stars represent how many years Dennis and I have been married. :)  This butterfly is back to the smaller size - he's a smidge bigger than my pinkie nail.  They all look a little messy right now, they're really fresh. :)

Friday Find - Bunny Butt

I believe this is an antique bathroom set. There's the toothbrush holder, the swan towel holder, the soap dish, and. . .


. . .the bunny cotton ball holder, lol. I laughed so when I saw the bunny butt that I had to spend the $1.50 to purchase the set, just for the laugh.  I really have no idea how much the set is worth, if it's even worth anything, but it brought a smile to me and I thought it might you too.