Le Creuset 4 1/4 quart Soup Pot

This blog is a public Thank You to my husband John for one of the most wonderful holiday gifts ever. This year he gave me the Le Creuset 4 1/4 quart soup pot. It is the perfect size for the two of us and worked out equally as well when Teri is home.


The pot is just the right weight to keep the food from burning and light enough so that when it is full I can pick it up and not wait for help. I love the sloping sides, it makes stirring very easy. I love the easy clean up that the enamel gives the pot, for those who know me well I even did wash it by myself once.

I have used it for soup and chili, both come out very well. It was on the stove when I was making chicken pot pie; so I mix everything over a low heat then put it in the pie shell later. Pot pie is normally a hard clean up, it is just something about the potato starch that makes everything stick in my other pan, that did not happen in this pot.

I love to fill soup pots to the top so we tend to eat soup for days made in larger pots. With the Le Creuset 4 1/4 quart soup pot it makes just the right amount for 2 days of soup for 2 people or 1 day of soup for 3 people.

Please feel free to check my past blogs for some great soup recipes.

Le Creuset you did it again, you made a wonderful pot. Also I have been slowly building my Le Creuset set over the past 15 years whenever I have the extra funds and the color of this red soup pot matches the 1st red heart shaped casserole perfectly. So again thank you John and Le Creuset for such a wonderful pot. I will put a link directly to this pot so you can try it for yourself.

Have a wonderful day and enjoy your families.

First Really Bad Day Without Diet Soda

Well we know it had to happen sometime. Eric had a long night and I had no diet soda to keep me awake. Worse yet I did not have my ritual 2 cans after a long night to wake me up. I was tired and sluggish all day. Teri and John did all the driving. Did I mention how nice it is to be chauffeured around everywhere.


Despite my lack of sleep we did manage a full day. We ate Dim Sum for brunch. Brunch was followed by a mass hair cut for the guys and Teri at Supercuts. We then dropped the guys off and went shoe shopping. Teri got new tennis shoes and the nicest boots at Alan’s Shoes. We took a walk around LaEncanata and did the shopping for dinner at AJ’s.

At 4 pm my body said enough and a 3 hour nap followed. At least I had the foresight to get dinner cooking before the nap so we had dinner at a decent hour.

It was difficult but I did make it through the day without diet soda. I am still tired and maybe it’s time to say good night to the Dr. Who special and turn in.

Enjoy your families and have a great year.

Happy New Year.

At the precipice of this New Year, New Decade and a Blue Moon to boot. I wish you all a happy and healthy New Year. Join me in not making New Years resolutions to feel sad or angry about when we break our resolutions. Instead join me in striving for the best 2010 possible by getting through life one day at a time. Enjoy all the moments this coming year has to offer. May peace be with you.

2012 The Movie Ending We Were Not Expecting

We rushed around this morning to get to an early showing of the movie 2012. We drove to the new Harkin Theater just off the I-19; this is one of the new multiplexes in town. If you have not been there it is a must go to at least once. We got our seats and our lunches. I had finished mine and had started feeding Eric.


We were 20 minutes into the movie when his connecter tube fell apart. In the semi dark I was trying to figure out just what had just happened. That’s when I noticed that the mic key button was in Eric’s lap. I promptly scooped up my purse and Eric’s bag, Yes I know I left my knitting at the seat. I found the nearest bench and sorted things out. I threw away the broken connector and tried to replace the button. I managed to get the button in again and added the 5 cc’s of water. Then disaster struck in the middle of the theater hallway. As I was trying to remove the syringe the button came out yet again. I tried for 10 frustrating minutes to reinsert the button. I left Eric in the hall momentarily and went to grab my knitting along with Teri and John. They had said the movie was just getting good. After briefly explaining what had happened I sent Teri to get a straw, I figured that if I could get a straw in we could skip the Emergency room visit. And head home to install a new button.

No such luck. So we left the Theater and triple teamed Eric to get him into the car. As we drove to the UMC Emergency room I tried in vain to reach the on call doctor but no luck, no one was answering. When we arrived Teri helped me get Eric inside at the rate they were asking question while I was filling out the intake form I thought we just might get back there fast, boy was I wrong.

The nurse and the doctor came in and I explained the problem and at every suggestion of what I should have done I replied I tried that. It seemed like an eternity but it was less than 5 minutes for the doctor to come to the same conclusion as I had drawn 30 minutes earlier. The upshot was that they did not have a button in Eric’s size. A failure that the Emergency Room doctor apologized for. Then John made a mad dash home and back to get out spare button. Teri and I kept Eric calm during all this.

John returned with the button and the resident got to insert her first button. We change Eric into dry clothes and got our discharge papers and headed out of there as fast as we could. But the adventure was not over just yet.

The first thing I did when I got home over an hour ago was to call Apria our supply company to request a replacement button. After waiting for over 20 minutes to talk to someone, I was told that I had called to late in the day to get a replacement button this year. I was told that they could get it here Monday or Tuesday. When I said that was not good enough that we needed it over night she said that her supervisor would have to call me back. At 5:12 the supervisor called and said that the button would be shipped over night and should arrive tomorrow.

So now it is off to the market to get what we need.

Have a good evening and enjoy your families.

The Day that Could Not Get Any Better

Today has just been a very wonderful day. I got the last of the holiday presents finished and mailed. This made John happy that there were 4 fewer hand knit items in the house. I really hope that Malie and her kids like what I made. I am always nervous when I send out hand knit items as gifts. I know that I do a great job but not everyone feels the same about handcrafted items.


Teri and I went shopping at Savers today and we got some great gangas*. Teri managed to get 2 pair of Seventh Generation Jeans that were lightly used and fit her like they were custom made for her. The best part was the tab was under $30.00. I don’t think I would ever have the spare money to buy them at full price.

We then headed to the dentist and got there 1 ½ hours early, but we were lucky to be able to get in early. All I had to do was to help the hygienist with her bobbles on a new pattern. By the way she had them done perfectly and did not need the help. They were even able to get Teri in for a filling before she goes back to school.

Then it was off to lunch at the 5th Street Deli. Teri has not had good deli food since she has been away. I am almost positive that they should have a good Kosher Deli in Santa Clara, but being busy with school she did not find one her 1st semester there. She enjoyed her corned beef sandwich and fries. I was nice to see her so happy and enjoying a meal so much.

We made a stop at Nadine’s Bakery for a sweet treat to take home. I still have not had the energy to do as much baking as I had planned.

While we were out shopping, John over saw the instillation of the new garbage disposal. The original one that was installed when the house was built was worn out. So now with the addition of the new kitchen faucet and garbage disposal I think I can put off the remodel of the kitchen till after Teri finishes law school.

Now it’s time to get back to work and organize under the sink, as you know this is never my favorite job and I have delayed as long as I could. Have a wonderful day and enjoy your families.

*Gangas- an extremely good deal.

To Yarn or not to Yarn.

Rubbermaid 3Q3600CLRVB Clear Storage Container - 95 Qt (Pack of 4)Yesterday I was sitting around the kitchen table with Teri and Eric. I had mentioned that all 3 local yarn stores in Tucson were have wonderful end of the year sales that started yesterday, and I just knew that they had yarn somewhere that was calling my name. I did mention to them that I had gone through 95 quarts of yarn since I had started my yarn diet and I was almost positive that I did not have much more than 500 quarts left. For the volume of quarts think those large Rubbermaid storage containers fill to the brim. I did not think that I had to count the yarn in my closet or the sewing room in that volume after all it is not in storage containers.
I have been knitting at a fast pace and going through lots of yarn I finished a scarf and a hat yesterday. I am finishing ufo's at a great pace so I think it would be ok to look at some new yarn. I really need some new yarn.
But both children in unison rolled their eyes at the thought of more yarn in the house. Teri made a great verbal argument as to why I did not need to buy more yarn and Eric joined in with a vigorous signing of no more. I really did not think that Eric was aware of all the yarn in the house.
So the kids won, I will miss the yarn sales this year. I will miss the adventure of finding something wonderful and cuddly and just kept knitting at a fast pace and hope that I have done enough knitting by next year to go to the sales.
To all of you that do not have as much yarn as I do please go and support your local yarn stores so that I can go next year. Please try to leave the shelf’s as I would, as empty as possible so that they do not have to count all that yarn in the year end inventory. It is the nicest thing we can do for the shop owners who do so much for us.

So now I shall go off to knit and see how much I can knit today. Have a wonderful day and enjoy your families.

My Gift to You

This blog is a tribute to my dad who died December 26. I would like to share one of the most important life lessons that he taught me. I hope that you will find it as useful as I do and can incorporate it into your daily life.

The gift is called PMA or Positive Mental Attitude. I know that it does not sound like much of a gift, but let me explain why it is the best gift I can give to you. Yes I know that everyone has problems in their lives and everyone faces adversity sometime in their lives, sometimes on a daily basis. It is not the adversity in our lives that causes the problems but how we deal with the adversity.

Lets say that everyone starts the day with the same glass of water and it is only half full. We all know that a half full glass of water will not get us through the day and here is where the choices of the day start. We can take the easy way out and say that the day is going to be rotten because we only have a half full glass and have a rotten day.

Or we can use PMA to say that our glass is half full and we are off to a rotten day, then we affirm that we are going to have a rotten day. This is where the important part comes in, we decide to change that rotten day into a great day no matter what happens. We then tap into our positive energy and pull that day out of despair. Then with the positive energy manage to fill that glass so we have enough water for the day and if we are lucky enough we get more water than we need so that we can share with other people.

No matter what the situation is we all have the ability to make changes in out lives. Gd has given us free will. Your choice is weather you will make the most of your life or you will let everything fall by the wayside. With a Positive Mental Attitude you can make the most of your life and make the world better for not just yourself, but everyone around you.

So now that I have given you the gift of a Positive Mental Attitude, it's time to go play a few hands of Free cell which was dads favorite computer game and plan our day so "it is somewhere between great and fantastic" which was dad's favorite reply to how are you doing.

Have a great day and enjoy your families.