Knittng and Winding Yarn

I have found that if I wind the balls and hanks of yarn into cakes, they tend to get knit faster. So earlier in the week I took a nice piece of pottery put a vase in the middle for knitting needles and started winding. I only put the needles in the vase for the weight yarn I had wound.


The progress was great, 4 scarfs were finished this week and the pot started to look empty. I think that it helped that Eric was home sick from school on Friday; because I knit 2 scarf’s on Friday. So today I went into my yarn stash and pulled out 8 more balls of yarn and wound them. I also wound 8 more skeins for Teri’s blanket which John has dubbed my enormous project of the year; I have passed the 34 skein mark and will knit a little more each night. You can see the work in progress. The blanket is 17 modular squares across.

I really know that I have made progress in my stash reduction process. The 2 closets that I had full of yarn no longer have the yarn in them. Yes I know that this involved filling another 95 quart box with yarn; but I am being more honest with the amount I have and am working hard to stash down. In case you were wondering it was the box of yarn that I knit through earlier when I went through 95 quarts in 3 months. So no new boxes were purchased.

Well it is time for Eric’s breathing treatment and time to make dinner. Yes multi tasking is essential. Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

Driving Safely

I have to admit that I don’t get out of the house as much as I would like to. Having said that I would like to comment on the awful driving I have witnessed in the last few days here in Tucson. I would like to give these anonymous drivers the following awards.


The I Am King of the Road no matter what award goes to the driver who refused to pull over for the ambulance with full lights and sirens going. I only takes but a moment to pull over and let the emergency vehicle pass. The life you save might just be someone you know; after all it’s a very small world.

To the multiple drivers who are on the phone. The I am just in too self centered to pull over and finish the call award goes to the many drivers who slow down to a crawl and chat away on their cell phones. Call me old fashioned but I learned to drive before cell phones and frankly we just don’t need any other distractions while driving. My humble suggestion is to just pull over take your call and then get back on the road. So you arrive a few minutes late but you do arrive alive and don’t annoy all the other drivers on the road.

The Red Light Runner Award goes to the too many people who did not even slow down for the red light but just speed through the intersection. You might be in a terrible hurry but it will take a lot longer to get there if you land up in an accident.

Just remember that when you get behind the wheel of your car you are not in a little cocoon shielded from the outside world. But instead a tiny cog in the community that you live in responsible for the lives and safety of All of those around you. Even the few and the brave who walk or ride their bikes to where they are going.

So drive safely so you can enjoy your families for a very long time.

Asthma & Allergy Health Fair

This is an event for those in the D.C. area next week.

Asthma & Allergy Health Fair

Wednesday, May 5, 2010


11:00 am-1:30 pm,

Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill

Rayburn Foyer (2nd floor)

50 Independence Ave. SW

Washington, DC 20515


Just one block from the Capitol South Metro station, on the blue and orange lines.



FREE

Asthma screenings for all ages

Lung-function tests

Products and demos

Exhaled nitric oxide testing

Consultations with allergist

Children's books

Sign up for The Great American Asthma Challenge!

See you at AANMA's Asthma & Allergy Health Fair and Free Asthma Screenings!



Share the goood news -- forward this e-mail to friends and family, or paste this link into a Twitter or Facebook status update:

www.aanma.org/advocacy/aadch
...founder of The Chris Draft Family Foundation and The Asthma Team -- special Health Fair guest!

For more information, call 800.878.4403 or visit www.aanma.org. Follow AANMA on Twitter and Facebook and on the Take A Weekly Breather blog.

Special thanks: ExxonMobil, Teva Respiratory, Novartis, American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI), Aerocrine, Phadia, Pharmaxis.

Tuna Pasta Salad

Here is a perennial family favorite recipe. This is my version of a tuna pasta salad.


1 pound of pasta in a fun shape

12 ounces canned tuna drained

1 pound frozen mixed vegetables

1 can black olives drained and chopped (optional )

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 Tablespoon dehydrated onion flakes

Mayonnaise or Italian salad dressing to lightly coat



This is a fast dish to put together. Cook pasta and vegetables as per package directions. While they are cooking flake the Tuna in a very large bowl. Add the pepper and onion flakes mix well. Add the chopped olives. Mix well. Drain the cooked vegetables and mix in with the tuna. Drain the pasta and toss with the other ingredients in the bowl.

At this point the salad is done and is ready for customization. My family likes this done differently so sometimes we add mayonnaise and sometime salad dressing. If I am very tired I just present the salad as is and let everyone put on their own toppings. If you are going to add the mayonnaise or salad dressing start with ¼ cup for the whole bowl and toss very well. We like to keep the dressing on the light side. You can add more dressing to your own preferences.

Serve with hot corn bread or fresh bread and butter.

This recipe serves a crowd. As a main course this serves 6 to 8 people.

Please enjoy this recipe and your families.

A Day Without Cable

24 hours without internet is really bad for me unless we are on vacation with a lot to do. So yesterday when the gas company contractor cut my cable line while checking on the gas line I was not a happy camper. Knowing that the problem lay between the house and the cable box I went through the must go through check list with Comcast customer service.

After that there was nothing to do but house work. While cleaning I did find the manuals for our first home computer. They have now been dutifuly recycled. So I guess a day without cable is kinda of liveable. Don't get me wrong I love my internet.


I will have to give a 2 thumbs up to Comcast for getting 2 techs here this morning to do the repair. Last time this happened we were almost a week without cable/ internet. So this time I have to admit I did play the sick kid card (bad Sheri, very bad mommy) and took them to Eric’s room first to show them the cable was out. Then I showed that the rest of the TV’s we out as well as the light on the little box by the computer, you have to ask John the name of it because I really don’t know what it is called but it is made by Motorola.

They agreed to put a temporary line between the street and our cable box and have the construction crew come out at a later time to dig the ditch to bury the line. It is my sincere hope that it is put at least 2 feet away from the gas line so this does not happen again. While they were here they found damaged cable line that had water in them and repair them without being asked to do so. Hint, hint management they did a very good job.

While all this was going on I had the service tech from Sears out to do a yearly maintenance check on the washer and dryer. There was also a service call to repair or replace the icemaker. He also did a very good job, hint, hint management.

I did get a few more squares done on Teri’s blanket and will catch up with correspondence tomorrow or this week end. I will also catch up with not doing laundry for 2 days. Eric alone made over 3 loads all by himself.

So now it is time to cook a fast dinner for John and catch up on life as I like to know it.

Have a Great evening and enjoy your families.

*This blog has been edited at the request of Eric, most mentions of his room have been deleated.

Succotash Chili

I know it sounds really weird but don’t say yuck till you have tried it.

1 pound of stew meat

1 large can of stewed tomatoes, do not drain, pour the juice in the pan as your cooking liquid.

1 can of black olives, drained

1 pound frozen white corn

10 ounces frozen Lima Beans

1 Tablespoon chili powder

¼ teaspoon of salt and pepper

¼ cup chopped onion

Brown the stew meat, with the salt and pepper. Add the onions when meat is almost browned. Cook the onions until translucent. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Turn down the temperature and simmer on low for 3 hours. Adjust the seasoning to your preferances. Serve with corn bread.

Sheri's Chicken Salad

Ok it is time for another recipe this has been a summer time favorite for years. I know it seems like an odd combo of ingredients but please trust me on this one. This is also a good recipe to get the kids in the kitchen with.


Sheri’s Chicken Salad

3 cups of chicken diced.

3 stalks of celery diced

1 large tart apple diced (think granny smith or pippin)

½ cup raw pecans chopped coarsely

½ cup of dried cherries sliced in half

Mayonnaise to just hold salad together or slightly more if you want to make sandwiches

Salt and white pepper to taste

Place first 5 ingredients in a large bowl and toss. Add ¼ cup of mayonnaise and toss, you can always add more mayonnaise if you would like but once it is in the bowl you can’t undo it so add the mayonnaise slowly. When you have the constancy of the salad right it is time to take a taste and see if you need the salt and pepper. I usually start off with the pepper and end up skipping the salt. Remember to use a clean spoon for each taste test.

Cover and place in the fridge to chill well. We like to server this on a bed of romaine hearts for a salad. This is one of those nice hot weather meals that can be made the day before for a party or in the morning so dinner is ready when you come home.

For a faster clean up I use 2 dinner plates to do the chopping. One plate for the meat and one plate for everything else. I also use a separate knife for the meat and non meat items. When done just throw or gently place all the chopping items in the dishwasher.

For a milder flavor I use white pepper and it tastes much better when it is freshly ground.

I have not made this as a vegetarian dish but you may be able to replace the chicken with baked tofu.