A Busy Day

 I had a very busy day. With brunch out. Shopping for smaller pants, I got 1 pair. Coming home and cleaning.  Giving 4 mudd rugs their hot bath and agitation. Plying and setting 1 very small skein of lace weight yarn that was completely spun by hand.  The yarn is now drying in the garage.  The mudd rugs have been moved inside to hopefully finish drying.  I put a baking cooling rack over my hand washing sink.  They are still quite damp so I do not expect them to be dry by morning.  I also tried to catch up on paper work, my never ending battle.  Some progress was made. 

Now it’s time to put my feet up and knit.  

All’s Well That End’s Well

 All is well that ends well about sums up my day. I woke up to a really bad body day. I was really hungry after breakfast and wanted a sweet roll but had a half a pound of carrots and celery instead. I then crawled  back in to bed for a nap.

Once the aspirin kicked in the day went better. I finished weaving two more holiday gifts. Then warped a small loom for another. I just have to wind the yarn into a ball or cake.

I also found out that if you fill the paper shredder to capacity it automatically shuts off and won’t work anymore until you empty it. My house work today  consisted of emptying the dishwasher and taking out three bags of recycling. I should not forget about the trip to the grocery store. Am I the only one who still wears a mask inside anymore?

A Red Pot Recipe

 Ok here is another recipe that is low in fat and high in vegetables. Of course it is being cooked in my Red Le Creuset Soup Pot. For us this is enough food for 2 to 3 meals for the two of us when you have kids at home this should hopefully make it through 1 meal.

Chicken Vegetable Soup 

1 3/4 pounds of cubed Chicken, I used white meat chicken   Which is lower in fat.

2 Tablespoons of California Olive Ranch Extra Virgin Oil

1/4 teaspoon of white pepper and salt

1 Very large Sweet Onion or 2 smaller onions 

1 pound each of chopped celery, sliced carrots and mixed mushrooms 

1 pound of frozen mixed vegetables 

In your soup pot add the olive oil and heat on medium heat.  Add the chicken, salt and pepper.  Cover and keep covered as much as possible. Cook until no pink shows. Change your stirring  spoon and spoon rest. Add the onion and cook until translucent. Stirring occasionally and keeping the lid on In between. Add the celery, carrots and mushrooms. Leave on top until there is room to stir them in. Lower the temperature to medium low or number 2. Simmer for at least 3 hours.  I have not added water, but be sure to keep on eye on the broth.  If the level gets to low add water or additional broth.  

30 minutes before dinner add the 1 pound of frozen mixed vegetables. Stir in.  Bring the temperature up to 4 or just below medium heat. Serve when the mixed vegetables are totally cooked. 

The picture is after I stirred in the fresh vegetables. This will have over 4 pounds of vegetables.  You may add more if there is room in the pot   

Of course no one is paying me to share the brand names.  These are products that I use at home and bought out of our household budget. 

The Hunt Starts

 The hunt for smaller clothing started today with p.j.’s. I really lucked out on this one. Because of the sale at Kohl’s and the only fabric that I could wear, I got 2 pairs of p.j.’s for the cost of one pair.  This is a good thing.  I just don’t know how long I will stay in this size. I also lucked out by finding Simply Vera by Vera Wang.  She knows how to design for curves. The p.j.’s are well made too.  

Next on the agenda are pants and a warm sweater. Yes, I know that I have enough yarn to knit a couple of sweaters but the chances are that after a month or 2 of knitting that they will be to big. I have done that twice before.  So I am going to get a sweater to tide me over along with a couple of pairs of pants.  Wish me luck on those.  

So instead of knitting for me I am knitting for the kids again for next winter. At knitting guild we tend to knit a year ahead.   I have 2 scarfs going for young teens that are going to be long enough to wear in different ways. I also have 2 hats going. I hat needed to be tinked out about 3 inches because I was not paying attention and lost a stitch marker. I did not notice it until I had 4 stitches on 2 double pointed knitting needles and a whole bunch on the circular knitting needles.  That is all fixed and ready to go again.  I also have the 2 weaving projects going.  

It’s going to be busy tomorrow.  Do it is time to call it a night.  

Single Serving Sugar Free Apple Pie

 I have been.craving holiday foods just because it is fall. I really wanted to go out and get a slice of apple pie today. So going out to get a fat and sugar laden piece of pie is out of the question right now. So here is my elegant solution.  

Sugar Free Apple Pie

Serves 1.

1 apple cored and cut into chunks

cinnamon 

30 grams or 1 ounce of the nut of your choice. If you have a nut allergy skip this ingredient. 

In a microwave safe bowl toss the apple chunks and the amount of cinnamon desired.  For a hardier taste I like more cinnamon.  Sprinkle with nuts.  Microwave on high for 2 minutes.  Rotate a 1/4 of a turn and microwave for 2 minutes more.  

I know some people put cheese on their apple pie, so place the cheese on when you take it out of the microwave oven..

Please enjoy.  

Clothing Casualty

This pair of pants from Brynn Walker Is the first casualty of mine and of my new lifestyle plan. They will be heading off to the Goodwill box and when the box is full you’ll be able to find some really nice pants Goodwill.  I had to go through my closet a day to see what fit. I know they’re will be more of this in the future. 

I know we will be driving to Scottsdale for a shopping trip since the Tucson Bryn Walker got priced out of the rental market.  By the way the store is still sits empty.  Such a smart move by the owner’s rental property. 

Getting Scrapy

 I am currently working on another Stash Dive Scarf by Summer Lee Designs. It is not exactly as written.  I have gathered all my small skeins of sock yarn and cotton yarn.  As you can see by the second picture there are a lot of the smaller skeins.  The first picture the very colorful scarf so far. I am trying to do my best to make a fun and colorful scarf.  This scarf is going to be between 5 and 6 feet long so it is definitely going to a 7th or 8th grader. With all my recent destashing I now have room in my closet to store it until next fall.  

I also think that I over did it a little on my errands.  I was only out for 1 1/2 hours.  I did 4 errands today.  On the 3rd errand I found kids fall socks on sale for 70% off. This was my *Ganga of the day.  So I went back and grabbed a shopping cart and pick out a whole bunch of socks for the clothing bank I support. Yes, I filled up half a huge bag.  My hope is that the kids who get them, like them.  I then came home and slept for 2 hours.  I still managed to get 1 out of 2 loads of laundry folded, but not all at once. I also managed to mis match the colors on 2 pairs of socks, oh well. No harm no foul.  I still have to put the clothes hanging in the garage away too.  

*Ganga is Tucson speak for a great deal.