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.

Sewing for Eric

Today was a day of sewing things for Eric’s room. I made 3 sets of bumper pads and up-cycled a set of curtains that we had decided not to use on the windows to make some pillows that would be used daily instead. I used the surger for all the projects even the pillows. For the pillows I made a pocket pillow that Eric could not get into but would allow me to change in core pillow when necessary without ripping out a seam in the pillow.

With all that I made Eric today he was busy signing more and picking up his bib to show me what he wanted. He must think that he has a personal seamstress at his beck and call. Oh that right he does, it’s me.

I will show you and out of focus pillow and then head off to sleep. With the grace of G’D I will not be up until 4am again tonight.

So have a great evening and enjoy your families.

These are the fabric colors of the bumper pads. Nice bright and cheery.

Just a Short Post

Our holiday company is all safely back at home. They even manage to get through last Sunday’s earthquake on the drive home with only a few bumps along the way. The house is back to clean. Knitting has commenced again. Sewing is soon to follow. I think the washing machine and dryer are talking to me again after running them for almost 24 hours straight after company left.


I would like to wish my Mom a Happy Anniversary of her 39th Birthday; she is ageless just like the great Jack Benny who never got older than 39; himself. Just like when I was a kid I sent her a handmade gift this year. I really hope that she likes it.

This post won’t be long today, Eric had his 4th bad night in a row and my hands took the brunt of his not feeling good last night.

Have a great day and enjoy your families.

My First Sale of the Year

I am a little over the rainbow today. I had my first ArtFire sale of the year. I have also added 4 new pieces that would be great for birthdays or mothers day..don't worry all I listed today was jewelry. Yarn shop owners can contact me. I will give a bulk discount for 12 or more sets of stitch markers.

Have a great day and enjoy your families

Spring in the Desert

This is one of the first signs of spring in the desert. I just love cactus flowers.

Please enjoy this 1st sign of spring with me.

Have a great day and enjoy your families

A Day With My Niece and Nephew

Well today we had a full day with my little sisters kids ages 6 and 8, I don’t remember clearly when my kids were that small, but certainly they did not run around like this. I tried to teach the 8 year old how to knit; with time I think she is going to be a good knitter. The 6 year old I tried on the knitting spool, which did not go as well.


After an all too brief rest we headed to Build A Bear workshop and Eric and his cousins all made new friends and got to pick out new clothes for them a good time was had by all. It is almost bed time and I hope for a good night’s sleep tonight.

More adventures with the kids tomorrow. Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

Another Day of Cleaning

Well another day of very vigorous cleaning is done. I am too tired to move. Maybe John will take pity on me and help me make the guest room bed. The guest room door was suppose to remain closed when my sister and mom came for the weekend, but I have cleaned, dusted and vacuumed the guest room for my little sister, my mom will borrow Teri’s room for the weekend, not that she is using her room at the moment. Since we have run out of beds, anyone who is under the age of 10 will be sleeping on the floor.


I am really hoping that John does not mind that I borrowed a little closet space of his just until the company is gone. I had to give my sister some place to hang her clothes.

With a few more hours of cleaning most people who know me well will not recognize the house. With all this cleaning done after company leaves, I plan on working on my quilt; after all there is plenty of empty floor space now. I will have plenty of time for other crafts too. So look out UFO’s and yarn bins you are in my target. I want to fill up my charity knitting bags and my ArtFire shop with new items.

When I find my body (someone replaced my body with blocks of cement) I will do some more cleaning tonight. Since we normally do not have kids in the house I will have to move my meds out of sight and reach. I think I will temporally rearrange John’s closet shelf’s to accommodate this. Well this sounds like more work to me. So off I go.

Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

Another Day of Cleaning

Well the day was spent cleaning again. I can now see the wood on the table; no it’s not finished yet; but it should be tomorrow. The best part of cleaning today was that I found a lot of knitting patterns that I want to make, so after Teri’s blanket is finished I will start with all the patterns.


I have no new recipes for today as we are having filet of left over, yes yesterdays chicken soup recipe serves 4 and since only 2 of us are eating it well I don’t have to cook tonight. I am off to do some knitting so have a great evening and enjoy your families.

Semi Home Made Chicken Soup

After spending half of the night awake with Eric and the morning getting my finial holiday cleaning done, I was just too tired to make dinner. The holiday cleaning today involved cleaning out crevices of the stove with a tooth pick. I also cleaned the drip pans and under the drip pans till they did not look almost 30 years old. I could not do anything with the enamel that had been scoured off over the years. Picking up and tossing, scrubbing and cleaning the rest of the house and the never ending pile of laundry. Somehow I am pretty sure our ancestors did not go through this in the Exodus from Egypt.


So this is where my semi homemade chicken soup comes into play.

I made the recipe for Matzo Balls from the Manischewitz Matzo Meal can. I have not asked permission to include the recipe, so if they decide they want me to take the recipe down I will remove it from my blog. But really this is the absolutely best Matzo Ball recipe; we have been using it for at least 4 generations in my family(my daughter Teri just made this for the first time in her own house yesterday).

Manischewitz Matzo Balls

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

2 large eggs, slightly beaten

½ cup of Manischewitz Matzo Meal

1 teaspoon of salt if desired (I use salt if I use water instead of broth)

2 tablespoons of water

Blend the vegetable oil, eggs, water and salt together. Add the Manischewitz Matzo Meal and blend well. Here is where I change the directions a little. (They say place in the fridge for 15 minutes)Place in the refrigerator for a minimum of 6 hours, over night is better. They will come out fluffier.

Make as many 1 inch in diameter balls as you can. Place on a wet plate and keep your hands wet so that they do not stick. Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil. Drop the balls in the pot and simmer on a lower temperature for 30 to 40 minutes. When the Matzo Balls are all floating they are done.

For the Semi Homemade Chicken Soup

14.5 ounce package of Trader Joes Mirepoix mix

12 ounces of Trader Joes Just Chicken Strips

32 ounces of Trader Joes Free Range Chicken Broth

In your soup pot place Mirepoix mix and heat at a medium temperature till the onions are translucent.

Cut the chicken in to bite size pieces. Add the chicken and broth. Heat the soup for at least 30 minutes, to blend the flavors. Add the Matzo Balls and serve.

For the holidays serve with matzo and enjoy your evening with your loved ones.

Please note that I have not been paid or given coupons or product for any of the above items. All the items came out of my grocery budget. All the opinions are my own.

Charosis - A Passover Recipe

The holidays are fast approaching and my daughter Teri has requested a family favorite. Charosis is part of the sedar plate for the Passover service we have at home. Since Passover is a difficult holiday if you don’t use eggs, we also use this for breakfast, thus the larger than normal qualities. I also make mine nut free which is different from most recipes you will see.




Charosis

¼ cup honey

1 pound of chopped dates - grated

1 to 2 pounds of apples – grated (use very firm apples)

¼ cup of grape juice

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Sugar to taste, some people like their Charosis on the very sweet side, but unless the apples are very tart I tend to skip the extra sugar.

Finely grate or chop the apples and the dates. I use the medium grating attachment of my Kitchen Aide Mixer. Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Please feel free to adjust the seasonings to taste. Place the covered bowl in the fridge overnight.

For breakfast I usually use ½ cup of Charosis on 1 matzo.

This is not a paid advertisement for Kitchen Aide. I have had my Kitchen Aide K-5 Mixer since about 1978 and it still one of my favorite kitchen workhorses. Way back then I invested 2 paychecks to buy it and it has been one of my best and longest lasting kitchen appliances.

Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

I will take any holiday recipe request you my dear reader ask for.

Remaking of a quilt

Well this is the queen size quilt that I started before Teri was born and was going to hand quilt. Once Eric came into our lives this just did not happen. When we needed a new quilt for our bed John in his wisdom suggested that I revamp this quilt. So I went on a fabric hunt and found some fabric that would go with the material I bought 25 years ago. It is not an exact match, but close enough to make a pretty addition to the quilt.


I will start the ripping out of the hand quilting right after I finish spring cleaning, which will be next week sometime. Just in case you are wondering I will not be hand assembling or hand quilting this quilt. This also means that Teri will not have to deal with a half finished quilt some day.

Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

Check out this food label

My nomination for the worst ingredient label I have encountered in a long time


The Product is called Honey Sauce and I will not name the company that distributes it.

The ingredients in order are: High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sugar, Honey, Corn Syrup, Natural Flavor and Carmel Color.

My question is why not use plain old fashion honey?

And no I did not use it, I used old fashioned honey.

Have a great day and enjoy your families

Summer Slaw

It has been a while since I posted last. I have been very busy and getting a lot of things done. I have made a lot of stitch markers, a few earrings and key chains for the shows I have schduled and a lot of spring cleaning. Speaking of spring,here is one of my families favorite summer recipies.

Summer Slaw

Prep time less than 5 minutes. Make at least 1 hour before serving to chill.

2 pounds of Dole Coleslaw Mix with carrots
1/2 cup of  Sun Maids Goldens and Cherries
1/2 cup od Marie's Coleslaw Dressing

Take the coleslaw mix. Rinse and drain well. Add the Goldens and Cherries along with the Coleslaw dressing. Toss in the dressing, cover and place in the fridge till serving time.

For my family this makes 4 servings, but then again we always cover half of our plates with vegies. So at the standard 1/2 cup of vegies per serving this should make a lot more.

*My disclaimer: I have not been paid or given coupons for any items in the above recipe. This has been a family favorite for years. So please enjoy it too.

Have a great day and enjoy your families.

We Are OK

It has been a while sine I last posted. everything is ok here. just more of the sameold,sameold going on. Lots of knitting, late nights, laundry and making stitch markers.

I will list more of the stitch markers once my 2 shows in 2 weeks are over.

Catch me at Kathy's Spring Shearing Festival, the details are in my last blog.

A Must go to Event for Arizona Fiber People

I just love this event. If you have not been to Kathy's ranch it is a real treat. Since it is spring there are sure to be an awful lot of cute babies around. There will be fibre artists who will have very lovely yarn and fibre that you can spin for yourself. Be sure to save some money for Kathy's hand spun lovely yarn, fibre ready for spinning. Kathy also has some Unique one of a kind items in her shop. Did I mention that she is also a weaver, felter, knitter, critter mama and care taker and all around wonder woman. I really admire Kathy and urge you to come and see all the lovelies if you can.

The Tucson Spring Shearing Festival will be the Saturday, March 27, 2010, from 9-3. Danny Smith will be here from Missouri to shear the alpacas, llamas, angora goats, and sheep. Vendors and demonstrators will be here to share their fiber art with you. This is also baby season, so there will be lambs and maybe kids to see and pet. If you are reading my blog, you will see that I have already been posting baby photos. Four more lambs more have been born since the last posting.




A nuno felted scarf will be raffled with the proceeds going to the Casa Maria kitchen.



Upcoming events: The 4th Avenue Street Fair is March 19-21, 2010, so the shop will be closed. I will be in booth number 331 - the southwest side near where I have been the last few times.



The Tucson Wool Festival (Fall shearing here at the ranch) will be November 6, 2010.



I have started an eshop where I am listing some of my nicest yarns. I still have my etsy shop.



My links are:

www.uniquedesignsbykathy.com

www.uniquedesignsbykathy.blogspot.com

www.uniquedesignsbykathyeshop.com

www.uniquedesignsbykathy.etsy.com

jmarckathy@aol.com

520-572-3758



I do hope that you can make it.



Kathy Withers

Food Allergies

I will pass up my planed Monday Blog in order to get this information out to as many people as possible.

Calling all people with food allergies: This is YOUR chance to weigh in as a national committee is creating new diagnosis and treatment guidelines.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is seeking public comment on a draft of Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Food Allergy. AANMA founder and president Nancy Sander is a member of the committee that's working on these guidelines.

The public comment period is open until May 3. Health care professionals and interested members of the public are encouraged to review the guidelines and participate in the open comment period by visiting the NIAID Food Allergy Clinical Guidelines public comment site at www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/foodAllergy/clinical/comments.htm.

"Food allergy is an important public health problem that affects millions of Americans, and may be increasing in prevalence," says NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, MD. "These draft guidelines provide information to a wide variety of health care professionals about how to diagnose and manage food allergy, and treat acute food allergy reactions."

The guidelines are based on an independent, systematic review of the scientific and clinical food allergy literature. Information gathered from the literature review was incorporated into a full report on the state-of-the-science in food allergy that will be made available after the publication of the final guidelines.

As part of the process of developing the guidelines, NIAID brought together a coordinating committee that included representatives from 33 professional organizations, advocacy groups and federal agencies. The role of the coordinating committee was to appoint an expert panel, review drafts, approve the final guidelines and develop a plan to distribute the final guidelines. The expert panel, composed of 25 members with expertise from a variety of relevant clinical and scientific areas, wrote the draft guidelines.
The guidelines cover the following topics:



· Definition and prevalence of food allergy

· Natural history of food allergy and closely associated diseases

· Diagnosis of food allergy

· Management of non-acute allergic reactions to food

· Management of acute allergic reactions to food, including anaphylaxis, a severe, whole-body reaction



"These guidelines represent a major commitment on the part of many people and organizations working to improve the care of individuals with food allergy," says Daniel Rotrosen, MD, director of the Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation at NIAID. "The process of developing the guidelines has also helped us identify gaps in the current scientific knowledge that we can begin to address through future research."



All comments will be reviewed by the coordinating committee, expert panel and NIAID. Where appropriate, these comments will be used to develop final guidelines. The final guidelines are expected to be released by the fall of 2010.



More information on the development of the guidelines may be found at www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/foodAllergy/clinical/.



NIAID conducts and supports research-at NIH, throughout the U.S., and worldwide-to study the causes of infectious and immune-mediated diseases, and to develop better means of preventing, diagnosing and treating these illnesses. News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available at www.niaid.nih.gov.



The NIH includes 27 institutes and centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.



For more about food allergies, visit www.aanma.org or call 800.878.4403. You can also follow AANMA on Twitter and Facebook.

Cafe Tremolo

After Friday Fun Knitters we went to a new restaurant in Tucson called Café Tremolo. It has only been open for 3 weeks and they are still trying to sort out the menu and fine tune it. Even though they are fine tuning the menu, this is a place you have got to go to. Everything was fresh. The food tasted crisp and the flavor just was one explosion of flavor after another. The iced tea has a wonderful flavor and required no sugar, it was brewed to prefection.


Our waiter said that everything was fresh including the roast beef which they roasted themselves. The Kitchen is open so you can see what they are doing, so I walked past the kitchen and saw a very clean work area, they were well organized and worked in great harmony. The hamburger patties were huge and formed by hand, not by machine as many places use. Judy said the hamburger was very good and trimmed off the portion that was too big for the bun. Natalie had the lox and bagel platter which was present very nicely with onions, plenty of crème cheese, an egg and many more things. Most of the table had the saffron rice and sautéed shrimp dish which appeared to be very good, every one finished it to the last drop. I had the tuna salad sandwich which was very good, but a tad on the huge side. My sandwich was served with Jicama slaw which was made with jicama, carrots, cilantro and a sweet vinegar dressing. The salad was a wonderful taste sensation with each vegetable having a very crisp and distinct taste; I could have made a meal of it. They even came up with a dairy free dessert. A wonderful brownie surrounded by fruit. It was enough for 2 and Judy graciously agreed to share it with me.

Café Tremolo is located at 7401 N. La Cholla Blvd., Ste 152 Their telephone number is (520) 742-2999 The are on the east side of the Foothills Mall at Ina and La Cholla Blvd. They are open for lunch and dinner. This is defiantly one place that I will go to again. Please give this newly opened local business a try, it is worth a drive.

My disclamer: I went to Cafe Tremolo with friends and paid for the meal myself. They had no idea that they were being reviewed. The views expressed here are my own.
Have a good day and enjoy your families.

Hamster Helper

It has been a while since I have blogged. Eric has been sick and the days have been long. So that being said it is time for a family favorite recipe and a bit of humor

Hamster Helper
1 pound of ground meat your choice

1 large jar of spaghetti sauce again you choice

2 cans of mushrooms

1 pound of fun shaped pasta cooked and drained.

1 pound of frozen mixed vegetables

1 cell phone with incredibly bad reception
Optional ingredient

1 can black olives drained and sliced

In order to make this a 1 pot meal, cook the pasta as per package directions, drain and set aside. Next brown the ground meat of your choice and be sure to break up the meat in to small pieces. You want to make sure that the ground meat is fully cooked and no pink remains. If the meat is very fatty drain the extra fat and rinse the meat.

Add everything but the cell phone to the pan and mix well. Set the stove to medium-low and cooked for about 45 minutes. This recipe will hold well on low for as long as you need. If you keep this on low for more than 1 hour you might have to add more water to keep the dish moist.

Ok so I did not put the cell phone in the pot, but this is the fun part. Try to explain to you dear darling family member that you are making your own version of Betty Crocker’s Hamburger Helper and with the right drop outs it will sound like hamster instead of hamburger. You can take this where ever your heart desires, have a bit of fun with this.

Let me know how your families like this recipe. Have a great day and enjoy your families.

Fund Raiser

Because of the earthquake in Chilie I will be donating 20% of all sales to Doctors Without Boaders from now till the end of March 2010. So check it out and pass it on. http://www.tinyurl.com/handmadebysheri .

They are dealing with much more than a sick kid(earthquake trumps e-coli any day), and I can not think of any other way to help.

Enjoy your families and pass this on to whom ever can help.

Thank you.

A Blanket Update

I started this blanket as my Raverlary Olympic project. I know what was I thinking. A queen size blanket done that quick is never going to happen.

So here is the blanket by the numbers so far. It is 100 inches wide, yes I have allowed for shrinkage. To save Teri the horrors of the blanket shrinking I will wash and dry the blanket before I send it to her. Your welcome Teri.

I have completed 3 full rows of blocks. Which measures 12 inches high.

I have used 17; yes that is 17 skeins of yarn. Each skein only makes 3 modular blocks. I figure I need to kint at least 34 rows of blocks before I add the border.

I had origianly started this as a stash buster project, but considering that I only had 24 skeins of this yarn to start with I have had to buy more. I do hope that I have enough yarn to finish this without having to buy more yarn. I am mixing up the colors of the blocks and going on an angle so yarn form differnt years  land in the diffrent sections.  Cotton grown in diffrent colors vary in color from year to year.

Let me know if you want me to write this pattern down when I am finished and I will add it to my Art Fire studio and Raverly.

Have a good evening and enjoy your families.

The Day That Went Through the Blender

The day started off well enough. Although I should have known that it was not going to continue when my hot cocoa boiled over in the microwave oven, let’s just say the microwave had more cocoa than I did. I even got my to do list written out and was busy going down the list in a decent fashion.

Then at 10:30 I got the call from school. It was not “Urgent” but Eric was not feeling well. I asked the inevitable question did I need to pick him up now. The answer was no, but I called his doctor to make a same day appointment anyway.

So I recalculated my to do list and took the most urgent errands that needed to be done and went to go get Eric from school. We got to the doctors with a few minutes to spare, enough time to add one round to my never ending socks for this winter, at this rate they will be finished for our first 105 degree day of the summer. Did I mention that they were Lorna’s laces wool. We got in and saw Eric’s doctor very fast but it was getting the lab samples from Eric that took over 2 hours. The lab test quick results came back very quickly. So prescription in hand I took Eric home and handed him off to his afternoon aide and ran to get the prescription.

Mean while I told John that he was in charge of dinner, that I did not have time to make the chili I had planned to make for dinner. So after deciding he did not want canned soup and tuna sandwiches he went out and picked up take out. I find it so wonderful that after an equally long and hard day that he would go out and get us a hot dinner. You have just got to love a man who does this.

Two quick loads of laundry later it was time to put my day in writing. Yes one phone call does frequently turn my day upside down. I think it is time to go find some yarn and try to unwind before midnight. So have a great night and enjoy your families.

Not a Typical Thursday.

Well it has been a day of extreme highs and lows. The high's a very good lecture and fashion show by SWTC at knitting guild , lunch with friends and Eric’s big smile when he came off the bus. The weather was also wonderful. The lows having to deal with rude people who imply my life is screwed up when they make a mistake. Really is that necessary to insult your customers because your company screwed up?


I also discovered that I lost my cell phone today. I tore apart and cleaned out my car twice, my purse the counters, my closet floor, and all my knitting baskets and anywhere else I could think off. I even called my phone twice and it went straight to voice mail. No I don't know how long its been gone, this is how often I use it. So I am off to pick out a new phone and any suggestions would be lovely.

My hands are still sore from all the clapping at the Joshua Nelson concert last night. So instead of knitting I will be relaxing, yes I think I know what that word means.

So Have a good evening and enjoy your families and have a great evening.

Why Don't Things last forever?

It has been a very good day today. If you can’t tell Eric slept for most of the night and I got a lot of running around done today. Eric and I almost finished watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Vancouver you have a very nice city. I shall add your city to a list of places I would like to go someday.


I was in the throwing mood so before and during breakfast I went through a lot of papers and made a good start to filling the recycling barrel. The bad news is my recycling basket is starting to fall apart; I will have to look and see what basket we can destroy next in the name of recycling. You should not feel bad for this basket though I have had it since my first apartment in 198? and it was a hand me down way back then. Don’t you just hate it when things wear out before their time? I sure do, things I like are suppose to last forever. I think I will add the quilt on my bed to that list; I made it the year before Teri was born and it has the audacity to start falling apart this year when she is only in her first year of grad school. And I can only blame the poor workmanship on myself. Well a new one will have to be added to the long term to do list.

To make the planning of the quilt more interesting if you will send me the names and or pictures of your favorite quilt blocks or patterns it would be very nice. I am also looking for something that has a lot of strip work and not any flowers. I want to make it husband friendly.

Well it is time to go and make dinner. So have a great evening and enjoy your families.

Is it Still Valentine's Day?

OK, I am the first to admit that I am very grumpy after a long night with Eric. A lot of knitting got done just not what I wanted to work on which is Teri’s blanket, but let’s face facts here it is impossible to keep a straight count when I am up and down, then throw in tired. So I worked on a plain square blanket that has 1 yarn over per row till I get to the middle, then the decreases start.

I finally got Eric to sleep at 5 am and took the luxury of sleeping till 7:30 am, just enough time to re-set up the pump – don’t ask, give meds and put Eric on the bus. Yes I really did put Eric on the bus; he was happy and feeling better. I was very tired and grumpy.


It was at lunch that I realized that I had skipped breakfast, actually I could not remember if I had eaten or not and was too tired to care or feel hungry. I went out with Marge and thankfully she drove. When we got to one of our favorite lunch spots we both order chicken tacos. What got delivered was chicken and cheese enchiladas. When I said that I did not order this the waitress got this old fashion I put this plate in front of you and you are going to eat it attitude, well she may have intimidated Marge, but I sent mine back and got what I ordered in the first place delivered with an attitude that did not belong in public. So this is my rant for today. Treat your customers with the respect you wish to be treated; after all they are paying your salary; and if you can’t do that please, please find a job without of public contact.

But the day was not all that bad. After lunch we stopped to pick up some medicine for Eric and this is where the Ganga* of the day kicked in. With Eric’s medicine I got a $25.00 gift card, that’s good but it got even better. I bought 3 packages of toilet paper marked down $5.00 per pack with my loyalty card and a bottle of Tylenol I had 2- $3.00 coupons with a $15.00 purchase, so I knocked off $21.00 off the total price and then used the gift card that they just gave me in the pharmacy to pay for it and still have a balance of $7.54 left on the gift card. So this was not a bad shopping trip for this tired mom.

Dinner is filet of leftover so I am not cooking tonight. I am off to try to play some Wii tennis if I can find the disc. So have a good night and enjoy your families.

*Ganga is slang in Tucson for a totally awesome deal.

Valentines Day

Well it is Valentine’s Day today. So I wish you and your loved ones a wonderful day. I would also like to wish all of you who are celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year a Happy New Year. We are having a very low key day today. John and Eric took me to Miss Saigon for lunch today. I had a wonderful chicken bun which is a salad with cucumbers, rice noodles, curried chicken, and lettuce. I f you are ever in Tucson Miss Saigon is a must go to. We did miss Teri on this very family orientated day but I am sure that the books are much more important right now.
I will conquer the laundry monster while Eric does his breathing treatment and then make a quick antipasto for dinner. John got some wonderful looking strawberries for desert so I guess that I will not make the brownies I was planning on...darn. I hope to have some knitting time later today. I can only work on small projects in the car while John is driving and I really want to make some headway on Teri’s blanket. Not that it will be done by the end of the Olympics. On the side is a picture of tone of the yarns that I am using.

So have a good evening and enjoy your families.

Today

Not a lot got done today. I went with friends out to breakfast and was reminded why we don’t go out for breakfast very often. I choose to avoid milk, eggs (they just don’t like me) and pork products, so there is not much left on the menu to eat. Don’t get me wrong the Good Egg at Orange Grove and Thornydale in Tucson has home fries worth going back to eat again, combined with a half an order of fruit and ice tea, it was not a bad meal.


We went off to the gem show and went to 2 different venues. Since I go to the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show more often than most of my friends I was the guide and the Navigation system rolled into one. I am glad that everyone found what they were looking for. I hope it gave me some street creds for being the lone Tucsonan in the group. We left just as it started to rain and by the time we were half way home I was glad that I was not driving.

With Eric’s help I listed more stitch markers in my Art Fire Studio; you will find the link on the side of my blog. I am up to 49 listed items and hope that something sells soon. Yes I know the pictures are not the best but I am getting better.Handmade~by~Sheri

So soup and something warm to go with it maybe homemade biscuits; for dinner.

Have a great evening and enjoy your families

My Day

Well I had a good day. The Pomo said that Eric’s lungs were very clear- this is a big yeah. But the bad news is Repository Synctial Virus or RSV for short is making the rounds here. I said that he already had it as a baby, but alas this is one of the few viruses that you cannot develop immunity to. Worse yet in lives outside of the body for up to 8 hours that right 8 hours. Even worse it makes a lot of secretions and leads to asthma or bronchitis.


I did get to class today; they were running about 10 minutes late which was great. I had to drop Eric off at school before I went to class. It was a very good class today. I was so happy for a friend of mine, her son and his entire unit made it back safely from Afghanistan. With training it will be a while before he goes back. She must have nerves of steel.

I had lunch at a fairly new place in Tucson today. The Tucson Tamale Company on Broadway ½ block east of Tucson Blvd. The tamale was so good I picked up some for dinner. I think that I will try the corn instead of the beans next time. I also over heard good comments on the rice. When I am in that part of town I will definitely go back for more. All I can say is that it was a bit of heaven. I love a great tamale.

I even saw a road runner on the way home, How I love to look at them, but they move so fast.

Well it is time to go steam those tamales. I do love an easy dinner to make; the hard part will be opening the can of beans. One of these days I really will get an electric can opener- maybe for bad hand days.

Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

Failed - Soup

Ok so I had some help in the kitchen yesterday. Instead of frozen vegetables in the soup last night John and I, make that John sliced a lot of fresh vegetables for the soup. I was a lot of work and tasted all right, but not as good as with the frozen mixed vegetables. Sigh. Lesson learned. Kiss = keep it super simple.


After a second long night in a row with Eric we will be laying low today, on the list is lots of knitting and maybe some new stitch markers.

For those of you who are snow in, have fun with the kids and post the pictures of the snowmen you make. Have a great day and enjoy your families.

A Mixed Day

Today started out slow and blah. Errands and a trip to the court house to turn in a duplicate copy of the papers we mailed in December that they lost, well actually they shredded them, because we did not put an envelope inside an envelope with a cover memo taped to the inside envelope. And yes I did pay one dollor for an envelope so that I did not have to make a return trip. Now really was that necessary. Haven’t they heard of the save the earth movement and a reduction of paper usage?

So I headed off to the gem and mineral show by Tucson Electric Park. I have got to tell you that two and one half hours was not enough time. I had a fun time shopping and looking around. I missed last year’s show and this show just seemed to grow by leaps and bounds.

I did find some cute little things that are being made into stitch markers and they will have their first showing at knitting tomorrow and if any are left will go to my studio. Eric was a good helper when we sat together to make the stitch markers, I think anytime I am just sitting with him is a good time for him. I have not been this relaxed in a long time. So it is time to go make dinner.

Have a good evening and enjoy your families.

I Think I might Just be Over my Head.

I am in over my head in on-line challenges, don’t get me wrong but I should really limit myself to one challenge at a time and maybe one project at a time. I just feel so scattered right now.


There is the traveling shawl twitter challenge, I think that I am doing ok in the pace that I am knitting it, but yesterday someone showed off her finished shawl, and I felt like a really bad knitter and very slow. The challenge started Wednesday and I am half way through the first third so I know that I should not feel bad, it should get done before the deadline. This is also my first lace work.

On another challenge for a stash buster project I choose to make a queen size blanket, I am making good progress on this and have started the second row of modular blocks. I only stopped knitting last night when my hands became too stiff to move. I know I will go through lots of yarn on this one and it should be done in time for a housewarming present for Teri’s first apartment. I told her it would take three to six months to finish so I don’t feel bad about the pace of this project.

On the fast track projects for charity knitting I finished two scarf’s this week and casted on a third one this morning. I do love knitting on size 11 needles for quick projects, I feel that I am really accomplishing something and the projects are small enough to take with me.

I have not worked on the socks this week; I think that I will finish them up after the shawl is done. I have also done enough hats for a while, I think that I could do them in my sleep and so I need to do other things.

I am off to organize things, it is almost the end of January and spring cleaning is right around the corner. The trend that I noticed this week was cleaning the craft/workrooms up, I am pretty sure that I should follow the flow on this one. So I am off to clean. I am just wondering if I should put all my UFO’s in one place or would that be too depressing?

Have a great weekend and enjoy your families.

I Spoke Too Soon.

Last night I spoke to soon. I did not get Eric to sleep till 12:30 this morning. He was very fussy last night I could not figure out the problem. The good new is he is off to school this morning.

To celebrate my free day of housework and paper work I made hot sipping cocoa and have an apple bread in the oven. Of course I will take time to knit. If I am awake enough later I will work on my twitKal knit along, other wise it will be Teri's blanket I can do modular blocks in my sleep.

Have a very productive day and enjoy your families.

Knitting A Calming Influence

I can see the calming influnce of knitting for the knitter. I have yet to figure out why it calms Eric down when he is fussy. All it took was 6 rows on a scarf before he drifted off tonight. Now that I am wide awake again, I will work on Teri's blanket some more tonight. Going to bed on time works only if Eric stays asleep.

Have a great day and enjoy your families.

I Am Having a Great Day

Well I guess my body has adjusted pretty well to a life without diet soda/aspertame and high fructose corn syrup. Today’s lunch at Costco was a hot dog and sauerkraut with a drink, the $1.50 special. I skipped the diet soda entirely and did not even consider having it, so I tried the regular soda made with high fructose corn syrup and for some reason it just tasted bitter.

I also took full advantage of today and got all my errands for the week done so I can spend the rest of the week doing paper work and getting other things done around the house. It is 5 pm and I still have energy so being off the junk might just be helpful to my body.

I am not quite at yesterdays step count I am only a little over 10,000 steps for the day verses over 15,000 for yesterday but I did get a lot of stuff done, so I can't complain.

Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

Teri's Blanket, A progress Report.

This is a picture of Teri’s new blanket in progress. The first row is done and I am on the second square of the second row. As you can see it stretches across most of the den floor. This is going to be a queen size blanket with 15% more added for the shrinkage the yarn package tells me will happen with the first wash. I want to thank John for calculating the size increase otherwise it would have been too small once it was washed.

This is a stash busting challenge from My 8 Kids Mom otherwise known as the counting Sheep Farm.   http://www.countingsheepfarm.com/ It was started a week ago.

The blanket is being knit on size 7 needles with Lion Brand and Pakucho 100% organic cotton yarn. The great thing about these yarns is they are grown in the colors as shown and will intensify with washing. This makes it perfect for a busy student and should last a long time.

Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

A Good End to a Rocky Day.

My day started at 5 am, not to whine but I really like to sleep till 6 am. I find it amazing how I can go from a sound sleep to running at full speed when I hear Eric eyrp. Eric's morning aide Joe was wonderful. I even got to make a pedilyte run before he left at 8 am.

I knew the casher at the store was cranky when she saw my full cart. Yes it is amazing how fast I can fill up a large shopping cart. 30 minutes flat today, but the good news was I got healthy stuff to munch on instead of junk food. Well anyway I had to wait 5 minutes for another cashier to come and the assistant manager finally checked me out even though the only open check stand was empty. I am so glad I was not having the cashier’s day.

Once home the perishables were put away and I left the other stuff on the table till I had time. Eric managed to make 4 loads of laundry by himself between 5 am and 10 am. I did manage to get it all washed and folded and most of it put away. There was some knitting that got done while I was sitting with Eric, about 2 squares on Teri’s blanket, it has a nice easy pattern on size 7 needles so it’s not a bad knit and can be put down in mid row without losing my place.

Once Eric started feeling better there was keeping him amused and busy. I really do love the DVD of “Elmo Loves You” and thank goodness for Handy Manny, Bear in the Big Blue House and all the other shows that Eric likes to listen too.

When Kayla his afternoon aide came I managed to get all Eric’s food and feeding supplies organized. I just have to finish doing the rest of the cleaning up done. So now that my break is over it is back to play catch up so it does not look like a storm ran through here today.

I plan on having a great evening with John and relaxing, I sincerely hope that this plan stays in place. Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

Am I Getting Old?

Well it had to happen sometime, that sign that in my humble opinion that one is getting old. A nice woman in her 30's rushed to open the door for me while I was out on my errands. I did not even have Eric with me. The only thing I was holding was my purse. I was gracious and did say thank you, but it did leave me a little shaken, did I look that old? Did I look my age?
On my next stop after that I rushed to the ladies room to check to see if I was getting visibly older. No crow’s feet or major wrinkles; thank goodness. No visible grey thanks to that lovely little bottle of color. People always seem taken aback when I reveal my age; this is not anything new. But I must have crossed that invisible line and now look old; I guess it's time to throw that vanity out the window and try to age gracefully.
Since I have played hooky all day it’s time to go get some housework done. I have a young man in the house who thinks his main chore is to make laundry so I will have something to do when he feels well enough to go to school.

Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

Thing are "Starting to get back to "Normal"

Thing are "Starting to get back to "Normal" at least for this house. Eric had a long night but thankfully slept till 3:30 this afternoon , so I kinda got my style of rest. My style of rest is defined by start a load of laundry do some pick up followed by a short nap. Then a late breakfast followed by some more chores and knitting. All the while while keeping an eye on the sick child in case he decides to do anything funny, which was a no today. A late lunch and doing some prep work for Eric tonight, laying out supplies. It is 5:30 pm and I am so tired.  With a slow day like today I should be full of pep but can't wait for bed time.

Teri is back on track and I have started the 5th square of her blanket. I don't think I can get it done soon enough, it will be cold and rainy for her all week and the blanket is not even big enough to keep me warm yet.

I am still fighting the lingering effects of this cold, it has been a week now and I am tired of it. I think there should be a rule that colds can not last longer than a day or two.

It is almost time to make Eric's dinner, so have a great evening and enjoy your families.

Can't get over this Cold.

I have been sick this week. Fighting the cold I pick up last week end. But I thought I would share the view my dad pick out. This was the first time since I had been there since December 2008. I am so glad it was a sunny and warm day.

I have been trying to do some knitting and have finished one sock and cast on the second sock, the socks are for me. I cast on a scarf for a friend and found 39 skeins of yarn to start a queen size blanket for Teri. By the way a queen size blanket is 60 x 80 inches plus the boader. So the 39 skeins will not go far. I guess I will just have to buy a few skeins to finish the project.
Eric is doing ok for it being the middle of Janauary, he only had 3 bad nights this week. So we are doing ok.

Have a wonderful week and enjoy your families.

Fundraiser for Doctors Without Boaders.

Do to the Earthquake in Haiti until January 31,2010 100% of sales will go to Doctors Without Boaders. I will eat the cost of the yarn and the labor for this fundraiser. The last earthquake I was in was a 6.8 I can not imagine going through a 7.0 quake.

http://www.tinyurl.com/handmadebysheri

No matter what we as a family go through on a daily basis it is nothing compared to what they are going through in Haiti right now. So please feel free to forward this blog post to anyone who might be able to help.

If you would like to donate to Doctors Without Boarders directly you can use this link:

http://doctorswithoutborders.org/donate/

Thank you in advance and enjoy your families.

Runners Needed

Team Sjogren's - There Is Still Time to Sign Up!

Our next Team Sjögren's event will be the Country Music Marathon in Nashville, Tennessee on April 24. Have you been thinking about training for a marathon? Or do you know someone that might be interested in running on behalf of Sjogren's patients?

There is still time to become a member of Team Sjogren's. So far we have 16 participants registered and we would love to add more to make Team Sjogren's a real presence on the course during the race.

If you're interested in participating, or want more information, contact Steven Taylor at 800-475-6473 x211 or staylor@sjogrens.org to get all your questions answered.

Visit to Mom's

I am visiting with my mom this weekend. I t has been a great visit so far. Mom and I had a great day yesterday. Eatting out and shopping. I even found those elusive Cal King deep pocket sheets that I could not find in Tucson. Who would have thought you had to go to California to find them. My amazing mom found a shipping place so that I don't have to lug them through the airport, yeah mom.

I saw my younger brother, my sister-in-law and 2 of my nieces at lunch yesterday, I can not belive that their oldest is in 5th grade, I want to know how she got that old that fast. They are doing a great job with their girls.

We ate dinner at a local Italian restruant, Sergio's on Devonshire street in Chatsworth. If your are in the area the food is wonderful. I had the Vegi pizza with no cheese, it was an execellent choice, I have not seen a pizza piled that high with vegis in a long time. The salad bar was a very simple yet basic bar, the fresh beets were amazing. If you are in Los Angeles any time soon this is a must go to place.

I also managed to start a sock and knit 5 1/2 inches.  If I am lucky, I don't know if lucky is the word that I am looking for. I am going to turn the heal today. I am bad at heels, I guess I just need more practice.

Todays is going to be the hard part of the trip. We are going to the cemetary to visit dad. For me it is the first time since we left him there. I am bring two heart shaped rose quartz stones to leave for dad. I really hope that he likes them. It has been a hard year without him, but in my heart I know that he is still some place between great and fantistic.

Well I am off to start my day. Enjoy your families and have a great day.

Fab Break

We had a fabilous winter break with Teri and she has arrived safetly back at school. I am trying to work off the 3 pounds I put on and am half way there. Did I mention that we went to all her favorite places and ate out a lot. we also stopped by all her favorite desert spots, some like Frost more than once in a week.

Just waiting for my phone to charge so I can finish packing. I am soloing out to see my family for 2 days I hope to have fun with everyone. I have not seen them for 1 year. It will be nice to leave work behind for 2 days.

I have packed 2 skeins of sock yarn so hopefully I will have I pair done by Monday afternoon.

Have a great weekend and enjoy your families.

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.