I Love Small Knitting Projects

I love small knitting projects. They make me feel like I have accomplished something. With laundry and child care that never ends it feels like I am doing something concrete with my life. The hat I started yesterday was finished today. Then another hat was started. I have a lot of odd balls of yarn left over from other projects.  I try to blend the colors and yarn weights together to come up with unique colorways. I love to do hats with odds and ends of yarn I just never know what I will end up with. Since my Art Fire Studio is full stocked with hats I will be sending them off to kids in colder climates.

We had a nice slow day today. By the way did I mention I got some knitting done?  The weather was cool for this time of year only in the mid 80's but the humidity was near 30% all day. We were graced with a very small down pour tonight and a nice show of lighting.

We it is time to go put Eric to bed so have a great evening and enjoy your families.

New Recpie

I was up with Eric until 2:30 am and was up again to start the day at 6 am, a big yuck in my book. Eric managed to spend most of the day sleeping ; but sleep eluded me. I spent the day doing laundry, puttering and knitting. On the knitting front I was too tired to concentrate so I started a hat with the hat pattern I gave everyone yesterday. I made it through the brim and 6 rows into the stripes.

Just before lunch I came up with a brilliant idea, at least I thought so. Iced Moroccan Mint Tea with Boba a kinda of east meets another part of the middle east. Boba are large tapioca balls that are found in the Asian section of some stores or the Vietnamese section of speciality Asian stores.

Make the Moroccan Mint tea as per package directions on the stronger side.

Make the Boba according to package directions. Drain. The link on the side of the page is for the type of Boba I used. The directions were very clear but I only cooked 1/2 cup of dried Boba which is enough for 4 drinks. Some people do use special wide straws but I forgot to pick them up and did just fine anyway.

In a heat proof glass add 1/4 cup of cooked Boba. Fill the glass to the top with ice. Pour the Moroccan Mint Tea over the ice and Boba. Let the ice do it magic and sit back and enjoy. Total prep to serving time less than 15 minutes.

This is not a sweet drink but it is a very refreshing drink. Personally I had almost a full tea pot of this this afternoon. Some Boba will come to the top when the glass is tilted but you will need a spoon to get all the goodness out of the glass.

I would like to remind everyone that Teri and I still have a contest going on. We only have 4 entries so your chances of winning a prize are good. check the past blog entry for all the details.

Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

The World has not Ended

I have done the finishing work in my basket to day and the world did not end. There are a total of 5 scarfs and 1 hat just off the needles today.

Because I love this hat so much I thought I would throw in a pattern today.

Supplies
Size 6 circular needles
size 6 dpn's
Scrap yarn

This hat can be made in 2 sizes small and large. The small one is for a child the large for a teen or adult.

Cast on 81 stitches for the small (place a stitch marker every 20 stitches) and 101 for the large(place a stitch marker every 25 stitches).

For the 1st stitch knit together the first and last cast on stitch, knit 1, purl 2 * knit 1 purl 2* for rounds 1 through 15.
*Added the second color and knit 2 rounds. be sure to twist the yarn on the inside for a more sturdy hat.
Go back to the first color for 2 rounds.* repeat these 4 rows until you have knit 32 rows of stockinette.
The crown is very easy. You will do a *ssk (slip,slip,knit) after each stitch marker and knit to the next stitch marker* repeat until you have 4 or 5 stitches on the needle.  Cut a tail and pick up the remaining stitches on the  darning needle go around once. Weave in the ends on the wrong side of the hat. About half way through the crown you will need to knit the stitches on to the dpn's. I divide the stitches by the stitch markers on to 3 dpns, this is not even but it works for me. The crown can either be done in a solid color or stripping every other row. I have done it both ways and both are easy and look good.

Have a good evening and enjoy your families.

PS let me know if you need clarification on the pattern. Please use this pattern for personal or charity use. If you make this pattern for profit please donate 15% of the money to a charity for children or to your local community food bank. This is the honor system.

A New Contest

I am having a new contest. Teri is very tired of PB&J sandwiches. I need to give Teri lunch suggestions that do not have to be refrigerated. They must also be Dairy Free - milk and milk products. Mayonnaise, chicken and eggs are fine. They must also be fast to make and hold up well. And most of all not drip on her books while she is studying.

The rules are very simple.

1. Follow my blog.

2. Leave a recipe for each entry. Also a way to contact you.

The Prize is a very large over sized Elizabeth Arden tote bag in pink.

You have until midnight Sunday August 22 to submit your entries. The contest will be judged by Teri, myself and whom ever we can rope in to read the recipes.

Good luck and have a great day.

This Weekend

I was so hopeful after summer camp when Eric managed to make it through the whole summer and missing less than 1 week of camp due to illness. The school year is not going as well. Eric had 2 days of school last week and missed the second one due to being sick. Well so much for our summer streak. I might just have to go to school and shadow him for a day to figure this out.

We have had a very busy weekend getting Eric back on his feet but I think we just might make it. He did manage to sleep through the night. After a full 6 hours of sleep for me, a lot has gotten done around the house this morning.

On the bright side I have knit just over a skein of yarn a day this weekend. Most of it was charity knitting, but I have come to the conclusion that I need to do more knitting for me and learn to be a bit more selfish with my time. Yes I know the need for warm weather items is going to be great this year, but I have all this nice yarn and so many patterns lined up for me. There are only so many hours in a day.

I only have a few minutes left of quiet before I need to get everyone going this morning so have a great day and enjoy your families.

The School Year has Begun

The school year has begun for Eric. Today was his first day back. I was so glad that we went out to meet the bus 20 minutes before the scheduled pick up time, because the driver was 10 minutes early. Apparently the school bus company and the school district do not see eye to eye on the bus schedule. I think I will go with what the bus driver says so I do not have to be mommy taxi for the school year. There are just somethings I have to roll with and this is one of them.

I thought I had a meeting today, but showed up 1 week early. Oops! So as long as I was out I went to Trader Joe's and did some shopping for things I forgot yesterday. Of course since it was Eric's first day back to school I had to do some knitting; as of 6:30 pm I have gone through 1 skein of yarn. Not to worry though I have a lot more yarn to go.

I did go through a lot of papers and found the floor of my closet where they had been tossed. After filling up the shredder basket 1 1/2 times today I got down to the things that need to be filed. I also found over a dozen peach stickers apparently no one had told me that I could trade 12 of them for a case of diapers. Of course I found this out the day after I place the last order. Timing is everything an I really don't have my timing down pat today.

I did do something that I have not done since Eric was a baby this week. I took 2 shifts of skilled nursing for Eric. I guess it was really past time for extra help with Eric. I find myself relaxed and less stressed. I have not been this relaxed since my few days with Teri. I see more skilled nursing shifts in our future. It is very hard to see the stress when I am in the middle of it.

I have just gotten the call that means it is time to make dinner. So have a great evening and enjoy your families.

Another Wonderful Day

This is the second day we have had Teri home for a very short visit before she starts her second year of law school. This was also day 2 of shop until you drop. Today we went to the Tucson Mall and did some very heavy duty shopping. A new phone, a suit and a few other goodies for Teri. New pants for John. I reserved the biggest purchase of the day for me, some hand sanitizer for my purse. John and Teri have dropped and I hate to wake them up for dinner when we finished lunch so late.

We are busy getting all the Tucson highlights in like favorite restaurants in to. Just a few of our stops so far Mayco's for taco's, Frost for sorbet, Micah's for corecodo a wonderful beefy vegetable soup served with flour tortillas Maynard's for lunch. Mr.An's for teppan. We do love to eat out. I think I need to find a Wii fit game with my name on it.

We have also made a stop at Bookman's another local favorite. If you are ever in Arizona: Bookman's has locations in most major cities in the state. There is nothing else like it.

Eric has finished camp for the summer and starts school again next week. He won the award for the best smile in camp this year. He is very happy to have Teri home and out of the computer. He has yet to figure out how Skype works and why Teri spends so much time living in the computer. I wonder what sibling things they are going to do this weekend?

Through it all I am busy knitting. I have finished 2 scarfs since Teri has been home and started another hat yesterday. I am trying to play catchup with my charity knitting. I don't think the economy has picked up enough for my studio to do much business yet.

Well it should be time to rouse the troops and decide on dinner or not. Me I could just go for a tray of appetizers and forget the main course.  Or even better just go straight to dessert. So have a great evening and enjoy your families

Please note that no one has asked for or paid for an endorsement in this blog. John and I covered all the cost associated with the restaurant and Bookman's visits. No discounts were given.

Almost Done

I have made remarkable progress on the hat for Eric's camp counselor It is almost done, I have it on 3 double point needles and doing a decrease at the beginning of every section. I promise that I will take a picture of it while I am blocking it. I have also learned that you can block a skull cap on a size 3 soccer ball for that perfect finish.

The best news of the day is that we will have 4 more days with Teri this summer. Well what I mean is I get 4 more days with Teri; and Eric and John will get their first 4 days with Teri. We have a flexible plan in place for her visit. We will go to Savers, which is a great place to buy clothes. Bookman's for a shopping spree. Mayco's for dinner one night. The rest is up to Teri.

I would like more visits with Teri, but we raised her to be independent and she is doing a great job of moving forward in life. I am so glad that I can say that she is my daughter. Well it is getting late and I know that it will not be an early bed time for a few days, every minute counts when your children are all grown up and you only get to see them a few times a year.

Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

The Hat

Well I have made progress on the infamous hat that is on its 3rd go around. I have only 5 rows of the chart left to do and then the easy part of the hat the top, just about as easy as the ribbing.

I an waiting for E to feel better so this will be a short blog and I am off to knit, not the hat but some easy garter stitch on a charity scarf.

Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

Waiting for My ipod to Charge

While waiting for My i- pod to charge to charge to night I will give a quick update of the rest of the week.

Tuesday went a whole lot better than Monday I made progress on the hat for Eric's camp counselor.

Wednesday got even better I was on a roll on the hat, the house got some attention. Eric's pod also got some attention 50 new songs were ripped in for a total somewhere over 2600 songs with no duplicates. I also learned that I can not flip from Eric's account to mine during the download process or everything and I do mean everything just stops down loading and aborts the job.

Thursday and Friday I got a whole lot of knitting done. I also found some time to make some new stitch markers. I hope to get some of them listed tomorrow or early next week. Friday was also a wonderful day for Eric, he got to give the big check to Ronald McDonald for the money he and his camp group raised for the Tucson Ronald McDonald's Children's House. They raised well over $500.00 to help the sick kids and their families. Eric and his friends were very excited to meet Ronald live and in person.

I was 5 rows from the end of the chart today when I dropped a stitch I could not recover so the whole hat had to be ripped out. I did manage to get all the ribbing re-done plus 5 more rows this afternoon and evening. This is a very challenging pattern for me but it will be done by Friday, the last day of camp.

Well I think my i-pod has enough charge to last a few hours so good night and enjoy your families.

In a Sorry Rut.

I am in a very slow rut today. I had coffee with friends which usually cheers me up, but not today. I am very happy that their children are doing new and exciting things from jobs to tennis lessons. Yes I know that these are the small things in life, but darn it it would be nice to see Eric do some of these things. Yes I know it is NEVER going to happen so it is time to move on from that subject. I need to put the green eyed monster away, I hate when he creeps out.

The hat I am making for Eric's camp councilor had a major boo-boo so 5 full rows had to be ripped out an another ugh for today. It is back to row one of the chart. On the positive side I did not have to take out the 15 rows of 1x1 ribbing. So the hat is a wash for today.

Teri's blanket sits idle on the couch waiting to be finished with the humidity in the house over 35% and the thermostat set to 80 it is to hot to knit a queen sized blanket. I am so glad that I have an understanding daughter.

So I am ramping up my charity knitting see how many cold weather items I can knit. The economy does not seem to be ramping up fast enough and I personally feel that there will be a high demand this winter. I know I can not knit enough for all those in need but I will try to fill at least 2 XXL Ziploc bags full of a variety of hand knit items. I mean what else is there to knit when it is the the high 90's low 100's with the humanity of the monsoons so high.

It is time to turn my day around. So it is time to go find a comedy to watch on TV, maybe "Hot in Cleavland" on Tivo,  if you have not seen it it is a must. Time to also get those needles moving.

Have a great day and enjoy your families.

Not a Nickle Short

Last night we went to the Elton John concert. I bought the tickets months ago and the concert was delayed one day due to food poisoning, not me it was Elton. We were seated in the rafters, I know this for a fact because there were not any rows of seats behind us.

John, Eric and I had a great time. The TCC Arena was packed. All was good. Elton claimed his concert was a nickle short but aside from 2 quick breaks everything was wonderful. The music was wonderful, the back up band was excellent. The solos were awesome.

I did notice that since his last concert in Tucson the audience has gotten a little grayer, except for us of course we are not any older. I did bring my knitting but it was promptly put away when the music started.

Ear protection firmly in place we sat back and enjoyed the music, until it was time to dance in the aisles, yes after all these years the music still holds up well. Eric seemed a little shocked that one of his favorite movies had music by Elton John, he really enjoyed Circle of Life.

John had an app for Candle in the Wind and joined all the pod users in the new millenniums equivalent of last century's lighter wave. John really enjoyed the concert too, but had to get up for work this morning. I feel a little guilty for sleeping in until  7 am this morning.

The base was up so high that we not only heard the music but Eric's chair picked up on the vibrations too. So I am getting ready to bring a tired child to camp and then doing some serious knitting today.

Thank you Sir Elton John and Band for a wonderful night. Everyone else have a great day and enjoy your families.

Being Grateful for Life

It is almost 2 am as I start to write this blog post. Eric is having a very bad night and I can not seem to get him to go to sleep. But as hard as some nights are I find that I must be very grateful for all that I have in my life.

I am grateful for an understanding husband who provides everything we need.

I am grateful for my daughter and her independence. She will change the world for the better.

I am grateful for the ability to do laundry in the middle of the night, while the house is cool. It might not get folded right away but at least it's clean. Thank you power and water company for reliable service.

I am grateful for my knitting, the ability to take bits of string and make warm clothing items for those who are not as lucky as we are. I can sit with Eric and get him through the worst and still have time to give back. We live in the world of Gd's creation and I hope to leave it in a better place than I have found it.

I am grateful for my wonderful husband and children. They help me define my goals in life. Yes even in the middle of the night I am grateful for Eric. He does make me rise to the occasion. I would like to add that G'd does give us more than we know we can handle, but how we step up to the challenge is what matters even if we fall short of Gd's expectations.

I am also very grateful for all my friends. You make my life so much easier.

I would like to know what you are grateful for in your lives. Please feel free to leave a comment.

It is beginning to get very quiet so I hope to be able to get at least a few hours of sleep this morning.

FDA Warning for 2 lots of Advair Diskus Inhalers

FDA Alert: Don't Use Stolen Advair Diskus Inhalers


The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warns consumers, pharmacists and wholesalers to be on the lookout for stolen Advair diskus inhalers.

The FDA says that "certain Advair Diskus inhalers stolen from a distribution warehouse in 2009 have been found in some pharmacies. The safety and effectiveness of the stolen inhalers cannot be assured and they should not be used."



The lot numbers, doses and quantities of the stolen Advair Diskus inhalers are:



Lot 9ZP2255 - NDC 0173-0696-00, Advair Diskus 250/50, 60 Dose,

Exp: Sep 2010 (14,400 inhalers)

Lot 9ZP3325 - NDC 0173-0697-00, Advair Diskus 500/50, 60 Dose,

Exp: Sep 2010 (11,200 inhalers)



You can find the lot number on the inhaler. If you think you may have one of the stolen inhalers, contact GlaxoSmithKline's Customer Response Center at 888-825-5249 and follow up with your physician or pharmacist for a proper replacement.



Click here to read the full statement from the FDA. http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm219397.htm


www.aanma.org

ww.GreatAmericanAsthmaChallenge.org

http://aanmablog.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/AANMA

http://twitter.com/AANMA

Please feel free to pass this on to friends and family who use Advair Diskus Inhalers

Bake Sale Announcment

On Wednesday, July 21, 2010 Eric's camping group Taglit will be holding it's annual Bake Sale.
It will be held from 10:00am to 3:30pm in the JCC lobby. The main parking lot is at the corner of Alvernon and Dodge it's big enough not to miss.

This year all the proceeds will benefit the Tucson Ronald McDonald House. This is a place where families can stay while their children are receiving treatment away from home, at a very nominal cost to the families.

In addition to the basket of goodies on the left, which is full of scarfs, bookmarks(the squiggly looking things) what nots, coasters and last but not least wash cloths. Yes the basket does look a bit empty and I am still making more goodies for it.

There will also be cookies, cupcakes, Rice Krispie Treats, brownies and lemon bars.

If you have any soda pop tops I will also leave a box for you to drop them off during the bake sale. Please put them in a clean Ziploc bag. The Tucson Ronald McDonald house uses the money raised from the soda pop tops to help pay the utility bills and other expenses. This is a year round project for Eric, he really does like helping the sick kids and their families.

So please stop by and get a mid-day snack or pick up something for a dessert treat for later in the day. While you are there you might want to also take a peek at the sculpture garden.

Please feel free to copy this post on put it on local bulletin boards.

Home

I had a great visit with Teri. I am now home.

On a sad note I had to frog everything I brought on vacation with me. But on the bright side I get more knitting time out of the yarn.

Happy to be home. I miss Teri already.

Enjoy your families.

Vacation So Far or My Adventures with Teri

Yesterday we started off the morning at an awesome donut shop not far from Teri's place called Physico Donuts, I kid you not a real place with really wonderful vegan doughnuts and the others doughnuts looked pretty awesome. I will post their address in a vacation summary when I get home. Then it was off to the mall for some serious shopping and walking. After dropping everything of at Teri's place we went to an awesome Art and Wine Festival that Teri found. We had some really fresh  fruit to start lunch off. Followed by so fresh roasted corn. We found a fish and chips booth that served fish and chips and the fries we covered with fresh garlic. I have never had anything like that before, but they were wonderful.  I wonder if it has anything to do with being so close to Gilroy, but I will definitely have them again and find a recipe to post on line. Yes the were really that good.

We had a great time walking around the art festival and saw a lot of incredible arts and crafts for sale. Since this is really a brief summary I will blog about the artists we found in a later blog.

After a 4 hour nap Teri brought in sushi for dinner at 9 pm. After a little girl chat it was off to sleep.

Today was another wonderful day. We started out at an impressionist art exhibit in Golden Gate park. with some great and not so great paintings. I think I like the Monet exhibit at the Phoenix Museum of Art is slightly better and they seem to have a better flow to their traveling exhibits. But I digress a little bit. The Original picture of Whistler's Mother was great, along with Monet's flag line street and a few others. Please try to go to this exhibit if you are in San Francisco during the show. A little pricey but worth the money.

We had Tea and sweets at the Japanese Tea garden an did walk around a little, but I was on the tired side and even with a snack in my tummy I really wanted lunch. Teri took me to a wonderful Dim Sum place for lunch. I shall also post the name and address of the Dim Sum place in my summary. We walked around the newer China Town in San Francisco.  We then headed off to a factory tour but I did not get good vibes about the neighborhood it was in so we drove by and left. We then headed to a place called the Embarkadro. We had some local tea from Pete's tea and did a little shopping.

It is now 7 pm so I think I will wake my driver up so we can go and get some dinner. Did I mention how nice it is to be chauffeured around by a daughter who drives. The boys seems to be have fun at home also. I hear that they went to Miss Saigon's and Frost yesterday. Well have a great evening and enjoy your families.

A Travel Day

Today has been a rather long day, it started at 3:30 this morning. I would like to say that I was the only traffic on First Avenue until I got to Prince. I managed to miss the turn I was suppose to take to get to the airport, but made it there anyway. I did make some serious progress on my sock, I am at the heal flap and only have to tink 4 rows to fix the mistake.   Two plane hops later my darling daughter Teri meet me at the baggage claim area. After hugs it was time to find my checked bag and head to lunch.

We had way to much food for lunch and went back to her apartment to catch up. Then it was off to Starbucks for me for some more serious knitting, while Teri went to class.  After a short nap we went out to dinner with some of her friends.  They are a nice group of young adults. Well it is pumpkin time for me.  Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

It has been a while since I blogged

Eric has been home sick so many days that I have lost track of time. I have been busy cleaning, knitting and packing. On the knitting front I have almost finished a full basket of scarfs,what nots, coasters,bookmarks and wash cloths for Eric's camp fundraiser.  They have chosen the Tucson Ronald McDonald House. When I have a date I will post it on line. I have been doing a lot of light cleaning and not the heavy duty fill the Goodwill box and recycle bin type of cleaning.

On a very happy note I will be leaving the guys at home and going to see my daughter tomorrow. If you see me at the airport I will be the very,very excited one. A visit with Teri is better than a shopping spree at my local yarn store. Sorry yarn stores but some things are even better than yarn.

And yes I will be trying to finish the pair of red socks that I started when Teri and I went to look at law schools. I am really on the second sock. Apparently it is easier for Teri to finish one year of law school than it is for me to finish one pair of socks. I have also packed a very easy to do 1 skein shawl pattern.  Since I will let Teri do the driving I am sure to get a lot done after all it is on size 8 knitting needles.

I have not decided if I am going to try to borrow a computer or wait until I get home to blog. But Teri has some exciting things planed for us to do. I do hope she has saved time for long talks because I really miss them.

So I am going to wrap up the odds-n-ends and take care of Eric. Maybe I will even have time to knit before 8 pm tonight. I want everyone to have a great day and enjoy your families.

Toasted Hands

You have read about the fundraiser for Eric's camp. I have been trying to make a large basket full of handmade items. With so little time I decided to pull out the crochet hook because it is a lot faster than knitting. But after only four days I can sadly report that my hands are toast. They are swollen and stiff. I will finish the one wash cloth I have on the hook.

Yes I will still make items for the sale but at a much slower pace with my knitting needles. So this morning I will look for fast, easy and small items to knit for the sale. I am also thankful for my friends like Nancy of  knittinancy http://www.artfire.com/users/knittinancy who has donated 2 wash clothes to the sale. By the way check out her shop she makes wonderful bean bags and is one of our area best knitting teachers. I know that she has made my knitting much better, and I am not the best student in the world.

So I am off to look for some patterns and do some knitting. Enjoy your families and have a very safe and happy July 4th weekend. Please be sure to use your designated drivers.

Another Fundraiser on the way

I had a request from Eric's camp, people want to buy my wash cloths and what knots from the kids. So I will be making up a batch and put everything else on hold till I knit/crochet up a basket of odd ball yarns into what knots, wash cloths, scarfs and what every else I can think of that is quick and easy.

I just wonder why; if they like them so much they just don't go to my web site and buy them direct. I price them the same. Oh well I just have to look at the donation as goodwill and a nice tax deduction. Also it is a good way to get the odd balls out of the house.

The current count 7 wash cloths and 2 what knots done.  Not bad for 2 days work. Maybe I can get it all done before the July 4th weekend.

Well I am off  to do something non productive. Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

Knitting Update

I made a lot of progress knitting yesterday. It seems I spent most of the day knitting. I made it past the 3 foot mark on Teri's blanket only 4 feet by 125 inches more to knit before the boarder. I am hoping for a September or October finish on that one. By the way this was started January 15 and is a little large to knit anywhere but on the couch.

The sweater that I started in the spring of '09 is now on the road to being finished. This week I tinked the lace that came out oh so wrong. I am now doing a fan and feather bottom. This is a top down sweater. I have completed 4 pattern repeats. I just need to add 10 or 12 more inches to this one and then the sleeves and edging.

I finished Eric's new winter hat and blocked it. It was finished on a day that was 107 so needless to say he did not get to wear his new wool hat. It is the first item I have ever blocked and it does make a difference  especially  on cable patterns. Did I mention that this is my first time doing cables? Eric's camp one on one like it so much I have started one for her too. 

I have also passed the half way mark on the baby blanket that never seems to end.

I will post pictures when I find my camera, I know it is somewhere in my purse. Look for pictures later in the week. I am now going to go work on Teri's blanket. Have a great day and enjoy your families.

Exercise

OK it's just me thinking out loud and looking for answers. This is all about exercise. I get a good routine going and start to feel really good, but when I put in more than one 20 hour day in a week my exercise routines just go by the way side.

I know long work days are just part of being a part of Eric's life. I guess I just need ideas on how to balance long days which lead to exhaustion and no exercise. So dear readers please throw any suggestions into the hat. I am sure we could all use some more wisdom in our lives.

Well my help leaves in 10 minutes so it is time to start another long day. Chores don't go away when Eric gets sick they just seem to multiply so its time to go off to work. Have a great day and enjoy your families.

Today

OK Eric and I are both under the weather today. So I started with all those knitting projects I did not want to do. First I picked up a baby blanket in Eric's room and made good progress, at least 6 more rows done. It is a square blanket done on point, so the rows are getting smaller.

When I got help this afternoon I tore out 4 inches of lace knit with out a life line and then picked up all the stitches back on the needle and picked a different pattern. It's a fan and feather stitch pattern with 3 rest rows and 1 pattern row. This is the sweater that I want to finish but got mad at myself because I goofed up the lace pattern and it has been sitting almost a year. It is time to get this sweater done. I placed stitch markers every 18 stitches so if I goof this I hopefully will not have to go back very far. I figure stitch markers in knitting are like pins in quilting, you can never have too many.

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

Day 4 of Over-tired Me

It has been 4 very long nights with Eric. Last night ended this morning at 2:30 am. I was just to darn tired to even do laundry last night. After getting Eric to camp late today.  I did take a me day today. Some knitting, walking and shopping.

I did run across a very interesting sales person today at a new store in the mall. I wanted a particular style and size they had it in stock but she would not sell it to me. The reason being she was a professional and she wanted me to wear a different style. When I explained why I wanted that particular style she told me that she still would not sell it to me a dismissed me from the store. I am sorry big company that hired you, this haughty sales lady but my money is just as green as anyone else's money and I am a few years past the point that I want to be bullied by a rude sales person. I want what I want; not what you insist on selling me. I will not be going back to your store again. By the way this was a store in Tucson, not on 5th Avenue, Rodeo Drive or other fancy local.

It is a shame that in this poor economy that companies still insist on hiring rude haughty sales people. I am quite sure I would have the same reaction to this sales person even if I had more than 16 hours of sleep in the past 4 days. No mall store can afford to turn away customers with money to spend just because the sales people want to sell something other than what the customer wants. I do understand incentive programs where you want to push a particular product, but to push a shopper out of your store without a sale just  because they won't buy the item of the day is just plain bad business.

Other than the rude sales person, I have had a fantastic day. I am too tired to nap if that makes any sense to anyone else but me. But I did take time to put my feet up and relax. I will shop for dinner after Eric's aide comes tonight. I need something light but hardy at the same time.  Well have a great evening and enjoy your families.

This Weekend

This weekend has been a lay low weekend for us. Eric shared his cold with me which lead up to a flare up for me. Eric then became eyrpy tonight, cold followed by eyrpy is usually not a good sign. So we will probably skip camp tomorrow and join the crowd at the doctors office.

John has decided to post phone Fathers Day for a week to give Eric time to recoup. The plus side of this is that it will not be crowded next weekend when we go out.

I have a lot of yarn to keep me busy this week. I will post pictures of Teri's blanket when I hit the 3 foot mark. At that point the blanket will be a little over 1/3 done. I need to step up the pace to get it done for this winter. It has taken me 6 months to knit 3 feet, the question is can I knit 4 feet  plus a boarder in 3 months?

Well I am off to check on Eric and do some more knitting. Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

What I like About Summer Walks

I love early morning or early evening walks in the dessert. The dessert is so alive with lizards, bunnies and quail running around. They always seem to be chasing one another. It is so fun to watch. The snakes and the Gila monsters are slow enough to walk away from before we get to close to each other, although I find them nice to watch too. Entertainment and exercise at the same time, talk about fun multi tasking.

And finally I need someone to help me figure out how the scissors got underneath the washing machine and how to get them out. I have already tried a hanger and my sewing magnet. Any suggestions?

Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

Not a Cookie in Sight

There was not a cookie in sight but I decided to to some very deep cleaning anyway today. Well maybe not so deep, an area of of about 1 square foot covered with 12 inches or so of papers. It took a long time to get that deep. From the papers on the bottom of the stack, I would say about 2 years. I did find my way to the counter top; but the best part was I put 1 box of papers in the recycle barrel and shredded 1 1/2 bags of other stuff.

The lesson I learned from the whole process today was you can get rid of paper. It really does not hurt. It is fun to fill the recycle bin as full as possible. Next time though I am going to get a box of cookies or make a small pan of brownies to quell my anxiety about the cleaning process.

I do come from a long line of pack rats, I know this because I have help clean out a house or 2 in my time and do not intend to let Teri deal with my mess of papers and unneeded objects. I am trying to do my best not to follow in their foot steps.

For those in the U.S. I hope you had a great Flag Day. Well have a great evening and enjoy your families.

Just an Update

Not much has been happening since my last post. I have been cleaning and knitting. I am almost half way through Eric's new hat for school. I hope to have it finished soon. I am on row 9 blocks 7 of 17 blocks wide on Teri's blanket. After row 9 is done I have only 12 rows of 17 blocks left to knit. Then I will add a small boarder. So when finished Teri's blanket will be 21 rows long by 17 blocks wide. I really hope that this will be big enough, because I am not doing a redo on this blanket. I am using a mitered square/modular block with an initial cast-on of 41 stitches be square on size seven needles.

The boys surprised me last night with a dinner out for my birthday. I cannot remember the last time we went out on a Saturday night. Macyo's was good as usual. If you are in Tucson or Phoenix you must stop by one of their locations and have the chicken taco's. Be sure to leave room for the soapia's for dessert.

On the cleaning front I can say with certainty that I no longer have any shirts in my drawers from the last century. Yes the shirts from 1984 that have Hawaii across them should be at Goodwill sometime next week. The shirts commemorating the 1994 Northridge earthquake are also gone. I think I can now safely classify myself as a pack rat in remission. I still have a long way to go, but I did not save it in one day, it is not going to be gone in one day.


Well it is time to do some knitting or shopping for dinner. So have a great evening and enjoy your families.

Mayco's has not paid for a spot in this blog, we have been happily eating at Mayco's since 1994. It is a family favorite.

Today

I was a long night with Eric last night but I did manage to get all the laundry done last night. Although you have guessed correctly that is is yet to be folded.

After I dropped Eric off at camp I took the advice of a friend and took a nap. Well the morning was then gone. But after a light lunch I managed to get 3 baskets of mics. papers out to the recycling bin for a total of 4 baskets for the day.

On the knitting front I finished one more charity scarf and started another on the same small needles. I started another block on the blanket that never ends, well it will end but I am only approaching the 3 foot mark and have 4 feet left to knit. My one word of advice on this project. Never ever knit a queen sized blanket on size seven needles unless you really, really love the person receiving the blanket very much.

Well I am recharged again and am off to do more chores. Maybe I will even finish folding the laundry. have a great evening and enjoy your families.

It Really Needed to be done

Well I did do some really deep cleaning today. I went through a box of old school papers from the kids. A very teary victory was mine. There were 2 full baskets of paper for recycling and less than 1/2 a box of journals, pictures, and year books for Eric.

I also started organizing all those patterns that I am going to knit someday. OK not really organized but put in order, stapled, put in protective covers, and placed in a note book. It really is the first step. Once they are all in protective covers I will organize them by projects, socks, shawls, sweaters, etc...

I also got 40 stitches done on my kcal with they Raverly group The Counting Sheep farm. I know it does not sound like much but row 5 of the chart is very challenging for me.

Well it is time to say goodnight and enjoy your families.

Today

Today almost my entire day was spent knitting. Need I really say more about my day.

Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

Eric's First Day of Camp

Well today was the first day of camp for Eric. Eric’s one on one is a wonderful young lady that picked up on everything Eric very quickly. She had even managed to pick up tube feeding before we even finished lunch.


We had a brief tour of behind the scenes of the Tucson zoo and then went to lunch. It had been a long time since I had been to the zoo and I did like all the improvements that have been made. They now have a real lunch room with a real food menu. The snack only menu is a thing of the past.

After we got back one of the closing games was to remember each person’s name. One of the new campers could not pronounce our last name so I became Mrs. Eric. The first time I was called Mrs. Eric, Eric turned red but then he decided that it was a good name for me.

After a full day at camp with Eric I came home and sent scooba on his way and started the laundry. Then it was time to give Eric his evening breathing treatment and fold the laundry from last night. While Eric was doing his breathing treatment I almost finished the scarf that I had been working on for 3 days. I am using up the yarn from my stash that requires size 3 knitting needles. After a quick dinner of fish and chips it is now time to clean scooba and charge him for tomorrow. Then I can take the time to relax.

Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

A Big Sale

Hi everyone. I have just the thing to get your holiday weekend going. As you know I am an early holiday shopper I either get the shopping done early or heaven only knows when you will recieve your gift. Since the holidays are just around the corner you know your personal big holidays: I will give you the early bird a gift.

Use the code     Holiday Sale 10     In my ArtFire shop for 10% off everything in my shop.

Happy Shopping. I will add more items as time permits.

Enjoy this holiday weekend and enjoy your families.

Only 2 more hours left of the school year. I think Eric spent most of it home with me this year. I am really hoping for a turnaround for the coming year. But only time will tell.


I am tired after a long night and a busy day. So have a great start to the summer (yes I know you are going into winter in the southern hemisphere and I hope the winter flies by for you. I am defiantly a summer person) and enjoy your families.

A Wonderful Day

Today was a very busy day. I started off at the Honda dealership for what I thought was 1 recall and got there to find that there were actually 2. But they were done in less time than I had thought. I finished 1 UFO and almost finished a second ufo when they were done with my car.


Then off to Target for a high school graduation gift for Eric’s friend Eric H. They have been friends since pre-school. I cannot believe that they are getting that old. Of course I am not getting any older, just my kids are getting older; it must be some physics anomaly that they have not bothered to figure out yet.

I did get a great deal at CVS today; there were a lot of buy one get one free items and a lot of coupons. My total savings was $77.43, and some things I will not have to buy again for 6 months.

After a quick lunch the decision was made that there were no good movies in the theater. So I took Eric to the park today. We went to Jacob’s park which has the Milagro playground. If you have not been it is wonderful for children in wheelchairs. It is completely ramped and even has a rocking boat for parents who cannot lift their children out of their chairs for the regular swings. Our local Rotary Club did a great job on the design and installation of the play area. Eric and Kayla had a great time running around the structure and using the rocking boat. I on the other hand got more knitting done. I almost got another scarf done.

I know that I knit more scarf’s, poncho’s blankets and hats than my family could possibly use but I keep knitting them anyway knowing that the right person will get the right item in the long run. G’D has a habit of making that happen on a regular basis.

I did things backwards today and did my errands first. Well it is time to start the chores for the day. Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

The Contest Winners

We have a contest winner. This is for the winner of the basket of yarn.
Chelsey said...


I'm following!

Since I had so many people twitter and not log in to the contest page I have decided to add a second prize. The prize is a set of stitch markers. the winner is tracyliskbrown.

So If you could send me your address I will send out the goodies.

I Am Back to Me

I think I am back on an even kneeling. It started out so simple I had a plan, a very wonderful plan. Friday I was going to go out and knit with my friends at the mall; then go out to lunch with the same friends and have a some wonderful me time. This is when G’D thought my plans were not to be. Thursday night Eric had that eyrpy look and choose pedilyte over what we like to call white gold, seriously this stuff is wonderful 1 calorie per mil, yes that's 250 calories per 8 ounces. Well even with the pedilyte we had eyrpy over night that continued until 10:30 am on Friday. So much for my plans, they went straight out the window.


Between bedtime and 10:30 am Eric made 4, yes count ‘em 4 loads of laundry. Usually this does not throw me into a tail spin, but Friday was just one of those days. Things tend to go right out of sync when things go a wryer. The mood unfortunately carried right through to Monday, along with the out of sorts of things that go along with it. Everything I touched seemed to go wrong. But things started going right about 12:30 pm today. I was more than ready for a change.

So my theme for the week will be onward and upward. Look out house and world here I come. Have a good evening and enjoy your families.

My Very Late Mothers Day Post

This is my very late Mothers Day post. I hope you enjoy the flowers as much as I do.  John and the kids have great taste in flowers. Have a great day and enjoy your families.

Malware and Other Harmful Junk

The topic of malware came up this morning on Twitter. I am far from a computer expert but John has installed Norton Primier 360 on our computer. It seems to work pretty well in my non expert opinion. It even lets me know of sites that might have a problem and should be avoided. It can also be set up to run weekly scans and has patch update features available for the latest viruses.


I will provide a direct link to Amazon for the program. If you decide to use the link and purchase the program I will get referral fee. I have not been paid to write this blog and we have paid for our own copy of Norton Primer 360.

Have a great day and enjoy your families.

Living Life on the Sunnyside

I don’t know if it is just me but I try to find the upside of everything possible. Take today for instance. This was the second night in a row that allergies have kept me up at night and I feel a little on the crummy side of life.


So I slowed the pace down a bit today and only did 2 loads of laundry from start to finish. But I did get 3 blocks done on Teri’s modular blanket which finished another row of blocks, and started another row. I caught up on some old TV shows that were stored on TiVo.

Around lunch time I realized that I was still on my first glass of liquids for the day, so it was time to play catch up. I did manage to make 2 perfect glasses of iced soy chai tea. And have been pushing the liquids since. Physically I still feel blah, but I know the temperature will soon rise above 100 f and put all that pollen out of my misery.

Well John just got home and it is time to toss dinner in the oven and microwave. This is my version of not cooking. I am cooking baked fish and chips and microwave vegetables. This is defiantly a very lazy dinner.

By the way Teri has only one more final to go and it will be the end of her L-1 year.

Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

My Mother's Day

Well today was Mothers Day in the United States and all in all I had an ideal Mothers Day. I got to sleep in until 8 am, which is a luxury. We had a very slow morning followed by Dim Sum (Chinese sweet treats) for brunch. Followed by a quick trip to pick up odds and ends at the supermarket.


I do admit that I got a small chink in my armor today at the checkout line. I have not seen many of Eric’s friends from school since they graduated from high school. One of his friends was our cashier today, I am so proud of her; she is at the University of Arizona now. I did forget to ask what her major was; however. There was just enough emotion to make me a bit sad. I am happy for Eric’s friend and sad for all the roads Eric will never travel in this life.

When we got home we watched the movie the Invention of Lying, all in all a pretty good movie. During the Movie I got a quick call from Teri wishing me happy Mother’s Day. I did get a lot of knitting done today, a little on Teri’s blanket, a little on a baby blanket that I keep in Eric’s room, and a little on a lovely Llama and mohair scarf. I know I have multiple projects going, but it is more convenient to have different projects in different areas of the house and car.

John made a lovely salad for dinner and I cut the bread for the sandwiches which we each assembled to our own liking. We watched a little more TV after dinner and I did some more knitting and blogging.

Well it is now time to get ready for bed. 6:00 am comes awfully early. So have a great night and enjoy your families.

A Very Long Night

Last night was a very long night with Eric. Usually I can manage to get him to sleep by midnight, which is fine. I can knit, play word games, surf, do laundry find someone to chat with on Twitter. After 1 am those options seem to run out. I become too tired to do things that require a lot of thought. So I have come up with a list of quiet chores to do after 1 am. When everyone else is sleeping and I have to be wide awake to deal with the things that come up.


First there are thing that never should be done after 11 pm. These include paying bills, running any noisy appliances such as the vacuum. Watching anything on TV or TiVo that I want to comprehend. Knitting after midnight seems to leave my hands too tired to do anything the next day or two so that ends at about 11 pm. Sorting through paper work is also a no go unless I want to do the work twice.

So my list of quiet chores includes some of the following folding laundry, no critical thinking involved. Doing laundry, but unfortunately last night I was actually caught up on laundry. I also pick up around the house.So at around 2 am I came up the absolutely brilliant idea to mop the hallway and entryway. The plus side is that it needed to be done and the floor would be guaranteed to stay clean until at least 6 am when the day starts. With the hall floor mopped I moved on to the laundry room and did the worst spots in the kitchen. I admit it I am a wimp it was 3 am and I was beyond tired. So I did a little dusting and Eric was finally asleep at 3:30 am. Well I did manage to get to sleep till 6 am, wow a whole 2 and 1/2 hours. When Eric’s aide arrived at 6 am I managed to get a little more sleep until 8 am. For a total of 4 and 1/2 hours.

Good I had enough sleep to get me through the day, but not a lot would get accomplished. Around 9 am I struck the parents ideal, Eric who had been up most of the night sick for what I still cannot figure out finally took a nap. I got 4 more hours of blissful sleep. Then things started to get done again. Eric seems a lot more comfortable tonight. I am really hoping for a real night’s sleep, The kind where I get 6 to 8 hours in one stretch, only time will tell.

Well enjoy your families and have a goodnight.

It is Contest Time Again

I took advantage of my virtual day off today by organizing the yarn I dip into on a daily basis. The good news for me is that I have a better Idea of what yarn I have. There is also no yarn in the front hall closet. I thought a big announcement was the right thing for this mile stone of the de-stash process. By the way I also did find a stash of beads with the yarn so more stitch markers and earrings will be added to my shop.


It is contest time again at Handmade~by~Sheri. The good news for you is that I have a full basket of “What was I thinking when I bought this yarn”. The winner will get a full basket of yarn without the basket (I like the basket that I used and it will be less expensive to ship without the basket). There are cottons, wools, blends that include some nylon.  There is no padding under the yarn it is all yarn. Some are in the original skeins and some are wound. It could be all yours if your number is drawn.

It is going to be a little different than last time. So here go the rules of this contest.

1: You must go to http://www.tinyurl.com/handmadebysheri and comment on something you like in my shop. I have made some changes to my shop and I would like to see what is working and what is not. This will count for 1 entry per day. I will be updating my shop with new items as often as I can during the contest.

2: Follow my blog. This will count for 1 entry.

3: Follow me on Twitter for 1 entry. http://www.twitter.com/skaro964

4: Tweet about this contest. This is good for 2 entries per day. This is good for 1 entry per tweet.

5: Blog about this contest or include a link to my blog. This will count as 2 entries.

6: Facebook about this contest. This will count as 1 entry. Just leave a link.

7: Each entry must be logged separately. I will be going to RandomNumber.org to select the contest winner this time.

The contest will end May 18th at midnight Mountain Standard Time. The winner will be notified as soon as possible after that. Good luck and have fun.

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.