Catching Up

It's been a little while since I last blogged. I have a bunch of pictures but I need to upload them all..   

My husband got some furniture from a remodel job he did, they had it all in the garage with "donate" on everything...  This desk is one of the things. It's way better than what I had in there. I still need to reorganize everything down there. I am working on it, slowly. I've been getting so tired lately and I end up trying to take a nap and there goes the whole day. This is before I put anything on it.

I had a few things in my mind of what to make for our son and my husbands' birthday. My husband loves Star Trek... So I was searching for Star Trek cards on Pinterest...  I just free handed this part of the card...

The insignia...  

I got silver and gold glittery paper at Hobby Lobby. I used oval punch...  

The finished card, and I made a gift bag, too. I got the blue bags and tissue paper at Walmart.

I had so many ideas of a cake to make but my husband likes one thing and I wanted to do something different for our son..... I ended up just doing a basic rectangle cake. 

Eon brought his dog Elsie with him.   (She's eating Jaxson's food.)

This is a stencil I bought at Walmart for one of the card ideas I had for our son. But time crept up on me and I didn't have enough time to do everything.

Some pumpkin embellishments I did, using my oval and my circle punches. I inked around each oval and circle. And I just freehanded the stems... I want to make some cards with them.

And yesterday I made this tea bag from an existing cellophane bag I had. I cut a piece of card stock to fit the top part, and stamped "Tea Lover" on it. And stamped a tea cup, put some gems and a doily on it.... I am sending some of this tea to a pen pal of mine.

I have more pictures to blog about, but I will have to do it another day.

Happy First Day of Fall

Today is the first day of Fall already. I can't believe it. Where did summer go?

Since it's technically Fall now, that means soup season. I made some Pumpkin Gnocchi Soup today. It's really good. I made some kind of Pumkin soup, once a long long time ago when the boys were little. I don't have the recipe anymore. I've been into soups lately. I saw this one on Facebook, and I wanted to try it. At least I got one thing done today that I wanted to. 

One F.O.

I finished a Q-tip holder for my husband's bathroom. I don't even know how many of these I have crocheted, now. Four or five, I think. Well, four or five of this pattern. I know I've crocheted other ones, too. I couldn't decide what color to make it. The light grey like the towel, or white, like the toothbrush holder and soap dish....  It doesn't really matter I guess. Nothing in that bathroom matches. The counter top is brown, the floor is a burnt coral (?) color. The shower curtain is navy blue and off white stripes...  I want to get a different shower curtain in there at least.  

Every day I wake up and think, "I just want to relax and crochet today", but I hardly ever get to crochet...  I thought once the kids moved out I would have so much time. But I don't.  (Sigh...)

Some FO's and Antique-ing

I have finished a couple of things... I was trying to find a "fake" cinnamon stick to use for the pumpkin stem on this pumpkin. But I couldn't find one anywhere. And I'm getting fed up with ordering things online and them taking forever to get here, and the shipping is ridiculous. So, I found a pattern with a crocheted stem. This is actually two different patterns. The pumpkin was a reel on Facebook, and she didn't write out or have typed how many chains or anything. So I stopped the video and counted a bunch of different times...   It looked like chain 20, with 2 sc in the beginning and end of each row, with hdc in every other chain. 32 rows total back loops only.  I will have to look if I saved the pattern I used for the stem. I am almost positive it was claireabellemakes.com pumpkin amigurumi. But my husband put a new antivirus thing on our computer and it won't let me go to that site... 

~Anyway~

I initially put it here but I have since moved it to a different location. 

I thought the way it worked up was really cool. But after I sewed it up you couldn't tell, it didn't look like that any more. I used some yarn in my stash, Bernat tan and brown or something. I think I used a G hook.

These are a Geocaching thing. They're supposed to be "Geocoins". For the pen pal who got me into Geocaching. I used this tutorial to get it started. I don't remember how many rows I did. (sigh.... I've been trying to keep track of things better, sorry.) I just did the "embroidery" by trying to copy the picture of the ones I saw on Pinterest.

My husband and I went to Frankenmuth (again???) over Labor Day weekend. We went "antique-ing". I had been saying (almost every time we went up), "I want to go to that antique store"...  So he drove there but it looks permanently closed. Then we went to "Thrifty Treasures (building one and two)".  I found these little snowmen. ⛄ Actually I think my husband found them (he likes snowmen). I don't even know how or where or when I even started collecting salt and pepper shakers. Now I have: Snowmen, 4th of July Gnomes, strawberries, Santa and Mrs. Claus, Easter Bunnies. That's it. I actually have two different snowmen sets. Maybe I should do a blog post on all my salt and pepper shakers. The antique stores had SO many of them. 

I've been working on my poncho. I was doing good. Just working on the poncho... Then my husband said (last night) "Can you crochet me a Q-tip holder for my bathroom?" Um..... Yeah. I couldn't decide what color to make it because the shower curtain is blue and white (like this one-). All the shower curtains were the same when we moved in, but I put my shower curtain in my bathroom.  Anyway~ The towels are light grey, and the soap dish and toothbrush holders are white. So, I decided to do it in white. I'm working on that right now. Realistically, we should just get a grey and white shower curtain in that bathroom. I want a new shower curtain in mine, too.   Anyway...   Last night I was watching a Facebook Reel. I keep seeing more reels about "Chaos Blankets". I thought "I don't know if I would want to do that". But, last night I saw one someone was doing a "CHRISTMAS Chaos Blanket" (She didn't put it in all caps, I did that just now... LoL) Because I love Christmas.... 🎄🎅🤶⛄I might have to do one now. (Sigh...)  Then, this morning when I was trying to find the pattern for the Q-tip holder, I was going through all my magazines and patterns, and now I want to crochet about 20 different things again. (sigh...)  I have things I need to do but all I want to do is crochet and drink tea!! 😭  Today IS International Crochet Day, though...  👀  That's like the #1 holiday for crocheters!! 

New Poncho Project

 

I should have rotated this picture before uploading it here.... Oh well. We went to Walmart for a few things yesterday and I went to see if they had anymore of the Bitty Stripes in the color I had gotten.....  (What a pain in the *ss)..  Well, they did. Thank the Yarn Gods. They actually had four skeins of it. So I now have enough to crochet the poncho. 

I started it last night. I am going to see how long it takes me to finish it. I have a lot to blog about but I need more time to do it...  I just wanted to post this real quick.

Hello September

We got a new virus software on our computer. And it wouldn't let me upload any pictures to my blog. Well I turned off the Anti-Tracker option, so I could upload these pictures. Everything is a pain...  Anyway Happy First Day of September.... I can't believe summer is going to be over. It's depressing. I don't want winter to be here...  

I did start a new crochet project yesterday. A little pumpkin. It's a reel on Facebook, and no written instructions. But I stopped the reel and tried to count how many she chained, and I think it's 20. And she did 2 sc in the beginning, hdc all alon until two are left then 2 sc in end. So, I chained 21 because I like to skip the first chain and sc in the next one. I never could sc in the first chain..  I don't know why I'm using brown variegated yarn for it. I do have some orange, I want to use the orange for a pumpkin bear though. Oh, and work in the back loops only and 32 rows total. I need to get some fake "cinnamon sticks" for it. 

Rainy Sunday, What To Crochet?

I'm a poet and I didn't even know it...  😎I'm just posting this picture of some yarn I bought a little while ago, to post a picture...  It's "Artic Ice". I keep seeing people on Facebook posting "Chaos Blankets" they are crocheting. You put a few different stitches in a bowl on different pieces of paper, then in another bowl you put up to seven (or however many you chose) colors, and then you have a dice you roll to see how many rows you do. I haven't done one (I don't think I would like it..) But ANYWAY, my point is, one of the reels had this color as one of their colors and I really liked it. Even though it is not very spectacular.  

I also do not know what to crochet... I have two projects that are UFO's. My strawberry tea cozy (which I was going to finish this summer, early-but Ididn't...) And, my Granny Hexie t-shirt.  But, I don't want to work on either one of those. 

I was trying to think of something maybe to crochet as another "gag gift" for my husband for his birthday. I crocheted him a potato for Christmas. Well, every time we go grocery shopping he wants M&M's. He likes the peanut butter flavor. I was thinking this morning, "I should see if I can find an M&M crochet pattern" (I did find a bunch, the M&M guys...)  I don't know if I will crochet one. I cannot believe it's almost September already. 

It's almost September, it might as well be Fall already. 😞 I used to love Fall, but now I don't because it just means winter is right around the corner. The only good thing about winter is Christmas, and staying inside making snowman crafts.   

Well, maybe I'll go look through my crochet magazines and see if I can find something new to crochet..

A New Card and Granola

I have been in the mood to make cards lately. And I have been liking blue lately, too. And, I have been wanting to make a card with this stamp. I was searching for "Vertical" "hello" cards on Pinterest... (Sigh.....) Nothing would come up vertical! All horizontally...   I got the stamp at the Goodwill, or at a thrift store by my hospital. I'm almost positive I got it at the thrift store. I love that place, because they always have three or four big tubs filled with rubber stamps. And they always seem to have some different kinds of punches, too. The Salvation Army near us now doesn't ever have anything like that. They have one little stand with three tubs (like a cat tower, but with mesh containers???) with yarn in them and it's not ever good yarn. Nothing ever for card making. ~Anyway~

I had one big blue envelope I found in one of my drawers of craft stuff/cards and envelopes...  So, I made the base the same color as the envelope. I know I got a box of those envelopes (light pink, light green, light blue, and lavender) at Walmart. I can't find them there any more. Anyway...

This is the stamp. (A picture from a post when I first got it..)  I tried googling "Vertical hello rubber stamp".... All that came up was a couple of Etsy or Ebay pages, selling the stamp. But it didn't say anything about it. So, I did a reverse google image search and asked who made this stamp?  It is a Kolette Studio G "Hello" stamp. Made in 2006. Then, I tried to search handmade cards, Kolette Studio G hello stamp....  I still could not find any ideas for cards made with it. Soooooo, I just started looking for "Hello" handmade cards again... 🙄

This was a sponsored thing... But I kind of liked it. I thought, 

"What if I just turned it on it's side?" That might work...  So, that's what I did. 🤷

I also made some more granola. Those little bags do not last long. And, I am the only one who eats granola...  I had a big canister of oatmeal (not the one in the picture, I just opened that one to make this     granola...) So I have been making a lot of granola lately. Before baking..

After baking...

You add the raisins after it's cooled. Cinnamon Raisin Granola Recipe. I do not have pure maple syrup, I used honey instead. I told my husband, "I need a better container for granola".

So, we went and got one last night. 

I washed it and put the granola in it.... I was thinking "I am going to have to make a lot more granola!" I just made that, and the container was a lot emptier this morning.....👀 My husband ate some last night!! Ughhh....  Well, I guess I do have to make some more now. Sheesh.. I guess I'm not the only one who eats granola.. 

I don't know if I ever mentioned it before on my blog, but you can use peanut butter to take off the sticky leftover paper (the "Rubbermaid" sticker) on containers...  I just put some on and let it sit there for a few minutes. I had to do it a couple times, but 99% of it came off. I used my plastic scraper, too. So I don't scratch the plastic....  I've been trying to do better at posting the links for things: Recipes, patterns, etc....  I noticed that I posted about the Open Shoulder Poncho I finished. There was a link to the pattern, but that is not the place I got the pattern from. Also, that link does not work anymore. (If you type Open shoulder poncho in that search engine, it does come up though...) It was from the "Crochet!" Autumn 2020 magazine. (It was in my Facebook memories, and someone asked if I knew where the pattern was...  I said "Hmmm... Where did I get that pattern from....")

Soup

This is a recipe I've had forever, written down. The paper I wrote it on is fraying around the edges and some of the ingredients you can barely make out ("How many tbsps?"...) So I thought I would type it up. I remember getting it from (what I thought was) a pregnancy magazine? Maybe it was "Parents" magazine? I don't even remember. But I have been in the mood for soups lately. And I remembered this one... I haven't made it in forever.

Lentil Barley Soup

2 onions, chopped

4 garlic cloves, chopped

4 carrots, chopped

4 celery stalks, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

2 tsps dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

1/4-1/2 tsp red pepper (cracked red pepper)

5 14 oz cans fat-free chicken broth (a little over 8 1/2 cups broth-can use vegetable broth if vegetarian)

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

1 cup dried lentils

1 cup pearl barley

2 Tbsps tomato paste

Spray a 4 quart saucepan or big pot w/ nonstick spray. Add onions, garlic, cook til translucent. Add carrots, celery, bell pepper, basil, oregano, and red pepper. Cook until vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes.

Mix in crushed tomatoes and chicken broth. Bring mixture to a boil. Stir in lentils and barley. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer until the lentils are tender, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Stir in tomato paste. Serve.

Per serving: 249 calories, 0.6 gm fat, 1 mg cholesterol

I don't know how much a serving size is, I never wrote that down.

 

Sunflower Season

 

I took all my strawberry kitchen decorations down. I don't know... August seems like "late summer". Early Pre-Fall. Augtober. LoL  I was thinking what else could I do until Fall.... DUHHH Sunflowers... I have a couple sunflower things (a kitchen towel, a little vase with sunflowers in it)...  I had been wanting to do a sunflower basket like one I saw online.

This is the one I liked the best... 

I mean it's not exactly like it... But. I kind of like it! I felt like it needed more of the tall yellow flowers in the back, though... 

So I went back to Walmart and I got two more. I think it looks better. I don't even want to add up how much money it actually cost to make this. 

I also got this little sunflower decoration at Hobby Lobby. I put my little sunflower gnome next to it.

Then, we went to the Salvation Army on Saturday afternoon. I saw this little mushroom and I thought it was cute. My husband asked "What are you going to put inside it?" I said "I don't know, I'll figure it out later though." 😁 I decided the gnome wanted to be by the mushroom. 

I had bought some Red Heart Bitty Stripes yarn a while ago (the two skeins on the left). I know I posted about it.. But when we went to Walmart yesterday, I saw they had two more skeins in the "same" color. Well, it's not the same....  This is SOOOOOOO irritating!!!! Same dye lot, exact same numbers across the board. It's not the same. I wanted to crochet a poncho with this. No other place (except online) has Red Heart anymore, except for Walmart. And my Walmart hardly ever has this yarn. It's so irritating. And, it's not "cheap" either!! $9+ for one skein. Of Red Heart. 

We went to Target last night (don't get me started again....) There was NOTHING either my husband or I liked there. I did see these strawberry Crocs. But 1. I don't have anything that would go with them clothes-wise 2. They're $45.  So we left empty handed.  I'm getting so fed up with the quality of things and how expensive they are. Like the Bitty Stripes yarn...   I ordered some tea off of the Celestial Seasonings website, two weeks ago. It still has not shipped. I emailed them this morning and I got a reply from "Lisa- AI Customer Service Representative". WHAT? My enquiry is being handed over to a Human agent. WHAAATT????   It's the Twilight Zone. I do not want AI I think we need to get rid of it right now. Maybe AI is making Red Heart Bitty Stripes yarn, too. 😡

Scrap Summer Tote Update

My Purse Bangles/Handles/Whatever they're called, came yesterday. "Made In China"....  (Sigh) 

I thought I would have finished the purse by the time they came, but I haven't! I have been working on it, too. (Mostly weaving in ends.) I have three and a half rows to go. I started another row after the red, since I took this picture this morning. (Alert the Press....)

Today is my DIL's birthday! She is one month and ?? days older than our youngest son. If I was closer to them I would make her a cake. 🎂  I had an idea for a cake for my husband, but.... It's kind of crazy. We were talking about (well, I was talking about) how I was thinking about what kind of a birthday cake to make for Eon this year, and then I thought "Duh.... He doesn't live with us, I don't know how or if I should make him one..."  My husband said "You could still make him one maybe we can take it over there." Then I said "I don't even know what kind of cake I could do that would be any better than the other cakes I did... Not that they were great cakes, but I don't have any more ideas". He said "What about a truck cake?" (LoL) Because our son loves his truck.  Well, (back to my point...) I was thinking yesterday, "I could make Steve a Tonka Truck (kids') cake for his birthday".  Because he never had a childhood and his mom never did anything for them like that. To "relive" a childhood he never had...   We would have cake for months though. Since it's just the two of us.... So, I don't know if I will do that. (I probably will... 😂) Well, apparently, I'm not the only one who thought of it. The Pinterest title says "Dad's birthday cake"  My husband (actually) went to the doctor yesterday. His shoulder has been hurting him (must hurt bad, for him to actually go to the doctor 😔)  He has to get an ultrasound, and the doctor said possibly surgery. A ganglian or ??? (some other kind) of cyst, but he doesn't know if it's attached to the bone. My husband fell at work 11 ish years ago, and the bump appeared then. The doctor said it's not related to that (probably)....  (In the back of my mind.... "Doctors aren't always right, you know...") We'll see. I don't know how he can take time off for work if he does have to get surgery. He will have to use his vacation time. 

More Boring Plant Stuff

And just more boring rambling....I took a picture of my poor Jade plant...  You can see how the stem (?) on the right (a couple of them, actually) are leaning over. That's what happened with the one that fell out. It just leaned over until it fell off. This is after I cut the branches down. It was super tall! I want to cut it down more, but I think I should wait a while... So I don't hurt/shock the plant. I know it looks stupid with the turqoise yarn tied around it. I need to find a better way to keep it from falling over. 👀

These are all the pieces I cut off. The really tall one is the one that just fell out of the whole plant. 

Yesterday, I watered all my plants (Monday is watering day lol). I re-potted one (Christmas or Thanksgiving cactus). And I added some potting soil to my African Violet (it kept wobbling and you could see gaps in the side of the pot), my plant I bought when we lived in Colorado (it's an Arrowhead Vine Plant- I tried to prop mine up with popsicle sticks and tied the plant to the sticks, mine is all wilty and falling over), and I can't remember what other plants...  I think the African Violet looks better already. 😄I really need to get a plant shelf, so I can put all my plants by better windows so they can get better sunlight. I just don't know where I can put them. And, I know Eri would try and jump on the shelf and she would knock my plants off...  Sigh... It's hard enough for me to keep plants alive without Eri. LoL.. (That might actually be why my Arrowhead isn't doing good, because she gets in the window where I have it and she keeps rubbing on the pot and biting the leaves.)

This is my Arrowhead Vine... (Sad..) Looks nothing like the one in the site I posted a link to. OMG  I just read that it's toxic to pets... I better find a different place to put it so Eri doesn't eat the leaves any more! I think my plant might be the "Painted Arrow" variety.

And this is the cactus I re-potted. This pot is only about 1/2 inch bigger than the little plastic pot it was in. I just wanted to get it in a real pot.  

~Anyway~ This is my Scrap Summer Tote progress. I'm actually three rows farther than this, now. Only six more rows to go. I think I mentioned that I ordered some bangles... They should be getting here soon. I also ordered some tea (special "Christmas" tea that is only out in stores at Christmas time, BUT- I cannot ever find it anywhere in any stores... So, I ordered it online.) Candy Cane Lane. It was supposed to be here last week! Then, it was supposed to arrive yesterday. But it didn't.... No email or update or even anyway to track it. I'm about ready to call Celestial Seasonings and complain. Shipping was ridiculous, too. I paid almost $20 for one stupid box of tea. It's irritating.

Went off a little bit, there. Sorry. LoL...  This is how the tote will look folded up. I also want to sew a lining in it. So, I won't sew it together until I make a template to cut the fabric out first...

I don't know if I mentioned we got a couple rugs when we went to Walmart. My husband wanted to get one for the basement (the carpet down there is horrible). And he got one for the front entryway. Well ever since he put it down, the cats have been wrestling on it or laying on it. (It's so comfy, lol...) It's so funny that they wrestle on it. I said they think it's their new wrestling mat. There's fluffs of fur on it already. 😹

We tried the popsicles last night....  They are not that great (I only put Strawberry Greek Yogurt in them). Maybe we're too used to junk food with tons of sugar in it. I have been trying real hard to not eat sugar... (Except the Yasso bars, and when I make cookies..) This is one site I found on Pinterest with some homemade yogurt popsicle recipes. I didn't actually use one (except the plain yogurt idea).

Yesterday I decided to put all the strawberry decorations away. I don't really have any other "summer" decorations"...  Except the little vase with the sunflowers in it. So I went downstairs in the closet under the stairs and found all my "Fall" decorations..... (Sigh... I said I can't decorate, didn't I?) My husband said it's too early for Fall decorating. I said "It's Augtober..."  I don't know, I might stick these inside for another month. It's almost the end of August, though.  🙄 I want to get more for the top of the hutch. A big basket with sunflowers in it. I don't know what else...  I should go to the thrift store and look around...     If you are still awake and not bored to tears by now, ~Have a Good Day~