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, w

"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~

Just For Something To Blog About...

Well, I am posting these for some pictures to blog about. I don't know when I actually finished these. But I uploaded them on July 29th. Also, don't ask me what pattern each one is. LoL I am not organized AT ALL lately. I have been trying to link the patterns in each post because I go back (like with the Donna's Bangle/Camille bag/purse I posted about recently) and I don't know what the pattern was?....  At the time I was working on it, I did. But not later on. Anyway. I did these because I just wanted to crochet something and use whatever yarn I had laying around at the time.

I usually just make the one above, the pink one. But I wanted to try a different pattern. So I did this one. I'm not sure I like this one, the skirty is too holey for me. But it's still cute, and I like the yarn.

This one I kind of like. It's purple. And lacey looking. I also found a white one I had done, I don't even know when. I also don't know what I will even do with these. I was thinking maybe they would want them at the Infusion Center?   I don't know...   

I went downstairs to look for that purse (I know I had something I had started, in one of the bins I had all my fabric in, and I was going to see if I still had any of the bangles...) Well I didn't find the purse, or bangles. But I started to put fabric on the cubicles, and before I knew it I cleaned out both bins and a big garbage bag full of fabric downstairs. So all my fabric is on the cubicle/shelf now. (Well, except for all the fabric over by my sewing machine...)  At least I have that done. If I do a little at a time, maybe it will all get organized down there. The thing is, I start doing something and I get carried away trying to do it all and I end up doing too much/hurting myself. I can't do things like I used to. 

I am still in the mood to crochet a poncho, too. I had gotten the two skeins of RH Bitty Stripes (by the way, I thought I had another one that I got but I didn't realize at the time that it was a "new" yarn, and I thought it was the same color as the two I had just bought. Well I found it yesterday, and it's not the same color.) Anyway, we had gone to Walmart again last night to get some potting soil so I can re-pot my Jade plant..  I looked and they only had one skein of the same color Bitty Stripes yarn (I would need at least two more skeins to do a poncho..) So I didn't get any of it.    I was googling about Jade plants, because mine got super tall and I don't know what to do about it. Apparently it is not getting enough sunlight (I don't know what to do about that, because there is no way to put my plants by any of the windows in this house. I don't have any furniture to put them on...   But, I did cut the "legs" down. I hope it won't kill the plant. That's what the article said to do, so it will grow and fill out more horizontally than going straight up. I forgot to take a picture of it before I cut it down. Well, I'm glad I got more potting soil. Because now I am going to have about seven more Jade plants...  Unless I throw away all the cuttings. Which I don't want to do. Maybe Eon or some of his friends or friends moms and grandmas will want a Jade plant. Lol...

I did buy something at Walmart yesterday though. Some popsicle molds. LoL. I used to have a really old (half falling apart) Tupperware popsicle mold, when the boys were little. I know I bought a new one when they got a little older. But they all outgrew homemade popsicles, or popsicles in general. But, my husband and I have been buying the yogurt Yasso bars a lot lately. That's our "ice cream". I was thinking about how I used to make our own popsicles.... And I looked on Pinterest for some recipes... And I saw a big display in the middle of an aisle, with a bunch of different popsicle molds... It had butterflies, smiley faces... I just wanted a regular popsicle mold.. Well, they had some (at the bottom). And, they had a purple one. 😁💜  I washed it all out when we got home.

 I was going to wait to make popsicles, but then I just grabbed some of the Greek Yogurt my husband got on accident the other day. He meant to get regular, but he got strawberry. So I just put some of that in the molds last night.

We also went to the Dollar (Dollar Twenty Five PLUS) Tree. I needed another pair of reading glasses...  I saw a cute Stitch doll that I *almost* bought... But they wanted $7 for it!! 🙄  I had been thinking about Eon and Steve's birthday next month...  Even though Eon doesn't live with us anymore... I must still be in birthday planning mode... I had been looking for a new card idea to make for Eon...  One day I was looking for a cake and I said "Why am I looking at cake ideas???"  And when we went to the dollar store, I saw these little cowboy drink cups... I said to my husband,"If he was still little I would totally have gotten these for his birthday.."     I think I need some grandkids! LoL... I remember how he loved his little cowboy boots someone gave us, and I got him a little hat and crocheted him a "Clint Eastwood" poncho..  Funny. He still loves cowboy boots and hat. (And music.) 🤠

Random Things

Someone had posted "Show me your desk" like it is....  In a Facebook group I am in. I think I win a prize for the messiest desk. 😞 It was not this bad, before! My craft room, and the basement, have always been (well, my craft room- I haven't always had a basement) the last place to get organized. I am always trying to keep the main floor clean in case anyone comes over. (My Uncle just stops by every now and then, he doesn't even call or anything before hand... ) And, the carpet in the living room is (ugh) brown, and shows every single fluff of fur and speck of anything. I just vacuum and I already have to vacuum again.  Anyway, I also do not have any organizing cabinets/shelves, etc...   Or any organizing skills. LoL (Sigh...) Or decorating skills, either if I'm being honest. 

My  husband bought me these cubicles for all of my fabric. Which was all in random places. One laundry basket piled up. A bag with a baby quilt/leftover fabric from that. I also have two big rubbermaid bins with fabric in them.

Well (it looks bad to me.... Maybe I need to reorganize it/fold it better), I got all the fabric out of the laundry basket and bag. My organization tactic was: Quilts I am working on, Christmas/Holiday fabric, Fabric that is a weird texture, lights, darks, batting, and on the top left, that is Eons' projects he had been working on. I still need to go through the rubbermaid bins. But, I also put one of my yarn drawer/storage bin thingies in the closet down there. So that little area is a lot less cluttered. I still have about four boxes of stuff I don't know what to do with. I am not in any groups (except on Facebook) that I would donate things to charities to any more. And I have one or two boxes full of stuff I crocheted to send to one of the charities... (Sigh.)   Also a bunch of clothes that don't fit me any more...  I need to just have a big garage sale. (But I don't want to... 😭)    I also washed a window down there. (I only have to do all the rest of them. Sighhhhh... ) I cannot do things like I used to. I get so wore out and sore and I hurt everywhere. 

This is a Zinnia that we planted from seeds. There's a bunch, along this fence. And they are all this color!! I love them so much.. That's another thing I need to "organize" make better. My flower bed. But, it's a start. Maybe next summer things will slow down around here, and I can do more things that I want to do.   

Yesterday when I was trying to find that poncho pattern, I was trying to also find the pattern for a bag I had started (because it used the bangles that I am going to use for the bag I posted yesterday, and I couldn't remember if I ever finished that bag or what I did with it....). It was one someone posted on Crochetville. I went on there and I was trying to find it but I couldn't...  And the picture I posted on my blog was Via "Buzznet" and it wouldn't load...  So I don't know what it looked like. But, I was thinking how I (kind of) miss Crochetville. I miss the Crochet-A-Longs, and the swaps....  Well, (this is the point I was trying to get to, LOL) I got an email this morning about a new crochet community! I joined it right away. And I am using the same username as I did on Crochetville. I hope it will be fun. It's by Kali from the Friendly Red Fox.  Maybe there will be some charity groups on there that I can donate some of this stuff to. 

Update: I did some more searching (via Pinterest), and I am almost positive that this is the purse!! Although it's called the Camille Purse. But, her name is Donna! I am almost positive that is it!   Maybe I will make one now. And actually finish it. I ordered a set of four bangles, so I would have enough to do it.