I must really love Curt...

I'm going with him to a New Year's eve party at his bowling friends... not sure they actually believe I exist... but it starts at 8pm tonight... the Alabama / Michigan State game starts at 8pm tonight!  My phone will be fully charged.. I may not be the ideal guest.. they have some cats... plan A find cats, hang out with furry creatures, watch Saban's boys kick ass!

 

Last couple knits

The Angie loved her Struggle Bus hat -- the only picture I have of the hat I gave my mom was after I gave it to her

My Year in Books - Recorded by Goodreads

One Drawback to my Library...

My library has a feature by which you can automatically be put on a waiting list for any new releases by your favorite authors. Awesome, right? Yes! Usually.. except in Brenda Novak's Whiskey Creek series, I've read the first 3 books, then a Winter Wedding --- book #9 came out at the end of October.. and last week I got the e-mail that I had a book ready for pick-up.  As I read it I realized that there were people together/ had more than one child when they had no relationship even/ doing things.. I definitely missed a book or two. I then checked Goodreads ( I don't remember if it was Min or Teresa that got me on there - but Thank You!) I had in fact missed 6 books.. sigh.  It really tested the theory of can you read this book if you haven't read the previous books in the series?  The answer is YES.  It was fine alone. I'm not sure if it will have spoiled the previous unread books though.  It was  a nice, sweet, quick read.

 

He's famous!!

On Ravelry, I'm in a group called Nerdopolis - that has different challenges that I try to force my projects into and then tie into my team (Fraggles - everything Henson)  one of the challenges each month is Change the World - with a different category, you can donate time, goods, projects you made for other challenges - or usually in my cas .. money.  This month was to end hunger, so I went to the Morris County food pantry's site to make a donation (yes, this is the same organization I run my fat ass for 5K for) and on the opening page was a picture taken from this year's fun run... although he had his shades on to remain incognito..look who I found!

 

Two Christmas Hats

A wild Mrs Claus hat and a jingle elf hat.

Two more series books

 Trimmed with Murder by Sally Goldenbaum, a Christmas mystery this time.  Once again, in the quiet crime free town someone gets murdered.  I was so, so wrong with my guess on this one. But until #11 comes out next year, I'm caught up with this series.

Loving the Highlander by Janet Chapman.  I started reading this series because I really like the Spellbound Falls series by Chapman, there are many of the same characters (there is a disconnect in the timeline.  In theory these stories should be at least 20ish years prior to the Spellbound falls series, but the cellphones and GPS's and tablets aren't that old)  Not as good as the Spellbound Falls series, but a good lunchtime read for my 30 minute lunches.

 

Yup, I do end up giving most of my knit & crochet items away,

I made a holiday lights headband, wore it to work on Saturday, a co-worker told his 12 yo daughter about it (she wears headbands almost every day) she really wanted one - so I gave it to him for her.

Broccoli Leaves

Who knew you could eat them.  But I found this in the produce aisle the other day:

So, I bought a bag.  Did I know a recipe?? nope.  Did I have any clue how to cook them?  nope.  Did I have a plan? Yes!!  I've heard it said that knowing the process of cooking something is better than knowing a recipe, and Miss Measures Nothing here likes that concept!

I had leftover ham from Thanksgiving.  So I basically made it sort of like escarole and beans.  I heated some olive oil, garlic and hot pepper flakes.  The the broccoli leaves in until they started wilting.  Added the ham cut into chunks  and some herbs de provence, salt and pepper, some of the pasta water.  I covered the pot until the leaves became tender, then added a rinsed can of small white beans, and whole grain pasta , a bit more pasta water to bring it all together, finished cooking the pasta and some grated parm, and asiago went on top.  

Totally yummy!
 
 

I finally finished "Sleeves"

I worked on it on and off since Sept 2014!!  I had it blocked an was able to wear it for Thanksgiving!

The Heart of a Hero

Janet Chapman's Spellbound Falls series continues.



Nicholas, the mythical Atlantean warrior ( you'll never guess who his real father is! ) chooses to settle in 21st century Maine, inadvertently falls for Julia, a recently divorced 30 year old who doesn't want love, just wants to help her sister turn 18 and go off to college.  But seriously who wouldn't fall for a gorgeous  warrior who has six exotic cats?  and a Phantom horse??
To read what really pissed me off at the end is not a plot spoiler but a partial spoiler :

I attempted to make something I saw on Pinterest!

It's not really round, and apparently gluing is something that takes more skills than I have - but it didn't fall apart when I hung it on the Angie's door.  SO that's a win!

 

My Christmas Cap Tree Topper

If I'm honest, it was supposed to be a blinking hat.  But my crochet skills aren't that great, and my head is big.  So it will be my tree topper instead.  I crocheted in blinking LED lights into the brim - made a pocket in the back for the control pack and batteries.  Sigh. 

 

Two books I can't say I read cover to cover

Colorful Crochet Lace.  I got the book from the new arrivals list from the library. There are a lot of gorgeous garments in this book.  I don't have the crochet skills to pull them off, it would take me forever to crochet 100yds of yarn, and reading lace charts is confusing to me.  I liked one of the bags, but I seem to have gone to making a new felted bag every year to not really using handbags in general, so that won't happen either.




I got this book from the library also, for Curt and I to flip through to see potential stops in our travels.  I wrote some of them down - didn't know River Horse had moved.. good to look at before a road trip!

I know it isn't Wednesday... but it's my blog - so books!

 
Yes, My Accent is Real by Kunal Nayyar (Raj from The Big Bang Theory)

I really enjoyed reading this book. It's not a typical autobiography, but it does take us through time from the one thing he remembers about England, through India, the Us, The Big Bang Theory.  It's basically a bunch of quick little blurbs - a few pages usually about different events through his life. I was voting for it in the Goodreads book contest, but it ended up being second :(

Thanksgiving

We survived the Turkey Trot. I was woefully unprepared this year, but only 2 minutes off my time last year so better than I thought.  Anna, Joe and Christopher just made an appearance because they were headed to Joe's mom's house.  I will tell you that this gym class my mom has been making them take Christopher to is really helping him.   

 Yes, that is the Tony Stewart monkey I gave him when he was born.