Turkey Trot

The Angie and I did the 5K Turkey Trot for the Food Pantry again this year.  (Curt did the 1 mile fun run - proud of him) I made matching turkey hats for us.

Weekend pictures

The tail is done!!!

As last time, the finished pictures are after the break- just hit "more" to see them.  I made several changes to the pattern - see my Ravelry project page if interested.

A Tail

So, somebody  (who will remain nameless - but most of you can probably guess) wanted a mermaid tail snuggle sack.  I'm crocheting it, with Bernat Blanket yarn.  Very snuggly.  Very turn off the heat I'm hot kind of warm.  I did screw up and have to rip back, for some reason after decreasing to 48 and 40 I missed the FIVE rows of HDC and only did ONE row of HDC in the middle - it came out way to short for a supposed grown woman.  

I did change a few things in the pattern (shocking I know) I did the crochet cast on where you do the chain and the first row of HDC at the same time.  I saw it on the show "Knit and Crochet Today" awhile back, but they did chain and SC.  I also joined in the round and made it as a tube to avoid that seam later ( and telling myself the seam in the bum would be uncomfortable)  I'm 4 rows from seaming the bottom and then just have to make the fins, but I needed to take a picture for one of my Fraggles - so since I haven't finished anything recently I thought to post an update.  I am putting the pictures below the break line so if said person sees my post she won't look ( I don't think she looks at my blog - but just in case - we have a rule if she sees a gift before it's given she can't have it - so no point in taking chances!)

Happy Mother's Day!!

I celebrated yesterday.  Originally I took the day off (with a lot of arguing) so we could meet up with the Angie.  Then the Angie cancelled.  I then got Curt to agree to go to chileplants.com with me to pick up some tomato, pepper, eggplant and basil plants.  It's about an hour away, a nice drive (even in the rain) and I've never not had a successful plant from them.

Friday night, I was on the computer when Curt got home.  He asked if I started dinner, the answer was no - I was going to do burgers and salad.  He said he didn't feel like burgers.  I told him to look around the kitchen to see what he wanted.  he wanted me to look with him, I knew what we had!!  Then he decides he wants to go out to eat. OK.  Then he wants a hug???  WTF???  so I get up to give him a hug.  Well the entire time the Angie was hiding to surprise me!  SHe had taken the train up after working half a day and had spent the afternoon with her grandfather.. I screamed. Literally, like a girl.  Seriously, this is how people get shot... anyway, they tell me they have a surprise the next morning before we go to get the plants (they knew once I decide I'm getting plants, I'm getting plants) I thought it would be breakfast, but no, they are going to get breakfast after. OK. So I have a snack when I get up.  Curt promises it isn't slimy (yes hanging out with pretty much just boys most of my formative years has given me this fear of something slimy when I'm getting a surprise. (you should see what happens when they want me to close my eyes!)  The Angie says it might be a little slimy.

Turns out she was right, Curt lied, but it was OK.. Curt got the Angie and I hour long massages at a spa. with hot rocks. Phillipe was great (considering what he had to work with, relaxing is not really in my wheelhouse) I think I was an inch taller when I left there.  (at one point he tells me to relax my neck, I say it is, he says if it was your head would be touching the table.  I try and fail. He says how a bout a deep breath, then another, took about 8 or so. poor guy)

We went to get my plants, then while Curt went bowling, the Angie and I had what used to be our Dad is bowling girl's fun.  Yes, risotto and salmon were involved...


Thanks to the Angie for coming up with the surprise and Curt for making it all happen.  I love you both soooo much!!

3 things day 6

1.  Carl's back!!! 

2.  Managed to kick Braun's from 6th in line to first (in all fairness, I was going to settle for 3) 

3.  The ANgie can come to Sat night's Devil's game with me!!

Crafting with the Angie

If you're on PINTEREST you know, it can be a huge time suck, and you end up wanting to try a zillion things.  One thing I posted several different links for are solid lotion bars.  ( I first noticed the existence of these by shops advertising on Ravelry)  So, over a double boiler we melted beeswax ( holy crap that's hard to cut up - I really wanted the beads, but Joanne's only sells those online and Michael's doesn't have them - since we decided that morning to do them, we had to buy a block)  we had about 33% more coconut oil than beesewax, and then added some vitamin e oil and a relaxing essential oil ( chamomile, lavendar and frankincense ) ok we picked that because the frankincense amused us.  We first melted the wax, then added the coconut oil.  When everything was melted we took it off the hot water and stirred in the two oils.  Then we used a dollar store ice tray and a mini muffin tin to mold.

 Then we wrapped them in cellophane, and gave them to my mom, sister and SIL.

The ice cube ones are a bit small - but they work great on heels and feet.  like the mini muffin size - may find  a mold next time.

There were other recipes that the base is wax, coconut oil and either shea or cocoa butter in equal parts, then the oil.  Couldn't find the butter, may have to order online because I really want to try that version as well.

Hardly a hardship

When one can't have meat, but can have fish on Good Friday - sushi with Curt and the Angie!

Happy Birthday

I can't believe my sweet little weirdling is 24!!

Dinosaur BBQ

Went to Dinosaur BBQ in Newark, the Angie has wanted to go for over a year now - but we got there too late when going to Devil's games and they weren't taking anymore names :(  So we went, this time with Curt.  As always great food - but they were out of the fried green tomatoes... sigh.  I had catfish over collards, mac n cheese and red beans and rice ( sub black eyed peas for the red beans and you have my favorite new years day dinner)

Supposed to publish on Jan 5 

I never post pictures of Curt's family

This is Erica, gramps ( my FIL) and the Angie wearing my Christmas antlers ( she  makes fun of my almost 40 Christmas hats/headgear - but every Christmas borrows something) 

This was supposed to post on Jan 3.

My favorite picture from Christmas

I apologize.  I scheduled a bunch of posts for the first week of January and somehow managed to schedule them for Jan 2017.  SO I'll post a  couple a day to catch up without killing anyone's feed.


Last year there were NHL onsies around for the Rangers and some other teams but not the NJ Devils.  This totally pissed the Angie off.  This year they made them for all the teams, and it was on top highlighted and bold on her wish list.  Shortly after emailing her list, her size was sold out at most places, so she was bummed.  What she didn't know is I had already gotten them for her!

She also wanted these knit over the knee slipper socks.  I got them too - and on Christmas eve, when her stocking was hung up- I told her it was in my room and I hadn't gotten to hanging it.  I then asked her  (all innocent like) if at almost 24 she was too old for stockings on Christmas eve?  Of course the answer was MOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!! so as I had filled the slippers instead of her stocking I told her she couldn't peek and close her eyes and I would get it for her!  By brother probably heard her shrieking all the way in southern California.  No, I didn't take the picture, and I haven't gotten Curt's so here is the stock photo so you know what they look like.

 

John was in NJ for a couple days!

The Angie and her Uncle John

John with Anna and a squirmy Christopher

As we've gotten over 40 we look less alike..

Christopher

Inside Animals - more from Philly

One last carryover Lego picture - because one of those people looks surprisingly familiar...






We also checked out the brain exhibit- that was a lot of fun - I really likes the "steampunkish signs"


This was a weird thing that took a picture of you and then morphed it based on how much of your brain was connected to individual parts.. (that's Angie - of course her brain is probably not normal...)


They had a whole case of books aimed at female scientist/engineers and interested girls..


cold enough for a really cool ice sculpture copy of the Love sign.
 

I'm adding a page break here because some people may not want to see some of the animal pictures.  (7 pictures after the break) We saw the Human exhibit some years ago at the Franklin - and it was much larger, there were more different types of displays, and the animals were a tad bit disappointing.  They take animals that have died (no animals were actually killed for this) and plasticize systems, dissolve the rest and it gives an interesting look at the anatomy of the various animals.  I was somewhat a moron when I first saw this I thought "3 headed camel?" Then the Angie pointed out - it was cut in thirds so you could see different features...

Trip to Philly

We drove down to Philly last Friday to spend the day with the Angie, she wanted to celebrate out anniversary with us.  She wanted to go to the Animals exhibit at the Franklin Museum, and since there was a Lego art exhibit there at the same time she knew she could lure me in.  The Lego art was amazing, although part of me feels that since most of his work is all one color lego, he kind of cheated - you know?  Also a lot of his stuff is copies of famous art pieces, also kind of cheating no?  Sorry if this post is too picture heavy, I put a page break in so you don't have to look if you don't want to... 14 shots in all


Loved Starry Night.


The Great Wave


The Stained Glass Window of Chatres used translucent blocks and left a pattern on the floor as well!

Several takes on a theme

Sensational Haiku Wednesday

Welcome to “Sensational Haiku Wednesday!”

hosted by Jenn!

The basics: Haiku is simple! It is 3 non-rhyming lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively (a great way to use your fingers!)

Here are Jenn's rules:

Structure: While Haiku may be written by some in other styles, for THIS meme only 5-7-5 is acceptable. At least one of your haiku must be in this format.
Theme/Prompt: We have a new prompt each week, and your haiku needs to be related to it, if not include the actual word in it. Feel free to leave a word suggestion in a comment!
Linking: When you post your link, link to the blog post with your haiku, not to the main page of your blog.
Reciprocate: If you participate and post your link on my website, you must have a link back here on your post. It’s only fair.
Folks not complying with the above risk having their links removed. Don’t make me be all “Grrrr” and stuff, it makes me grumpy! Thanks for your cooperation!

This week’s theme is: Love

"Mawage that bwessed"

loves not the Prince but Westley

"As you wish" is love.

 

Mawage





The Princess Bride
— MOVIECLIPS.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

A little bundle

How'd she get to be so grown?

My baby always!

 

He knows me so well,

Better than myself sometimes,

Loves me anyway.

 

Angie's move in- a week late

Sorry- crazy week at work.  

Last weekend I took a 6 day weekend, Thur - Tue to take the Angie shopping, get her all beautified and moved down to Philly for school.

Thur - we got the new shellac gel polish, which supposedly doesn't chip for a couple weeks put on her nails.  My nails have the fiberglass acrylic on them so chipping really isn't an issue for my talons  We also had a great lunch at the Thai restaurant in town.  We always have a plan. One of us orders the drunken noodles lunch with soup, the other orders something else (preferably spicy, preferably something we haven't tried before) with the salad.  Then we share everything.  We decided that next time we would get a couple appy's so we can try a dessert after.

Fri - we both got spa pedicures.  Love the foot massage.  I actually got really bright pink polish on my tootsies (usually I stick to dark blood red sparkly polishes)  We then hit Pier one, Target, and Costco for back to school supplies.  The Angie is in an apartment on the fourth floor of the dorm she lived in last year so she needed more stuff-  She got a rice cooker/steamer (one thing she had issues with last year was rice - apparently the way the mealplan worked getting just rice at the Chinese place was an issue)  She got the Magic Bullet- she's been coveting it for a few years now - knows the infomercial by heart.  And of course every kid needs a leopard print broom!  Also bathroom cleaning supplies/tp/paper towels.  And 5 cases of 36 Poland Springs.

Saturday morning we went down to my father in law's to borrow his truck - and to get the bike he bought for $10 and refurbished for her to bring to school.  He figured that way if something happened, it wouldn't be as big a deal.  She then got her hair trimmed and blown out - and we finished her shopping at the mall and grocery store.  Sat night she went out for one last nite with her high school friends.


Sunday I had to go in to work for a meeting, blech,  and she finished packing and getting stuff into the truck and her dad's car.  SHe also spent time online finding deals and ordering books for the semester.  She has at this point sold most of her books from last year and several of her friends books (as well as some books people left behind during move out last year) 


Monday morning we left the house around 6am.  We did really well - missing the worst of the 80/287 traffic and got to route 1 early enough that we didn't really have traffic through there as well. (on route 18 I saw a Braun's truck coming the other way - yes I have issues - and it was C!!) We stopped for an extended hour long breakfast at Panera's off 95 in PA because we were running early and she couldn't check in until 10am. (but if we left a half hour later we would have had a problem being on time due to traffic buildup)  It was a fun breakfast as she told us a bunch of dorm life stories from last year we hadn't heard - and also some of the stories from her friends at other schools.


We got 2 parking spots a car apart on the street behind her dorm.  She checked in at 10:01.  We got all her things moved in, amd went to the other side of Philly to my friend Min & catphew Felix's house.  We had stored some of her stuff in the basement of Min's place.  We took the rest of Angie's stuff up to her- were summarily dismissed (really we've gotten used to it) and went out in search of lunch.



A picture Min took, when she walked us down - I think to make sure we got in the truck!


We had lunch at Chickie's and Pete's.  It is a fairly famous sports bar near the sports complex.  it is famous for it's crab fries- fries seasoned in Old Bay seasoning served with a cheese dipping sauce.  they were pretty good.  Keep in mind I really don't eat fries much.  I kind of expected a sports bar in a place like Philly to have a better/bigger/more varied beer list than what they had - so I had an unsweetened ice tea.  then I asked the waitress if I could have my burger done rare.  In my experience- if the answer is yes they fresh grind their meat, if the answer is no- they buy preground meat or frozen meat.  So even though it won't kill me to eat a medium burger- I don't.  I ordered a chicken club sandwich.  It. Was. Dry.  the chicken was dry, it was too bready for the lettuce and tomato to counter.  I had to ask for mayo - and use a lot. ( I kinda feel bad for Min - trying to think of places to eat)


We then did a turn through target, Modell's and Lowes.  At some point while CURT was driving the truck- the turn signals and brake lights stopped working.  He was going to get new bulbs- but they lit up with the head lights and when you set the alarm they blinked.  Min ended up calling her grandmother's..... boy toy??... who worked 40 years as a mechanic and crawled around under the truck, before we decided that the problem was the front end somewhere.  We were also looking for odorban or other spray to get rid of the mildew smell from her sneakers being soaked earlier in the week.  And Curt had given his multi-bit screwdriver to the Angie and needed a new one to try and look at the lights.


While in Lowes (because the camping/hunting sections in Target and Modell were sad) we got what we needed - and were trying to figure out if we could steal...



Chad - and where she could put him since he was kind of missing half.


After going back to Min's house to hang with Fe a while (and Curt was not being a good male role model but I forget why)   We walked to a Thai restaurant for dinner - and Curt finally tried Thai food - and it didn't all have peanuts- and ... gasp.... he liked it!  When we got back, he headed home and Min and I (and Fe) settled down to some knitting (ok when Fe wasn't needing some attention) and Brad Meltzer's Decoded.  I think I'm almost through season 1!

Just seeing how this works.

I got the Blogger app for my phone to see if it helps me blog more.  A lot of days, by the time I get home, I have too much to do and/or I'm tired.  Of course, if Grace would get Twitter, it would make my life a bit easier.

Today is my father in law's birthday.  My SIL told my husband she wanted to take him to dinner tonite.  Then, there was an issue because the kick off meeting for their bowling league is at 4 or 5. (how early was she going?)  So now it's 11 and I still have no idea!  To top it off I haven't gotten my rental car yet, so its more complicated.

Update on the car. I'm making the Angie deal with the insurance company.  I also made her call Robbie's and have the car towed to Robbie's .  My friends want to know if its to teach her to deal with stuff or because I don't want to.  The answer ....yes.

I once read somewhere

That the Japanese are more into gadgets than any other nationality.  Ever since I have been using this excuse with my husband or anyone else when I am drawn to purchasing a gadget.  After all I am half Japanese, and I need some way other than sushi to connect to my roots right??  The Angie follows directly in my footsteps.  She can actually be worse than me at times.  If she didn't get rice for a few days when she was younger, she would tell me her rice tummy was empty.  That since she was part Japanese and part from Louisiana she needed to get rice semi regularly...  Green beans & spaetzle for her German side.  Cheese for the French side. ... You get the picture.  One of her most coveted gadgets was the Magic Bullet.  As she will be living in an on campus apartment this year, she revisited the desire to have one.  Also she hinted at wanting a rice cooker.  While Curt and I were out shopping yesterday, we got her the Magic Bullet at Costco and a small rice cooker/steamer at Target.  When she came out to help carry stuff in and saw these two, she let out a squeal that I am sure shattered several windows in the neighborhood.

Project Me (6) - Atonnement spoilers.

WOW!  My last project me post was 10.04.10 that was just about a month ago.   So to try to recap.  The book I read from the 1001 list took me all month.  Part 1 was really hard to get into.  But, Angie liked the book - I have mentioned she's really smart right?  It was literally over half the book!  Once  again an over indulged spoiled little girl is the main character.  Her naivete/fantasy/assumptions change her sister,  her cousin, her father's protege and her brother's friends lives and destinies.   Part 2 was seen through the eyes of a soldier retreating across France, wounded with a fever and only partially lucid, but a great improvement over the first part.  I guess it was the triumph of love, and the determination and will to live to reach the true love made this short section necessary, as well as letting the reader catch up on what happened since Part 1 ended. Part 3 was interesting, the whole girl grows up, realizes her mistake and tries to redeem herself.  Dealing with the casualties of war also forces her to grow up in one long day as a probationary nurse.  IF it had ended there, the reader could imagine that her sister and her lover, after finding each other again live happily ever after, that perhaps while never achieving the lost closeness of sisters, there are repairs made to the relationship.  But in the final section "1999"  the girl, now an old woman, facing slow dementia due to micro-strokes is wrapping up her life's business.  You would be led to believe that the first three parts are the result of her lifelong project - a book.  But as she takes stock, we discover that the soldier - her sister's true love- dies of a blood infection, probably from his wound in France, a few weeks after she sees him and her sister.  Her sister only survives a couple of months, dying in the German bombing of London.  Her cousin, who has married her rapist, now the couple is Lord and Lady, and dedicated to charitable works.  And as the narrator heads to her own birthday party, a full circle is made, as the grand and great-grandchildren of her brother and cousins, stage the play she herself wrote at 13, that she was trying to stage with her cousins for her brother at the beginning of the book.  I don't know, it just wasn't a satisfying ending.

I also checked out Gregory Maguires new book The Next Queen of Heaven  I loved his wicked series (also just got a Lion among Men) and his fairy tale books - Mirror, Mirror and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, are 2.  But this book, happens in upstate New York, with an exceptionally obnoxious teenage girl, who just needs some sense smacked into her.  I got about 50 pages in and decided that live was just too short to deal with another book with an obnoxious girl. So I closed the book and returned it to the library.

I was going to go for my semi-annual hair cut (annual this time, I missed the spring and then it was getting too close to summer - I live in fear  of not being able to put my hair in a ponytail/bun)  but some things came up and now I have to reschedule.   If and when I finally get around to it, don't worry you'll get to see it.  It is tough, because I hate blowdrying - and let's face it I leave my house at 330 am- so it really isn't happening  well - ever!  So the cut has to work with the way my hair wants to fall.  

I did find a new nail polish - I am totally in love!!  It is red ( painted a streak on a piece of paper towel because it was hard to tell) but so dark red that it just about looks black.  And there is a ton of glitter in it so it almost glows in the sunlight.  Of course when I went to take a picture it was hard to find the right light, but here's the best I could do:





They look almost brown here, sigh maybe I'll get a better picture this week!


I went to grace's daughter's a couple Saturday night's ago, to a Lia Sophia jewelry party.  I did get Angie something which for obvious reasons I can't tell you about until after Christmas.  It was kind of fun - haven't seen her husband Tom for a long time (he installs carpet,so when we agree and she doesn't, we chalk it up to carpet fumes)  and I only briefly met her daughter once.   And it was just kind of different from my usual Sat night, with my usual suspects.

I went to lunch at Mara's (local coffee roaster, dessert shop, cafe) with Grace last week.  I picked her up/ broke her out!  LOL!  We had the best pumpkin spinach quiches ever!  She was good and had a salad ( she's lost over 40 pounds since last spring - way to go Gracie!)  Me, I indulged and had a New England Clam Chowder and spiced hot caramel cider.  It was fun catching up. (and she listens to me whine about work, and about Braun's not sending C etc without complaint, and I think she's actually able to follow my jerky, disconnected, ADD  random trains of thought!

Temple annoyed me, they said they didn't receive a tuition payment, and weren't going to let Angie register for next semester, and for some reason we couldn't pull up the image on the computer so Curt had to go to the bank and straighten everything out.  Angie is doing well so far in her classes, she's feeling the work load, but all the time management skills she has from her HS days are serving her well and she's staying on top of everything.  She had a bad cold and since a lot of people in her dorm were coming down with strep, she got checked out, but no strep thank goodness. I sent her a care package with microwave chicken soup cups, zinc/ecchinacea drops, airborne, a lot of hand sanitizer (she did start out with   several large bottles in August, but just to be safe) and I made her some homemade chocolate chip scones with red/white colored sugar on top ( Temple's colors).

She has been keeping up with politics on campus.  She went to MSNBCs Chris Matthew's show broadcasting from the Temple campus, a few days later Bill Clinton was there, and Saturday she gave up the football game (the Owls won without her) to see President Obama on campus.