This is all HUBBY'S fault...

Ok. You read it here first. I was NEVER going to put games on my phone because my phone is my phone, though I do love the calendar feature. And I got it because I was tired of coordinating three or four calendars (work, volunteer, personal, family) -- it didn't work, no matter what system I used and I always missed something. I have a Nokia Lumia running Windows and I couldn't be happier. Or at least that's what I thought. Both kids and Hubby have games on their phones, but me?????? Noooooooooooo - not for me. Ha.

But Hubby knows how much I love Scrabble. Love it. LOVE it. So he finds me a free (!) Scrabble knock-off. And loads it on my phone. Oyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!  I'm now addicted to "Table Tiles." Addicted. Yeesh. His fault. Entirely.

"Table Tiles" has different rules than Scrabble. You can use slang. You can use some foreign language words, though it seems to be fickle. The phone gets to use them, but I am told "not a valid word." Hmpfh.

So that was my big nit to pick was that Hubby now has me stuck on this game.

Other news: 

1.  Both sweaters are done. Just need to be seamed. Will do that and photograph it.
2.  I started the orange afghan. I bought the Encore 8-hour afghan books. Yes, it's size 13 needles with doubled yarn, so I feel like I'm knitting with tree trunks, but the patterns are lovely and I'm looking forward to getting through them quickly. No, it won't be 8 hours!
3.  I'll intersperse this afghan stuff with smaller stuff - like socks.
4.  I got a gorgeous Siberian Husky calendar for Christmas. Yes, I still miss River.
5.  I also got a phenomenal camera, a Canon EOS Rebel. It's way more whiz-bang than my small Canon "pocket-shooter," which has begun to eat batteries at an alarming rate. And it's tons lighter than the Canon 5D that Hubby uses.

Since Hubby is a professional photographer, he's very comfy with using The Big Camera. I have always been a little skittish of it, though I'm competent with it. Now, though, I have a "mini-me" which, even though a Rebel is idiot-proof, has enough stuff on it whereby I can actually learn to take better pics.

Male cardinals in maple tree

So Hubby had to play with it (of course). Here are some of his shots of the birds who came to visit us this New Year's. As you can see, we have a decently diverse batch of birds, but we are missing some of our "usual suspects." No Blue Jays in a while. Also, we didn't get any shots of the Nuthaches, because they flew away. No doves, either, but some folks actually consider them an annoyance.

And we missed the biggest, fattest brown squirrel you ever saw! We have greys, and we've seen the browns, but seriously - this guy was the size of the back-door neighbor's Chihuahua!!


Small Woodpecker



Large woodpecker

We did get both kinds of woodpeckers. Now, I just have to take Whiz-Bang Camera to Starved Rock so that my friend Susan and I can get the Pileated Woodpeckers that live there! He had to sneak up on the little stinkers, because the bigger one is more shy than the smaller one. The smaller one? Doesn't care. He's eating. Leave him alone. Here's the little guy, on the right. Isn't he cute? He's got lots of personality, too. I've seen him chase off the "scavenger" birds like the grackles. He's fearless when it comes to his suet.

Our New Year's Day? Well, we got a lot done. I finally have an office where I can lay out my yoga mat! I didn't take pictures, though I should have, right? And yesterday, I did my "First Practice." I intend to do one a day, even if it's 10 minutes. Oh, and I'd better figure out my yoga timer! It did time, but it didn't chime.

Most of the stash is organized. The desk has been configured a little differently, and I'm hoping it's more efficient. The Catholic music has been moved downstairs. I don't want to pitch it - there's a ton of it. But I don't use it anymore since we are attending an Episcopal Church across the river. But I also needed the room, so downstairs to the basement it went.

The floor is swept up, the corners are vacuumed, the guitars are put away, and my meditation altar is changed up a bit. I just need to reinflate my balance ball chair, and I'm good to go. Out of the 12 things I had on my to-do list for vacation, I got all but 2 of them done. Success!!!

Hubby baked bread. He does know how to bake, and he's good at it. But he did need a little help because this recipe was a little garbled when it came to the second rise and putting the dough in the pans. Unfortunately, I'm off bread for a while, but I can tell you the smells and visuals were extremely tantalizing! Enjoy, but please don't drool on your keyboard or tablet. You've been warned....



Final rise

Yes, that's a cast-iron loaf pan. It bakes up the most wonderful bread. We use it for everything from sweet nut breads to these whole-grain breads -- and even meatloaf. And yes, it weighs a ton.



Fresh out of the oven

This recipe was one he found online. Our outlet bakery closed, as part of the Hostess fiasco, and he's having "sticker shock" at the cost of bread from the supermarket. This isn't our first go-round with baking bread; I actually enjoy baking it anyway, but usually it's during the colder months. This recipe uses Bob's 7-grain hot cereal, so it's a little heavier than I'm used to working with. It gave the Big Mixer a workout, that's for sure! I thought he was going to blow it up. Wouldn't have been happy about that, for sure! 

Out of the pans


The directions did say to roll the entire loaf in oatmeal, but I prefer it just on the top. With the cast-iron pans, there may be a tendency to scorch, and that would've been nasty. On top looks pretty enough anyway.

And now comes my "artsy-fartsy" shot. I love this. Even Kid #2 said, "Oh, it looks like something out of a Panera display." I guess that's good.   :)

"Glamour shot"

I had to kind of shoot it blind, since I'm short, but this is one thing the Rebel does - it makes you look lots more arty than you may actually be! Hubby has already sliced the loaf and toasted it. He said it held up well. Sometimes, the homemade breads can be a little wonky when you try to toast them or use them in sandwiches. I like a hearty loaf like a potato bread because it holds up well. Maybe one day when I get to eat bread again.

I'm not griping. Yes, I put on about 4 lbs. over Christmas, having lost nearly thirty this summer/fall. I need to get those pounds back off, and I will. And I'm not crying about "never" having [insert food here] ever again. It'll come. It's like anything - a work in progress.

Speaking of which, I do have a few resolutions: daily yoga, blogging here at least once a week, and reintroducing myself to my "elliptiKILL" machine in the basement. Barring any weird health things, I should be ready to get back into the regular routine.

My yoga teacher training starts in February, and that's a year-long process. That will help me with one of my goals, and I'm actually looking forward to it. Always the perpetual student, I guess. Ha - that means I have to put down "Word Tiles" to practice! 

Happy New Year from Quinn

In the meantime, here are the girls, enjoying New Year's Eve with a Himalayan Chew, available at Fun Time Dog Shop. Don't forget, this is an online store that donates all its profits to rescues, and you get to pick the agency on their list. It's a great place to get really good stuff for your dogs. The treats, toys, etc. are all tested by those monsters, the Elkhounds, and if they can't destroy it, you can bet it's sturdy!

Yes, I do dress my dogs. And yes, they usually tolerate it much more when they have a yummy chew. Tippi was savoring hers. Quinn was destroying hers! I did take them away after a while, but that's just so they last a bit longer.

All the best in 2013, from Tippi!

My wish for you and yours: Peace and all good for 2013.

Do something to challenge yourself. Even a small step is a big thing.

Namaste.







We Survived 4th of July...

...and considering our idiot neighbor a block over who thought shooting off M-80s and M-120s was a good idea.... well, let's just say it's rough pulling your dogs off the ceiling when you're busy ducking because your large picture window is visibly wobbling. Luckily, a neighbor yet another block farther away was able to give the local police a decent location, and the cops started to increase their presence so that by the actual 4th of July, it was not as horrible.

My back door neighbor is a Navy veteran and when he says it sounds "like a combat zone" then I have to take that more seriously than I would otherwise.

Prayer Shawl in Pima Cotton

So, this long weekend saw several things accomplished. I'm 30 rows away from finishing the prayer shawl; which is good because unfortunately, it'll be needed soon.

I've been plugging away on it in earnest for several weeks now, and while there are speedier knitters, I'm not one of them. I am moving along as fast as I can, and remembering the premise: speed, in this case, is not the objective.

Mindfulness is the objective. Sounds like my last post? Well, in this case, doing a prayer shawl is a meditation on the person for whom it is intended. It's the one time that I really don't want to be a "product" knitter - interested in pushing out a product just to take it off my "WIP" list (work-in-progress).

While I can appreciate those who have a "stash" of prayer shawls, that's just not me. I make them for specific individuals. For example, the church ladies in my parish have a stack of "prayer blankets" and I think that's a fine ministry. That's the way they want to do it. I choose to make them differently, and that's ok.

Another addition to my knitting arsenal is the yarn pot Kid #2 did. Actually, I bought the clay and asked him to help me, but since clay is one of his hobbies, he just did it. Mainly because I bugged him...but that's a mom's right, right?

Yarn pot

Lid closed

Here's what he came up with. The clay is self-drying, so he just used some of my ornament paint, plus he rolled a clear glaze around the inside. He did a nice job; it's rustic, and while the top isn't a perfect fit, I don't care. It keeps the dog hair out! Another view shows it closed; I know he wants to do another version and I told him I'd be happy to be his "test market." Frankly, while I appreciate the lovely pots I see on Etsy, I'm tickled to know that all this one cost me was a box of clay and some sculpting tools. We also found out that the silicon mat I bought was useless. Wax paper seems to work well.

4th of July bandanas

River decked out

The next thing that got done (almost all done) were bandanas for the dogs. Since I take Tippi to do therapy work, I figured maybe I could deck her out to make her seem more approachable. We went to the Local Retirement Home on July 5, and she had to have something to wear, right? So I had purchased some fat quarters at the new JoAnn Fabric location and cut the bandanas to size. With a giant-sized snap on it, they fit her and River. Quinn, they're a little big on, but that's ok. Here are some pictures of the end product. The last bandana has to wait till I fix the tension on my sewing machine...and rip out the grosgrain ribbon that's on there... (sigh). I'm going to take the chunks of the fat quarters that are left, and (gulp!) "quilt" them together, making a "crazy bandana" for them to wear. I have fat quarters in various girly prints, since Tippi is often considered a boy dog at the Local Retirement Home.

Quinn's bandana

As you can see, we can literally tie Quinn's on her. I wanted to make them to be able to be used on all the dogs, so since River and Tippi are the largest, we went from there. I am anxious to work with the rest of the fabric, and I hope I'll have a nice selection for the coming months.

I heard on my elkhound list that there's some breed-specific fabric out there. It's holiday themed, so I'll be ordering at least a fat quarter for each breed! We do have some holiday scarves for the girls, and they'll tolerate them, so why not?

The final project that got done was the reupholstery of my chair. Now here's the story on that. We bought a La-Z-Boy couch and chair. The couch is lovely, except my feet don't reach the floor. Everyone else fits in that thing but me! So we figured we'd buy a chair to go along with it; and we found a lovely sort-of-Queen-Anne chair that I liked. Perfect reading and knitting chair. Except that the fabric didn't last 2 years, and it ripped right where the back of your knees hit. Now I could see if it ripped on the arm or where you might have something in your pocket, but I don't generally store things at the back of my knees!

Mechanically, the chair was sound. So I went to the local designer store and they assured me they could do the work on the chair. What they didn't tell me was that I'd have a coronary in the process. The chair originally cost me about $500.

My Chair

This is what it ended up looking like, with fabric that has been "wear tested" for 30,000 repetitions. So we can get into and out of the chair 30,000 times before it shows wear, so they tell me.

The first fabric I picked was my absolute favorite. But the gal made a mistake and miscalcuated. The original fabric I wanted would've cost me $800+ to have done. That's $300 more than the chair was worth new. And it's not like this is a family heirloom.

So we re-worked it and came up with this fabric. Well. It still cost me way more than the chair is worth, but it was closer to $700 than the other one. I'm not particularly happy for a couple of reasons: I liked the other fabric, in spite of its coronary-inducing cost and I was upset that she got the price so far wrong. And I didn't expect an upholstery project to cost this much just in general. This fabric is lovely; it's a little more stiff than I like, but maybe that's where the 30,000 "sits" come in! It's also a little more formal than I wanted for our very casual household.

Would I do this again? Well, not for a chair at that price. If the chair had been leather or had been a family piece, yeah, probably. But now, I wish I'd have gone with what Hubby said: Give the chair to Kid #1 when he moves out (with a makeshift cover on the bottom cushion) and buy a new one. The only thing I objected to with that was that I resented having a La-Z-Boy (who're big on advertising quality) that fell apart like that after only a few years. What if we'd bought the identical chair and 2 years after that, it did the same thing? No value there. If this fabric does last the way the designer said, then maybe this is worth the investment. In spite of the sticker shock.

On the plus side, it does match River, and she likes to sit next to it. Sometimes partially under it. So I guess I did make the right choice. Now we'll see if we can keep the elkhounds off it.

Dogs on the Run...

So hum the song Band On the Run... and you'll catch the vibe of this picture. Hubby took the girls to the dog park. Seems like Tippi likes to run with River and River's not about to let the "youngster" upstage her! Here, Tippi's on River's blind side. She did that yesterday, too - kind of like she "knew" that being there was a good place. She keeps River from being whacked by stray branches or surprised by other dogs coming up where she can't see them. Hubby has one picture where Tippi's running and you can see the "40 mph" speed limit sign - but all you see of Tippi is a grey blur. I think she exceeded the limit! Of course, both dogs are sprawled in the living room now, having exhausted themselves. I can't wait to get out there with them this weekend to see them do what they do best: run like the wind and totally enjoy being a dog.