A Small Miracle???

 No, not that I'm actually back here. Though, it's a thought. 

To say it's been a rough year would be an understatement. Actually, the last entry was just before my mom needed her hip replaced, and I'm now her medical person. So there were numerous medical appointments, the surgery itself, post-op care, etc. 

It's all fine, she's walking better than I am, and she's not in pain. 

I've had my second PRP shot in my left hip. That picture right there is the plasma they spun down from my blood. All that goes into the joint where the injury is, and it acts like your body's own "cortisone." It takes a while; I had 3 or 4 INSTANCES only after the first shot, where I was pain free, and they didn't last. But the effects are cumulative, and I have great hopes. They were very happy with the amount of plasma I was able to produce. 

I've noticed muscle atrophy in that leg and I'm a bit confused, but working on rehabbing it. The JOINT doesn't hurt, but I have some pretty interesting and intense muscle cramps. I'm using a cane, which my doctor and his nurses suggest that I decorate for the holidays. Little do they know that I'd actually do that... 

And, in one of the most bittersweet moments of this year, my nephew announced that his wife is pregnant. My sister won't be here to see that grandbaby. 

Let's start there...

The Knitting...

I have put aside the Long Sands Tee, not because of baby knitting (well, sort of) but because of the project below...a HUGE book editing gig. 

But once I heard the news, I was back in "start" mode. I had started, a few years back, a baby afghan for them, thinking I'd get a jump on things. It was going to be a feather-and-fan (also known as Old Shale) in the colors of their wedding afghan. I remember I set it aside because I managed to screw up the pattern, and one of my fans was off. And there was no news on the baby front, so I thought I'd eventually figure it out. 

In the meantime, JoAnn Fabrics had a sale on their Bernat Baby Softee, and I picked up 4 bundles: 2 each of aquamarine and "little mouse" (a sweet tan/taupe). I had no plans, but I figured the colors went well together and who knows - someone will turn up pregnant sooner or later. 

So as you know, my habit is: baby sweater, afghan, hat and maybe booties. This little one is going to be born in May - no need for sweaters. So we have to think differently. Still doing a sweater but had to look at my original "standard" - which doesn't go beyond a size 6 months. While that may work out mathematically, I've made the 6-month size for EVERY baby, and it fit them at birth. We grow 'em big here...

And... I decided to do a version of the Encore 8-hour afghan that I've done before. I'll tell you my theory on that in a second. I had enough Baby Softee to do the afghan. But not enough to do the rest. 

No more of that color combo at JoAnn (of course)... And I really wanted to do "simple" instead of what I had initially chosen for them. 

So I hoped on to Jimmy Bean's Wool. What with my own hip issues and a schedule that has gone from "nuts" to "impossible," I wasn't going to be making the 4-hour trip to my LYS anytime soon. 

I wanted something coordinated. What I found was a freakin' miracle to which I can only attribute the powers of the Knitting fairies or my sister, whatever plane she's on. The colors match. Two different yarns entirely: one set of Cascade 200, a superwash wool, and the Bernat Baby Softee, an acrylic. And they MATCH. Of course there's the sheen on the acrylic, but holy moley... the bottom knitting is the Baby Softee. The top two balls are half of what I bought for the sweater, the Cascade 220. 

I am so gobsmacked and jazzed! I was prepared to be ok with something "close enough." Well, near-perfect is certainly "close enough." 

So the sweater? (Insert drumroll here) I've decided to try for a Baby Surprise Jacket. I figure a 12-month BSJ can have rolled sleeves if by chance the baby is smaller, but if at 6 months, the peanut is more like a 9-10 month old, it'll still fit. And garter stitch is remarkably stretchy. I can do the turquoise/aquamarine for the body, and add random stripes of the cafe latte. And then reverse that for the hat. Yippee!!

Ok, now my screed on simple knitting. The pattern I'm using is off the Bernat site, and it's actually for a gradient, where you'd have a pale color, with two darker colors, and switch the darker colors half-way through. So, let's think green & cream. The green would be perhaps a grass green and then an emerald color. You'd hold the emerald + cream together for the first half of the afghan and then switch to the grass green + cream for the last half. I've done that in an Encore pattern with a different pattern: 2 of the darker colors first, then dark + light in the middle, and then 2 of the light at the end. It's gorgeous. 

But since I only had 2 colors, this is going to be very tweedy and I already love how the colors are patterning themselves. 

And let's face it. For me, at least, if I screw up a lace pattern, or have one more stitch or whatever in a complex pattern, I can fake it. It's a "design element." Here, with just garter border and stockinette body? There's no where to hide. Your skills, such as they are, shine (or not) in plain knitting. 

Besides which, this particular afghan is draping like a dream and the texture of the yarn is bouncy and yummy. And, thank you, grandma - my tension looks really good so far. It's a 20-row bottom, and then 12 knit at each side. Alternate knit and purl through the body for stockinette and you're good to go. Then 19 rows of garter at the top, and a bind-off for row 20. Easy as pie. 

If I had more colors, I certainly would've used them. I should work on some sort of scrappy baby blanket, but this is going to be good. For what it's worth, they're not revealing the gender, even to themselves. They want to go "old school." Which is fine - this colorway will work for whatever they have. 

I also have my "travel sock" which I'm piddling with. Honestly, since this hip injury, my hand-made socks are easier to get on than the store-bought ones...so I should get skippy and just finish a pair! 

One stitch at a time...

The Baking...

The last time I saw my sister alive was on Christmas Eve. Needless to say, this year is going to be hard. Well, let's just put it out there. SUCK is kind of the order of the day. 

There was a small family melt-down over the timing of Christmas Eve, which I will for now ignore (it'll go in my novel). 

I digress. 

My sister's favorite part of the dinner was the cookies. All baked by hubby and me. Her favorites were M & M cookies - take your basic chocolate chip recipe and instead of chips, put in Xmas-colored M & Ms. We made big ones, soft and chewy. We'd set aside a dozen for her and she'd take them home, hoarding them. One a month. 

To be honest, so far, they're not on my list. I'm not sure I can make them. My list is actually short-ish, all things considered. 

We did, however, do potica. And the dough was not happy. It was pretty stinky, as a matter of fact. It would roll...and then Slowly. Go. Back. Hubby had to fight it every step of the way. They weren't pretty. I was ready to chuck the whole thing and start over, but he persevered. 

They baked up pretty. The taste and texture were there. They got rave reviews. And they never knew how close they came to getting binned! So we're stocked for Christmas, though we may do another single batch for Easter. We make 1 batch of dough (unless we get crazy and do a double -- which results in anywhere from 6 - 10 loaves and is a marathon weekend of baking). And we make 1.5 batches of filling. My family has come to like just a tad more filling - actually about 1.25 batches, but I don't want to "math" that much. 

Hubby has a fix for that extra filling. His granny's Never Fail Pie Crust, and a mini cupcake tin. Voila, my mother's new favorite cookie and lots LESS fiddly than Pecan Tassies (or nut cups, as my granny used to call them). 

So the list is, so far, brown sugar cookies (rolled with our Ukranian cookie press rolling pin); lemon cherry cookies; coconut macaroons; chocolate shortbread; poppy seed cake; almond crescents; chocolate chip bars; lemon bars; pineapple crescents; snow-on-the-mountain and filled cookies. Oh, and Jewish Honey Cookies just because everyone loves them. 

I'm not sure if anything else will make it to the list. Probably not. We're giving a lot of it away, aside from the platter we do for the family dinner. It's a labor of love, but there's someone missing. My brother's favorite is the pineapple crescents - he gets his own bag too. 

So anyway, that's the plan.

The Project...

I've snagged a great editing gig. I've done 6 books already, and I'm on #7, for a publisher that I've worked for before. I'm the "last set of eyes" on the books before they go to press. A great gig, the books are all pretty good, and the only problem is -- with my hip. Because I can sit a long time editing 8 or 10 chapters. Then I figure I need to stand up. 

Oy, the creaking! So I've settled in to doing 2 chapters, then I get up and walk around, get some tea, take a trip to the bathroom, pet a dog. Anything to keep me moving. 

And I'm still able to make my deadlines. The books are all coming out in 2023, so I'm looking forward to seeing them in print. 

I've started thinking about a book I'd like to write or at least be the lead author on. Maybe that'll happen soon. Stay tuned!

The Bat...

I work for a church. The church buildig itself is old, from around 1910-ish. And occasionally, we have visitors. Of the animal kind. During Covid, when we were in lockdown and not permitted to have services, we battled the spiders, who promptly saw this as an opportunity to reclaim the entire building. 

Then, we had a cat in the basement - which I actually was hoping we'd be able to lure into the office to keep the mice at bay (a different building). That didn't happen. 

We've had a bird fly into the church while we had the doors open. We've had bats - mainly dead already.

And then there was last week. A parishioner comes up and says, "There's a bat in the sacristy and if So-and-So sees it, they're going to freak out because they don't like bats."

I go take a look. It looks dead. There are cobwebs around it. It's about 12 feet up. 

I call Animal Control. In our county, bats are supposed to be removed and tested for rabies because it's a problem. I think, "No worries, we'll get the little critter out of there and it'll be fine."

Well. Animal Control isn't allowed to get up on ladders. Dude says to me, "I can do this because on this one step, I can reach it, but next time, the bat should be within reach." Seriously, in my head, I'm thinking, "Ok. I'll leave a note for the bats..." And then... It's alive. I hear peep-peep-peep...and he's got it in some salad tongs, wings flapping, a very peeved bat. 

He can't let him go; it's his duty to take it in and send it to Bat Heaven. I'm gutted. And now we have to figure out how he got in (the bat...). 

I'm still a little concerned about the "bats have to be within reach" thing though - who tells the bats??

Random Picture...

It's Advent. This was from last year; this year, I'm not sure I'm going to set up our Advent Wreath - which is what this is. Two years ago, our vicar had a "make your own wreath" project for us, and this is what I came up with. 

In spite of the fact that I knit, I'm not entirely a craftsy person. I thought this looked pretty good; I didn't want real candles, so these are the battery-operated ones, and the ribbons and gold balls just look nice. 

We are going to have a tree of some sort on the dining room table. Tomorrow, I start the annual Ornament Extravaganza, and I know I'll have to order 18 ornaments for the gestating Peanut, but that's going to happen later. 

And in the meantime, knitting continues, and I bake. 

Must've Been the Sushi...

Oy, what a rotten few days it's been. 

Well, not totally rotten, but darned close. 

The good news is WE HAVE A PRIEST and she's starting on August 1st. So she's moved into the Vicarage and is getting settled in. 

The other news is that we've moved the office space into another building, and that's taken up --- oh, about 6 months of my life so far. But on Tuesday, I spent quite literally 10 hours at the office, finalizing the packing and helping with the movers. 

On my way in to the office, I ran into the Jewel and the Big Lots. Well, Big Lots for a large box of K-cups (yeah, I know all the pros and cons, but this one box ought to last 2 years...) and a set of shower curtain rings. Jewel for lunch. I found a sandwich (breakfast) and a small package of sushi. Don't judge me - I was in a hurry, and it was better than junk food. 

Or maybe not...

Anyway, we were running like chickens. I ate the sushi about 1-ish, and by the way, the wasabi sucked. I love wasabi. But this was some sort of processed crap. I should never have put it on the sushi in the first place. It was California roll - I'm not all that adventurous (though I suppose buying sushi at the Jewel would be adventure enough). 

When our organist came by to supervise the moving of 2 pianos, Hubby started moving over the empty file cabinets, and I was finishing packing up office supplies. Movers came. We worked more. One of the parishioners was staffing the other building and so we had a tag-team going on. 

Then, we were all "hangry" -- and ended up at Merichka's, a local old restaurant where we go once a year. I ordered what I always order: a poorboy sandwich with American cheese, a salad and a double-baked potato. I usually eat half of it and bring the rest home, which I did. 

Came home, relaxed, went to bed. 

Till 3 a.m. Tummy was rumbling in that "way" where you know there's going to be trouble, so I staggered up and did what needed to be done. Went back to sleep only to have the same tune being played at 4 a.m. Mind you, I hadn't gotten to sleep till midnight, because my entire body felt like it had been run over by a moving truck!

At 5-ish, Hubby wakes me up, and all I can say to him is, "I want to die." My head was full of snot, my bowels were going nuts, and my stomach was turning. The nose, I think, was moving dust. Can't quite pinpoint what the tummy/bowel thing was. 

Did my a.m. routine, but didn't feel even like drinking my tea. I drank about half, hoisted myself to the shower, and got dressed. Brushed my teeth, got ready to leave, then BOLTED back to the bathroom, over Tippi, to get rid of whatever was left in my stomach. 

That's not how you want your Wednesday to start. I was a bit sick all morning, but some chicken soup at work, and I feel a bit better. Still dicey tummy, but I think everything will stay where it's supposed to stay...Lord willing. 

Over-Knitting Is a Thing...

Tonight, I started to work on the gusset of the Green Sock. I had been avoiding knitting for a few days because with all the packing and such, my hands were killing me. 

They still are. I think I over-knitted. As in, not that I knitted for hours straight, but I've been knitting a lot and my hands weren't used to it. 

Over-knitting can be remedied easily: stop knitting for a while. And I wear a Tommy Copper hand glove that provides some compression. Sometimes, you have to resort to aspirin or another NSAID, but usually, stopping the knitting works the best. 

And of course, that also means, for me, no guitar -- not that I've had time to practice a lot lately. 

But I was on a roll with not only the scarf (sausage roll) but the socks, so "not knitting" is a sorry option. If I want to complete my other projects, including perhaps some Christmas knitting, I need to take care of the hand now. Otherwise, it's going to get worse. 

But it is what it is, and if I can take care of my hands now, it'll be better in the long run. 

Crimes Against Potica...

So when I was in the Jewel (see above), I saw this on the counter. This -- this piece of muck thing purports to be potica (pronounced po-TEETZ-ah), the nut roll of my people. Baked by an Italian bakery. 

Sorry if this sounds offensive, and it is: Italians can't do potica. Never could. They do things like fill it with raisins and chocolate. That is not potica. Germans can't do it either. Yellow raisins are not appropriate filling. Nor is "flavored" potica. I used to get into quite a discussion with this woman who insisted that she was making "raspberry" or "blueberry" or "prune" potica. 

Hold the phone, lady...You're making danish or strudel. Not potica. It doesn't do fruit flavors. 

Of course, there are several different recipes. Each family has their own and they're not famous for sharing. In fact, I won't share mine. You have to "marry in" to get the recipe. 

And I don't compete with others' grannies' recipes. My granny gave me my recipe and I respect that your granny may have given you yours. 

Just that mine is the best. That's all. 

I actually have certifiable evidence that this is so. My guitar teacher is of Polish descent, and I gave him some for Christmas. I knew he made or had family who made it, so it was kind of a risk. But -- as he tasted it, he said, "It's almost as good as my grandma's."

You have to understand Potica Wars. That is actually a great compliment. And I was tickled. 

And here's the other thing. It's July, right? 

Even my guitar teacher agrees: Potica is a holiday thing. Christmas and Easter. Thanksgiving only if you're lucky. The only other time would be for a wedding. 

This made me chuckle and feel sorry for those who don't have access to home-baked potica. 

Random Picture...

A while ago, I was invited to do a "black & white challenge" on FB. Mind you, I'd love to do another - especially with all the sturm und drang on FB lately! 

This is one of my favorites. My old birdbath, when the solar bubbler worked. It was a gorgeous color picture, and I think the B & W made it look even more interesting. 

I would love to have another bubbler, because I think it's better for the birdbaths, and also keeps the mosquitoes down. But we have a large maple tree and it lets fly with the little whirly birds and there's tree fluff and all kinds of trash - which clogged the bubbler. The solar panel also didn't work well when the sun turned and we lost light (obviously, right?) so we may need to look into some sort of electric apparatus. 

I love the sound of water. I'm still working on getting a fountain in the front yard somehow. I'm a little irritated at the place I was going to get it from: I'd done a "Yoga in the Garden" program for them for 3 years, and they up and replaced me - without letting me know, and after I'd called them to get dates for this year. 

Turns out it was probably a good idea what with all the church stuff, but still...Loyalty, anyone? I'd have been just fine if they'd said, "Hey, we're going to go in another direction." But they just never called. A student of mine saw it in their newsletter and got all excited, thinking I'd managed to get in touch with them. That sort of thing is just uncool. 

Anyway, now my hand is objecting to typing, so it's off to bed for me. Hopefully, to sleep and not to dream... or run to the bathroom in the wee hours!

Keppra Countdown...

Well, we're a month in to the "Keppra countdown" and results are mixed. 

First off, no migraines to speak of. I mean, there are twinges, most every morning. But there's been no big full-blown migraine. I've downed a couple of Excedrin Migraine tabs over the past few weeks, but so far, the "detox," if you will, is proceeding. 

What I am having trouble with is the plethora of side effects. Woolly-brained (nothing to do with knitting!), sleeping trouble, intense hot flashes (different from menopausal hot flashes by about 10 degrees or so!), mood swings, sometimes an unquenchable thirst, depression... I'm having a hard time with all of that. It's impacting areas of my life that I don't want it to impact, and I don't know how to explain it to anyone. 

In fact, last Tuesday, I had a major melt-down. I mean, everything went wrong, at least in my head. I was headed to my women's group meeting, but when I got there, I was hit by a wave of depression so heavy that I almost couldn't get the words, "I can't stay for the meeting because I'm not feeling well" out of my mouth. The tears threatened to overwhelm me. I dashed out of there, got into the car, and actually shuddered with sobs. It was an interesting ride home. I got home, sobbed some more, and finally, eyes gritty and jaw clenched, I stopped. I felt like my insides were being ripped out. 

Yeah. It was awesome. The cloud hung over me for a few days. I had thoughts that I hadn't had for a long, long time, and they scared me. I'm hoping that once all of this is done, my brain gets back to normal...or "normal" for me, at least. 

Next week, I go down to 500 mg at bedtime... So now, I'm at 500 mg twice a day; then I go to the bedtime-only dose for 30 days. Then, if that lasts - if there are no major migraines, which is the criteria I'm using (twinges don't count), I go to "every other day" till the Rx is done. Then I'm finished. Hopefully off the Keppra forever. 

It's nice contemplating being 60 and GETTING OFF a prescription, rather than adding more. Now, I suppose, I will need to get myself to my primary care doctor - it strikes me that I haven't been in 2 or more years. That's not like me, but I've been busy. 

Yes, I know that's no excuse. But it's what I have. My next thing will be to change my MedicAlert bracelet - which I'll still wear, because I think that it's a good thing to have in an emergency. And as far as I know, I'm not sure that the tachycardia will be relieved when I'm done with the Keppra. My cardiologist thinks the Keppra is "contributing" to it - but we won't know how much of it is Keppra and how much is the result of the PVI I had done. We have to wait on that. 

It would be great to get off the beta blocker. And it would also be great to get off the GERD medication - that's the NEXT next thing. Whole 30 starting April 2. 

Lenten Fish Fry...

The Croatian Cultural Club in town has one of the best fish fry dinners imaginable. We're a big fish-fry town. There's the Knights of Columbus, Cro-Club (as it's known locally), The Elks, and a few church halls that do them regularly during Lent. For our money, we love the Cro-Club. The fish, a lovely whitefish, is done nicely, there's buttered parsley potatoes, and a salad with a basic sweet vinaigrette. And 2 slices of "Italian" bread. You can buy a piece of cake or pie if you want dessert, but as you can see, there are two very nice slabs of fish - you'll be full after you eat this dinner.

I always steal Hubby's tartar sauce, because he uses lemon juice on his. 

You have to pick up the dinners by 4:30 or you're going to be standing in line forever. You can eat in, but I've never done that. Maybe it's just me - I kind of like eating at home. 

Hubby and I did go out for dinner tonight - it's been a long, long time, and it was nice to get out. Went to Hamburgerseria - yes, that's a restaurant name! I've linked it here - you'd love it. If you have a chance and you're in the area - stop by. I had the "Grilled Cheese Burger." Hubby had a basic cheeseburger with bacon. 

This weekend, we have a fundraiser dinner to go to. I'm sure it'll be chicken of some sort. It usually is. Dessert will likely be the best part of the dinner. It's an annual function, but somehow, this year it crept up on us both!

Easter Potica...

So this time, we did 4 poticas. I used the old family recipe, but I doubled the filling. I shouldn't have doubled the filling... I had a lot left. The dough behaved beautifully, and rolled out very even. The single batch makes 4 large (almost 3-pound) loaves, using my grandma's long pans. 

Hubby bought me Pullman Loaf pans, but honestly, they won't work. Our table is 52" square and I'd need a bit longer of a rolling surface so that the loaves would have more rings. 

I have two "pretty" ones and I've sold one of them. The other will stay in the freezer till Christmas or till someone says they want one. I use the "not so pretty" ones for the family because my family doesn't care what it looks like. They want the taste!

I got to use the copper bowl that The Kid (#2) bought me for Christmas. It's beautiful, and has the rounded bottom that allows you to whisk by hand. 

I started whisking by hand and by golly... The copper bowl really DOES work more quickly. The caveat is that you need to have the egg whites at room temperature, which I did. 

Usually, I use cream of tartar to puff up the whites more easily, but honestly, with the copper bowl, I didn't need to. I ended up going to my Little Red Kitchen Aid hand-mixer, and I'm telling you - those egg whites were whipped in under 2 minutes! Granted, it wasn't the usual amount - normally we double the recipe which means 3 times the filling. 

I'm pretty sure that the "regular" amount we make won't fit in this bowl. 

I wonder if they make a copper whipping bowl for a 5-quart Kitchen Aid mixer. A quick Google search seems to indicate that the answer to that is a confirmed "No."

Anyway, I felt a little bad making "mixer marks" on the bowl, but I don't care - it's a bowl to be used, not just sitting there looking pretty. I want to make sure it's well-utilized as I bake and I'm not going to "save it for later." Time to use things now. 

So, I said that I made too much filling. Well, it doesn't freeze, and I had no more dough. Hubby made his Grandma's "Never Fail Pie Crust" recipe and we stuffed mini-muffin tins full of it, and used up all the filling for "potica pies." I thought we'd have enough for church for coffee hour, but we've been munching on them steadily... We didn't even roll out the dough - just pulled knobs of it, tamped it into the muffin tins and baked for about 25 minutes. Only because of how thick the filling is. 

They freeze nicely, which has enabled us to have them for a few more weeks. 

I may see if I can snag a few for my mom - when we did this for Christmas, I thought I was going to have enough of them for the cookie trays. Except that Hubby ate them. 

All of them. 

Granted, there weren't as many then, but still. He ate them all. And I can't say that I blame him. Had I been home, and not working all day, I'd have eaten 90% of them all... So, in explanation, Hubby works - but he works at home. I work outside the home for the most part. 

It's probably safer for my waistline and my snacking habit that I do. 

Knitting...

Sorely lacking in the knitting department - as you can tell, there's been a lot going on. The Close to You shawl is coming along, though I did have to tink back one row. Somehow, I screwed up the 14-row repeat and was merrily doing TWO 14-row repeats in a row. Not cool. But I caught it and fixed it. I can tell you it wouldn't have been "merry" if I hadn't been paying attention and had done most of the blasted thing before tinking it back. 

This yarn, while yummy, definitely has a different feel to it than my own version with the sock yarn. I think my friend will like it, and I'm anxious to see how it blocks up. I think hers will be quite a bit larger than mine. 

That's ok. I can get more yarn like this if I want to do one in purples for me. 

I might do that. Or at least try it in another sock yarn. Or maybe Cascade cotton - it would be kind of heavy, but I know that their Pima cotton yarn drapes deliciously - and the colors are so saturated that they just glow. Potential, potential, potential!


Oh, and I'm having a little fun with the unicorn bowl. I wear this chalcedony bracelet a lot, and every so often, like when I'm working at the laptop, it "clacks" because it hits the base of the unit and it annoys me. 

I had to stick it somewhere, and the unicorn's horn seemed to be a logical place. I may make this my profile picture in Facebook! Or maybe this blog, but I love my picture of my adorable, much-missed husky River. 

The yarn bowl is working nicely, and is certainly heavy enough to take the tugging I'm giving it. However, tomorrow I'm putting felt dots on the bottom; it's got an unfinished ring on it and it was scratching up the Arlo table. I have it balanced on that notebook where I keep my sock patterns, but I need to put the felt under it so that it doesn't scratch, and doesn't slide off the notebook. 

Tomorrow I also have to work on the...

Baby Tomatoes...

My kid's friend AJ let me borrow this catalog and gave me some of his leftover seeds from last year. No, those aren't altered by Photoshop -- they're heirloom tomatoes, and while those aren't the seeds he gave me, I'm going to get my own copy of this catalog and get those for next year!

They're called "Atomic Cherries," and they look amazing. I'm growing, from seed, 3 different varieties - and I've set aside 2 of the little grow-pods for Kid #2 - he can put them in pots and grow them on his front porch. 

I'm hoping I have better luck. I think this year, we'll make sure the vines don't go nuts. Lately, we've been having these 12' tall tomato plants - seriously - you've seen the pictures - but no fruit. Or what fruits we get are small. I think the plant puts so much into trying to reach Heaven that it has no energy to produce tomatoes!

So we'll see (a) if these seeds germinate; and (b) if they do, we'll pinch them back to keep them bushy rather than rangy. 

Random Pictures...

It's a two-fer tonight. And both are sunsets. The one with the two houses is across the street from me. It was a stunner. I ran out in the snow in my house slippers to snap this one. 

The other is outside the studio on a Sunday evening. Lately, we've had the most amazing sunsets, and I've tried to get each of them when I can. 

I know - seems like I'm trying to live life through the lens of my camera (phone...), but I really just love the incredible colors. 

Each of these sunsets are a reminder that one day ends and another will begin. It's a reminder to do as Emerson says, "finish each day and be done with it."

The whole quote goes like this, and it's a good thing to contemplate, especially when you feel like things are beyond your control:

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”

Happy Holidays...

...to you! (the song, folks...) Bing Crosby. The movie. 

And besides, I've said "Happy Holidays" for about 20 years now. Did you know that between Thanksgiving and New Years Day, there are at least a dozen different holidays that are actually celebrated? So, there's no "War on Christmas" unless you listen to a certain television/radio station. 

And the kids working the cashier stations in town? Give 'em a break. They're TOLD how to greet you. It's a holiday gig. Show some true holiday spirit...

OK, as I gingerly climb off my soapbox, I do wish you all a great holiday season - celebrate SOMETHING. 2016 has been a rough year for so many, maybe celebrating the fact that we're all still here is enough. 

Knitting...

So, let's go here first... Knitting on Baby Stuff continues. The hat - a super simple rolled brim, is coming along fine. Right now, I'm at about 3 1/2" and I have to be at 5 1/2" before I start the decreases. I may bring it to Christmas, but I don't know how much time I'll have to work on it. Definitely tomorrow, though. I think I can get to the decreases by then. 

You can find the pattern here:  Simple Baby Hat - and it's from my favorite knitting shop in Oxford, MS - Knit1! Of course, it's all on Ravelry as well. 

Once again, old reliable Cascade 220 Superwash - my baby wool of choice. The colors are sophisticated and if you wanted, you could go "traditional" with them if you want. 

When I knit, I do "untraditional" - as untraditional as possible, if I can. Remember the last baby sweater I did, in a "zebra" print? The little monster is already out of it, because he grew like a weed! Which is exceptionally good, given that he was 11 weeks EARLY. 

And then there's the "foofies." That's what our choir calls them. You'll remember, maybe, about 4 years back, I got the zany idea to knit the ruffled scarves that were all the rage - but for the women in our choir. Today being Christmas Eve, and this being our big Midnight Mass, I brought the "foofies" (as they were christened by a soprano) home. The closet where we keep our robes has an area that's apparently lined with cedar. And the scarves stunk. 

Seriously, cedar is amazing for storing your heirloom knitted projects. Keeps the dreaded M***s away (the beasties about which we do not speak). But it does smell. And I didn't think I could go through a Mass with that smell up in my face. 

I took my Woolies, large wool balls, and dropped 12 drops of Young Living Essential Oil, Lavender, on each of 3 of them (I use 6 balls in my dryer). I took the scarves and tossed them in there, set it for half an hour on "delicate fluff" and let 'er rip. 

There are 10 scarves. This is what they look like... And yes, BORING to knit. But if you remember, at some point, anyone with a set of needles was knitting these things or the ribbon-yarn-stuff that made even more outlandish fluffy scarves. 


I'll never do this again. Seriously, the only knitting I will never repeat. I really didn't like doing the project, though I love the way the scarves look. Our robes are "Cubbie blue" and this white + gold scarf is really sharp. We use them at Christmas and Easter. 

They came out of the dryer in a tangle, of course, and in the process of de-tangling, I found this... a snag. I pulled out some white thread, and made kind of a hash of the repair, but I wanted to make sure it wasn't going to run like a stocking. And you really won't see it in all the fluff. 

So they're all back in the bag again, and ready for tonight. There are far fewer of us in the choir, but that's ok. We'll look spiffy and I'm glad we have them. I'm also happy that they took to the dryer so well. They smell lovely - a hint of lavender that makes them feel as if they're just off the needles rather than having sat in a bag in a closet for a year. 

Christmas Eve...

Kid #2 had a great idea. He said, at Thanksgiving, "Let's let the kids do Christmas dinner." OK. Great idea. Execution was a little rocky. The Kid is a huge control freak (ahem...no idea where he got THAT) and one of the cousins likes to fly by the seat of his pants. That didn't help. 

I was talking to my mother about 2 weeks ago, and hyperventilating about the whole thing. She said, "Don't you dare bail them out. If we eat Ritz crackers for dinner, they'll have learned about planning."

So yesterday she called me. Hyperventilating about the whole thing. Of course, I said to her, "Don't you dare bail them out. If we eat Ritz crackers for dinner, they'll have learned about planning."

Man, my mother doesn't like her words tossed back at her... 

They consulted with me, and we decided on a quasi-"southern" theme. They asked me to make my "world-famous" pulled pork. Then the brainstorming began. The "southern" thing is nebulous... But here's the menu:

Pulled Pork w/buns
Chicken 'N Spice chicken chunks (my mom's idea and a good one - they're a Joliet institution)
Baked Beans
Homemade pickles
Cole Slaw
Mac & Cheese
Salsa & chips (see???)
Cookies & Potica

Maybe potato salad will show up. Not sure yet. 

At our Christmas party at the office yesterday, I got a lovely gift. It's now the "Official Potica Plate" because amazingly, it looks like it'll fit an entire loaf of potica on it. Isn't that adorable? It's Fitz & Floyd, and at first, I admit I thought, "I have a bazillion Christmas plates." But NONE of them are long. They're all round. This is perfect. 

Kid #1 won't make it out for Christmas. I'm sad about that. I mean, it really hit me hard. I'm a "raise 'em to go out on their own" kind of mother, and I honestly thought I was ok with everything. 

I'm not. He called me last weekend to tell me. I didn't cry. At least while I was on the phone with him. But I was depressed the whole weekend. Like, I wanted to sit in a corner and weep depressed. Didn't want to eat. Didn't want to do anything. Wanted to sit and cry. Even to the point of not wanting to knit, read or do anything else. 

That's a very strange feeling. It's taken me a few days to pull my head out of itself, but I think it's ok now. We'll see. 

Random Picture...

Will show you this then I've got to go practice and knit some on the hat. Also gotta get the pulled pork rolling soon. 


For over 30 years, I've collected the Hallmark "Frosty Friends" series. I've got enough of them to actually cover a couple of large wreaths. Since we don't put up a huge Christmas tree anymore, I can quite easily cover one small tree with these. This is just a smattering - and I must be overwhelmed, because I can still see "tree" greens. I usually cover the tree from top to bottom. There's too much green showing!

Do you have favorite ornament that goes on your tree every year? What is it? Share your favorite and its story...I'd love to read them! 

Happy Holidays to all of you! 

This, That, and The Other Thing...

Barber & Oberwartmann Greenhouse

My, my, my.... So sorry, kids. It got crazy. And a little "down the rabbit hole." And then Christmas happened. 

Ahem. 

Soooooooo...

I'm officially out of a job. BossLady and I tried. We really did. And I even spoke to the president of the school. That's where the "rabbit hole" happened (more in a bit). Anyway, we got everything wrapped up and BossLady said that we could just stop working the day classes ended - and she was right.

In spite of my better thoughts, when I went in the Sunday before the movers came, it really wasn't cool. Facilities had already been in and popped out all the door locks, IT had been in to remove all the computers, phones and projectors, and it looked pretty desolate. 

I now have the majority of my office in my office. And basement. Yikes. Eight years piles up. My mom will be getting some of the wreaths that I had for the doors, and the church will be getting some of the decorative things for the Rummage Sale. Heaven knows I don't need them!

Down the Rabbit Hole...

So. The Assistant and I get a note from BossLady on December 1 saying we are effectively gone and there will be no transfer to the new site. 

I e-mail the president's office and ask if I can have a meeting with him before we leave, and to my surprise, they say, "sure." So I did. 

I explained that I wasn't there to plead for our jobs, but to tell him that we think there could have been a better way to handle things. I tell him that BossLady and I submitted a proposal back in August for us to move to the new site. I tell him that we were notified that he, 2 VPs and the provost had said "no."

He says, "I didn't know anything about it." 

I tell him that one of the VPs, who wouldn't use the president's name unless he was 100% sure, said differently. We batted that ball back and forth a few times and ultimately, I said, "Either way, you knew or someone's using your name without your knowledge, which would bother me."

He says, "Well, about 10 days ago, I had this conversation..." and he proceeds to relate - almost verbatim -- the proposal that BossLady and I had submitted. As I sat there wondering when I'd been swallowed by the Jabberwocki, I tried to control my spinning brain. Finally, after he was done, I said, "You know that that's almost 100% what we proposed back in August." He says he can't speak to that, but that THIS was the conversation he had with the provost and HR about 10 days ago. 

Do the math... the date we were told we were out of jobs. So, he says, "Here's what I want you to do. Write a letter, and tell the head of HR that we just had this conversation and I related the parameters of the job to you and you would be my preferred candidate for it, given your familiarity with the operations, the 8 years you've put in, etc."

And I told him I would. And as I'm leaving, he's shaking my hand and saying, "Now, go WRITE the letter."

When I related this to BossLady, she had nothing to say for a full 10 seconds. Then she laughed. The Assistant says it's a power grab and that nothing will come of it. 

I say, "I've got nothing to lose either way, right?" I had planned to take January off, and then start the job hunt in earnest, while working on the freelance stuff. 

Oy. Rabbit hole. Big one. 

Christmas Baking...

Here's the baking - or some of it. It was Potica Central at our house, along with the usual cookies. And Kid #2 did his share of baking as well. 

I had honestly documented each one, but since I have been a Lazy Blogger, I'll spare you the infinite stages of Baking 2014. 

Cranberry Cake

The Cranberry Cake was adapted by Leah Eskin for the Chicago Tribune. I brought that to a party. We all loved it. 

It's a from-scratch "upside down" cake with the cake being a very dense sour cream base. The cranberries are tossed with brown sugar, ginger and orange juice. It's a great coffee cake, and really good with whipped cream. 

It's a keeper, and I will likely make it for the holiday season. 

This is a portion of the poticas we made. In all, we did 6 of the small ones (in the aluminum pans) for my mom and 7 of the long ones. Plus one in a Bundt pan, plus one in a Pyrex loaf pan that was our "tester." 

They came out very nicely, and my sister said that "this year, you beat Dad's" for taste and quality. 

Wow. That's even better than the standard, "It's almost as good as my Grandma's" which is the normal compliment you give if you get a decent slice that's not your own. 

The Potica Wars are serious business, you know. Pronounced po-TEETZ-ah, it's basically Slovenian (which is NOT Slovak), but my Croatian Great-Grandma gave her recipe to my Slovak-Russian father. Who was a fantastic pastry chef, though he couldn't make a pie crust to save his life. 

Hey, we all have issues...

Anyway, it's truly "a family recipe" which is not given out lightly. Everyone has tweaks. Mr. K next door got some of ours, and said he was looking forward to the golden raisins. 

Potica slices

Ummmmmmmm. Not in MY potica recipe, thank you. But some Germans use dark raisins; some Italians put chocolate in theirs. Some are pale; some are darker. 

This is ours. And no, you can't have the recipe. Unless you marry-in. 

Yes, it's THAT serious. 

Anyway, on to cookies. I finally put a spreadsheet together of what works and what we'll not be repeating next year. We eliminated some old favorites (bye-bye White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies - at least for this year) and added some new ones (hello date balls). And in that process found some duds (bye-bye saltine English Toffee recipe)...

So, in no particular order, this is what we have been giving out.  A mixed plate of potica and almond cake went to my friend J's party. We had to bring a snack. Her brother loved it. 

The plate with the green ribbon went to Jeff, my guitar teacher. It's a tradition. He brings me back the empty plate and gets a refill for the next year. He's the one who adored the white chocolate cranberry cookies, but he relented when he saw some of the other goodies on the plate. I had to laugh, because I asked him, "so how many of your OTHER students bring you home-made goodies??? Don't kvetch." 

The plate below (the big one) was what went to the family Christmas Eve gathering. Along with a tray from Kid #2, so it was certain that we had enough (too many) cookies. On that tray, in no particular order, we have Kolachy (the square ones), date balls (rolled in nuts and coconut), chocolate coconut cherry balls, pineapple crescents (which disappeared as I was lowering the plate to the table -- VULTURES!!), M & M cookies, Santa's whiskers (the ones under the Kolachy that are pale with red and green), spice cookies, chocolate crinkles and oatmeal cookies (which recipe I won't use next year, but I'll keep oatmeal on the spreadsheet). I also sprinkled on some peppermint bark I got as a gift. I can't eat it (GERD) and I didn't want to pitch it. So it's been distributed among the gift bags and plates. 

I do have a couple of egg-less recipes and those didn't make it onto the plate. Lord knows it weighed enough already. 

Snow. No...

This is all we got for snow. And that was in November. 

As we came out of church, it was a sprinkle. Today, it's grey and dismal. 

We have the December of No Sun happening. Yesterday was sunny and in the 50s. Which is wrong, people.

I'm southwest of Chicago. We're supposed to be having WINTER. Either it'll be totally mild, or January and February will be misery. 

Either way, it would have been nice to have a few flakes on Christmas. 

I'm including pics of some new ornaments. This is the 2014 batch of ornaments I make each year. The kids all get them till they're 18 ... unless you're MY kids, in which case, I keep making them. I usually do the Santa for Kid #2 in the school colors where he's teaching. Kid #1 gets whatever I reach into the box to grab, and he's cool with that. 

I used to be able to do a theme. Nephew #1 got ALL Santa Claus. #2 got all kittens and cats. But the plaster ornaments are harder to find, so I have to take what I can get. 

The porcelain ones are from Amy Bolin and I really like them. One day, when I have enough money, I may have her do an interpretation of one of the red huskies. 

So those are on the tree. And the tree is on the table. Because of Raisa the Rambunctious. 

In the picture below, she doesn't LOOK rambunctious but it's there, believe me. 

I can't even see how that's comfortable, but between Raisa and Quinn - I've lost the ability to recline in my reclining knitting chair. 

What we do for our dogs... 

Knitting...

So. Drumroll... The Baby Blanket is DONE. 

D-O-N-E. Finito. Finally. And I cheated. 

Ummmmmmmmm - I "adapted." I made it car-seat sized, and I crocheted a 3-row edging. I love mixing knitting and crochet. It looks cool, and for this, it enabled me to have somewhat of a ruffle AND it took the crinkles out of the basketweave edges. 

You can see in this picture the slight ruffle. It's not as deep as the original, but then again, the blanket is also about 22" instead of the 28" called for. 

I just couldn't face it. I needed it off my needles. You understand. Don't you? I was so sick of looking at it, knitting on it, seeming to never have it move an inch... So I fixed it. 

We mailed it off the day after Christmas and I'm totally cool with it. 

One thing that I'm NOT totally cool with is the St. Charles Sock. This is what happened at my last iron infusion, while I was waiting. And for the life of me, the more I tried to pick up the dropped stitch (and how the HECK did it drop anyway???), the worse it got. 

So I frogged it. 

Yes. I know. I was all the way on the foot, about 3" in... 

But sometimes, it's just not gonna behave and no matter what you do, it's not gonna be fixed. 

So it's frogged, back in the Dr. Who bag, and in time-out for now. 

I will knit the yarn into socks. I loved it. I just didn't love that obstinate dropped stitch. 

As far as the Sock-a-Month KAL, I'm anxiously awaiting January 1 so that I can get started. Here's my 12-month stash. And if I can do a pair a month, I'm cool. If not, I'm also cool. It's a personal challenge for me. I set aside the yarn. Hubby bagged and tagged. So I have this ready and I don't know what yarn is in what bag. 

I don't. Seriously, I haven't even picked up the January bag to feel it. 

What I can tell you is that there's Opal in there somewhere, some Cascade 220, some Fluromania and some Lorna's Laces. 

Oh, oh, oh... speaking of Fluromania, I got a replacement of sorts for the stuff that bled. The company sent me TWO skeins (of the same color, which is fine) and it was a total surprise. A good one. I didn't expect anything. 

To add to the spirit of "goody-ness" - on my Facebook group, Purple Goddess Design held a drawing, and I actually WON... She has these mugs in either tea or coffee. 

It's a nice-sized mug. Though I do have to send her something to tell her that the printing isn't sturdy. Not that I'm using a steel wool pad on it, but it did flake a bit. 

Anyway, go check her out. The yarns are yummy. They're on my "eventually" list. 

Right now, I'm doing a quickie hat for the "almost" DIL. Kid #1 asked me to do one and all I could say is, "Please, NOT for Christmas!" 

It's in a Lion chunky tweed, and it's acrylic. Which is fine for her. First off, she's not a "fancy yarn" person (we're working on that). Second, it's a quick ribbed hat. If she loses it (and Lord knows the Kids have lost their share of hats), it won't be a $45 hat. It's all of about $8 or so. 

I was actually going to give her my teal Kiwi hat, but I thought that it was probably better to just knit her one for herself. I did buy a couple extra skeins, so I can whip out a scarf or mitts to match. At some point, it's going to be a good trade-off project because it's on size 10 needles. Good to switch it up for the sock project. 

In Sickness and In Health...

I was feeling crappy. I still am. It's bronchitis (hit me the first part of December...) and now it's more in the sinuses. 

Didn't care if I had 2 solos this year. Didn't care that I felt like every time I blew my nose, I was losing brain cells. So this was often my supper. 

Not exactly "clean" eating, but hang it all -- sometimes you just want a grilled cheese with tomato soup. 

And on the "sickness and health" topic -- a few things. 

Hubby and I have been sharing a Crud. He started it. And we're both still at it. My great-granny's theory that freezing cold cures colds? I'm a believer. I haven't had bronchitis this early since the LAST mild winter. Give me cold. Kill the bugs...

Kid #2 had to have an ablation similar to my own. He came home for a few days and it was weird having him here, but nice. He's better, thanks, and back in his own home. 

And Kid #1 was talking "rings." Hubby and I talked a bit, and I'm going to offer him one of mine. This was one of the first rings Hubby gave me, so I wanted to make sure it was ok. He said, "It's yours..." but then he also said, "You're going to give them the rings anyway, so they may as well get them early to use them." 

I like family jewelry. And I'm a believer that you don't need to wait till I'm dead. The fact is, I'm going to be leaving a lot of rings - and why shouldn't they have them to enjoy them? 

I'm not being foolish. I mean, it's gotta be SERIOUS. And the kids have been dating for a little over 5 years. And she's not a "bling" kind of girl. Hopefully she'll like it. 

I don't want him to think he has to rush into anything, but I would be really honored if they'd use one of mine. I showed him some of them, kind of to give him ideas about structure, what fits well with a band, etc. And gemstones are coming back as engagement rings. She doesn't particularly like diamonds. But he liked this one. 

Random Picture...

I'm feeling a hankering to raid the cookies in the freezer... So here's your random picture. 


Kid #2 came in for the surgery and Raisa went nuts... So he scooped her up and said, "Take that, rowdy hound!" 

She wasn't quite sure what to do; you can't see it, but her tail was flying pretty good. 

After that, she was pretty good about jumping on him. 

Yes, I know. She has her CGC. But apparently, this is HER boy and she was going to jump on him regardless!