Going Back!

I miss my old blog... Going back there! Follow me, won't you??


http://knitandspinwithsusan.typepad.com/

Inter-not

Well, it's now working fine through the switch on the DH's computer, but not on the second one in the office. Hooked up the same, I think. Huh... Telling me I have limited or no connectivity. Tried switching ports, nothing. Think it's that computer..... MIL had issue with Zone Alarm conflicting with IE, maybe the same thing... Huh.

DH took my laptop today, so I can't check that. Poor guy has jury duty.... He's been called three times since we moved here, and me not once. Knock on wood. I don't mind doing my civic duty, but it sure does mess up the schedule

Freekin' Internet!!!!!

Arrg, out Internet connection is not working right! It goes in and out, now seems to be in. We think it's the modem, for some reason it's not putting through enough bandwidth to support more than one computer and even then it seems to go in and out. So, please expect a better update later, I don't feel like braving putting any pictures up at all.

Yesterday we went to the Orange County Fair. I saw several sheep's worth of wool I'd love to get my hands on, especially one Lincoln ewe that had the loveliest fleece, a really neat mix of darks and lights, and some Coopworths that were white as snow, I've never seen a fleece on the hoof that was that white. I mean, they positively shone. All those sheep, and there were a lot of sheep, made me dream of greener pastures and larger yards... I've really got to start buying those lottery tickets. That and the chickens... I love the idea of fresh eggs all the time. Maybe an Alpaca?? Or two, wouldn't want him or her to get lonely. Might as well throw in a Angora goat and rabbit also!

I did get a few more rows on Little Girl's blanket done... I'd post a picture but with the Internet thing, not really worth it, just imagine a stripe of lavender in there... I also did some carding for a not-for-me project that had been lingering for almost two years, a family friends Sheltie's fur. More on that later, but let's just say I significantly decreased the size of what I am carding and spinning and recommending a few fiber mills to her.

The cable Internet guy will be here in the AM, so root for a better connection by tomorrow evening!

I miss blogland...

"Don't know what you got till it's gone, Don't know what it is I did so wrong, Now I know what I got, It's just this song, And it ain't easy to get back, Takes so long..."

Cinderella - Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)

OK, well maybe not that long, really, and I do know where I screwed up. But I didn't realize how much I missed blogging until I've begun to do it again. That's how life is I guess. So many parts of my live were changed when I began to sell a certain line of kitchen tools and then got pregnant... I finally realized that if the kitchen tools were taking away time from what I want to do, well screw 'em, no matter how much I like the, I got tired of feeling like I needed to ask everyone I knew to be my customer. So if any of you come back by and were annoyed that I asked, I am quite sorry... I would rather have good friends than sales by far! The munchkin, well, I know I have to change parts of my life for her, but I am learning to do things like let the house go a bit (hard for me) to have a little more me time. For instance, use naptime wisely. Like, for blogging!

So, I have promised knitting content, as dull as it may be right now. The only thing I am allowing myself to work on is Little Girl's baby blanket. Ummm, yeah, she is 8 months old already, I know. But I'm not intending this as really a sleeping cover but more as a comfort blankie. I just hope she never looses it, I'm not reknitting this sucker. It's nothing more then the increase every row washcloth pattern made much bigger. I plan to edge it with a cool ruffle though. At her age, bright colors will be much more popular than some kind of intricate cable. The yarn is Cotton-Ease from my stash, which I have a ton of. The ruffle will be in the lavender, for a slightly girly nod.

Alas, no meal to report last night, as we spent the day at Disneyland. We did have their Bengal BBQ skewers, which are good, but overpriced. A bit of a splurge. They make these bacon wrapped asparagus tip skewers that are soooooo good. The asparagus is always overcooked, but the concept is delicious. The meat on the Bengal Beef ones were super tough. You can do better guys!!! The park was surprisingly quiet for summer, kinda nice. Almost walked on Jungle Cruise.

I have a sunburn....

..... and I feel like such a dork. Why oh why did I not put sunscreen on????? It's on my back too, the worst spot. It was earned by spending a day in the garden in the hot Inland Empire summer sun. And then popping into the spa afterwards because half way through the garden experience I had to put my bathing suit on. Why you ask??? Well, it all started out innocently enough. I needed to do some trimming and sprinkler adjusting. The I decided, DH has Little Girl occupied, why not rip out the corn?? See in the hot sun here, the corn is done. It has yielded it's bounty and it was time to go, especially since I kept seeing a ton of ants around it. Remember, it's Antvasion 2008. So I began ripping it out, and just got covered in ants. It was horrid, like some bad sci fi movie, they were everywhere. Then they began to bite. Bad. I grabbed the hose and rinsed myself off, wearing my knit shorts and camisole. I hollered for DH to run up and get me a bathing suit and changed right there in the yard, DH holding up a towel to protect my modesty from the whole neighborhood. Stupid glass walls.... Anyway, that became the game, pull some, get bit, rinse them off, and so on. I managed to get all of the ears off and then stalks ripped out, but not in the trash I am hoping the little buggers will run off out of them before I need to. But I did save the last of the corn! I planted Blue Aztec, White Corn and Mini Pink Popcorn... We had eaten the white already, and I didn't catch the Blue fast enough... so I will dry it for next year. The Pink came out really neat, and I'm looking forward to popping it once it's dry. I got lots of cross pollination, which I was going for... I'll save some seed for next year and see what I get. Although, I may not plant this next year, as I have some seed of corn from the Sacred Valley in Peru to plant, courtesy of my young adopted Peruvian cousin. The kernels are the size of a dime, no joke. I can't wait to try it.

I caught this little guy on a chili plant.... I just don't want to know what he's been munching on, he was so cool looking, I didn't have the heart to remove him, there's room for everyone in my garden. I deadheaded my herbs, a lot of them have gone to flower and I want them to grow. So it was off with their heads! I thought the blooms where so pretty I brought them in to make a bouquet. I put them in the fish vase I painted ages ago at one of those paint your own ceramics places. We just got a new one, but I haven't had a chance to stop in. Probably a good thing... I'm guessing it's not 8 month old friendly.

It was Everything Soup night last night... This weeks consisted of leftover homemade potatoes au gratin (which started as leftover cheese fondue), leftover grilled chicken added to sauteed carrots and red onions, all chopped fine with a couple of bay leaves, cumin, paprika and fennel seed. Just covered with chicken stock and simmered for a while, then I took out most of it and put it through the blender, adding some half and half leftover from making ice cream. Freekin' good, if I do say so myself. Pretty slim on the leftovers this week, so a pretty good concoction. Tonight I attempted a Chicken Kievish dish, with chicken breasts pounded flat, filled with leftover blue cheese butter from steaks a couple weeks ago, rolled, breaded and pan fried. If I had kept pan frying until the chicken was done, I would have burnt it, so I had to pop it into the micro of a quick finish it up, since Little Girl needed to have dinner NOW. She was having a bit of the chicken herself. I shall try again, and change a few things. I think the breasts were too big, and therefore didn't pound well. Is is me, or are chicken breasts just getting bigger and bigger??????? These were supposed to be natural hormone free, so I think they must be breeding them for giants!

Big Booms!

I finally caught up on NFNS the other night. I wasn't at all shocked to see Jen go... She seems like a nice person, but just couldn't get it together. I don't think she has a strong enough personality either. Down to 5! Got caught up on Iron Chef too... Now to get behind again this Sunday.

I also got the cookie jar filled up the other day... Chocolate Banana Cookies from Farm Journal's Best Ever Cookies. This is my favorite cookie cookbook, I've been using it since I was a kid. It made a very cake like cookie, and quite good. Added a little extra flour since the batter seemed too wet and some cinnamon for flavor, goes good with banana. I've been looking for another way to use mushy bananas.

Hope everyone had a good 4th of July. We did the usual harbor sail on the parent's in law's sailboat. This will more than likely be the last year for that, as they are pretty determined to get going on that world cruise this year. Or at least get the boat out of the US. When that happens, I will then have immediate family in 3 countries. Yay, more vacation spots!

Fun was had by all, Daddy helped Little Girl drive the boat... She seemed to think it was quite fun. Bella thought the BBQ was a wonderful idea, and really thought that everyone's food, including Granddad's was for her. She is such a polite beggar.... And such a pretty girl! Alexandrea conked out with Grandma at the end.

Here's also a few pictorial highlights of the fireworks show, taken with the newly discovered fireworks setting on my camera. ( I use a Sony DSC-T200, third Sony digital I've had, love them!) The rocking motion of the boat made for some neat effects....

Catch Up

I feel like I have been playing catch up all week. I have been trying to catch up on the DVR for days. I'm down to one episode of Next Food Network Star to go... Behind a bit on Iron Chef too... Didn't help that the power went out the other day and managed to wipe my setting on the DVR downstairs. Thankfully, the upstairs DVR still recorded everything. Speaking of Iron Chef, anyone catch Anne Burrell's new show?? I thought the concept to be great, but I hope she loosens up some, she seemed stiff and a bit over-rehearsed. I've added it to the DVR since it think it has a lot of promise, I look forward to Mario Batali battles partly for her. On that note, will someone give him an new show besides Iron Chef?? I like a knowledgeable person who also makes me laugh!!

I've also been trying to catch up all over the house due to the Great Antvasion of 2008. Every year, we get invaded by ants for a week or two. We have to hide the food, make a Raid barrier into the pantry and hope for the best. So far, they've hit the four legged family members food, half a box of See's candy, a mug of juice left in the craft room, candy left in the game room, and so on. NOT THE PANTRY!! Last year they hit it twice, and I twice had to clean it out, spray and such. Did get nicely organized for a while, though.

Dinner was Pick Up Sticks. Some nights, you just gotta have the House Special Chicken.... In no way shape or form truly Chinese, but tasty all the same. Rice was dry....

Post Numero Uno

Once upon a time, there was a sadly neglected blog. So neglected, it's author decided it was time to stat fresh. So a new blog was started. It's name came from one of her favorite meals: Everything Soup. Take everything left in the fridge from the week, and make soup out of it, no matter the weather. Three different meats? Ginger Carrots? Limp celery? Parmesan Rind? Spaghetti Sauce? In it goes!! A few spices and herbs, a little stock (whatever's on hand) and Voila! Dinner is served with some crusty bread and a green salad. Her life is a little like that, everything gets tossed in together, and all of the ingredients fight to get to the top of the pot.

Tonight, however, the leftovers do not become soup. Leftover grilled chicken is baking in the oven with BBQ sauce, a little honey and some coriander along with some thin sliced potatoes layered with leftover cheese fondue, onions, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Served with a simple green salad, choice of dressing. Yum! The small one will be having chicken chunks, and veggies with cereal... Well, she'll think it's yum, even if you or I don't. There will probably be leftover chunks to make the dog happy. Dessert you ask? Homemade Spice Ice Cream, simple vanilla with the addition of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Maybe a little caramel sauce?