Thursday, May 31, 2007

Tamales

I know I said earlier that we were having way too much fun in the kitchen - it's still a mess - there is a problem with the paint - not sticking to the primed walls - the new wall is fine - it's the existing walls that have the problem - the paint just sort of bubbles up and falls off - YUCK! So the Man is sanding them down to bare drywall and sometimes a little bit further - More Yuck!

So, we cleaned everything up and made tamales - the Man-Cub loved it - and you know what a Mexican food junkie I am. The filling was super easy - I just made a vegan batch of Nanny's Mexican Cornbread - we had little cakes of that too - and the 'meat' filling is just the Morninstar Farms strips chopped and mixed with salsa.



Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Shift Happens

I just found this online - It concerns the massive changes that are happening on a global scale -- when it comes to things like population growth, job trends, etc. Take a look. It's pretty amazing.

TKD Socks - Navy - (to match the Cub Scout Uniform)

I finally finished the latest iteration of the TKD socks - these were navy - specifically to wear with my Navy Cub Scout uniform - which will be retiring after next year - as we move to olive/tan as Second Year Webelos. So hopefully I'll get a year of weekly wear out of them...

Needless to say - I've already cast on the next pair - these will be cool cotton - pale blue - I ordered some white cotton online and by mistake got light blue - instead of spending the postage to return it - I just added it to my stash and reordered the white - it's for socks too - of course.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Bunny

We were out walking with Jack late yesterday evening and I happened to have my camera with me - when we came upon this Jack Rabbit crouched down hiding from us. The Man-Cub saw him first - even Jack didn't see him. I knew I would have no time to fiddle with the settings and just turned the camera on and snapped the picture from where it was hanging around my neck - of course it was set to auto and the flash went off (making the bunny's eyes look funny) - and that of course scared him enough to bolt - and then I had my hands full with Jack trying to pursue.

The Man-Cub still calls them bunnies - even though they are nothing like the "bunnies" we had down south...

Monday, May 28, 2007

VEGAN Corndogs

We've been having way too much fun in the kitchen. We made veggie corndogs Sunday evening. It was a lot of fun. I adapted a recipe from the hillbilly housewife http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/corndogs.htm with obvious substitutions:

1 cup soymilk
1/2 cup flax seed goo
1/4 cup oil
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/3 cups corn meal
2/3 cup flour
1 to 1-1/2 pounds veggie dogs

flour for dusting (about 1/2 cup)

Hot oil for Deep Frying

Wooden skewers






I know there are ready made veggie corndogs - but you can't get them here and I had brought the veggie dogs back from the 'city'. Anyway, these were way more fun. I'm kinda tired of the kitchen being messed up with the remodel 'though. The stove is out about 2 feet from the wall and there is masking tape everywhere and I have to thoroughly clean every surface before I cook - drywall dust gets everywhere - I've put everything away that I can and covered what I can't with towels, but still everything gets dusty...

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Soggy Saturday

The Man-Cub's first day out of school was rainy/snowy - Yes I said SNOW - Just a dusting here but about 1/2 hour north they had 6 inches - So we pretty much stayed indoors. We worked on several of his scout beltloops and pins. And I shortened some of his trousers that either had holes in the knees or were too short for him.

One of the cute things his 3rd grade teacher did was a time capsule at the beginning of the year - it had a sample of his handwriting and a list of favorite things, but it also had a string that measured his height on the first day of school - it only comes to his nose now.


Saturday, May 26, 2007

Birthday Sweater or "the old grey sweater ain't what she used to be..."

Obviously, I couldn't post about this any sooner. This sweater has been through a lot - I've had the yarn since before the Man-Cub was born - always intended for a sweater for Karen - whose favorite color is green. This is a now discontinued color of Lustersheen called "spruce". I tried to get more from the company because I was afraid I would run out - but they didn't have any.

I started making this sweater after the first of the year http://cache. lionbrand. com/patterns/ kms-tankTop. html?noImages= 0- and finished the back and dropped the stitches - but they immediately slid together and I was not happy with the result. Maybe this yarn is too "slinky" for this pattern. So I ripped it all out and started over - this time I did Yarn-Over's instead of dropping the stitches and I like it a lot better.

This is the back blocked...

I hope it will be a nice cool replacement for the old grey sweater...


This is the finished sweater.

The present ready to go - The card has a funny story - it goes back and forth every year - inside it reads "save this card and send it back to me". So I followed those directions (it originally came to me) and then every year we send a proper card and then this one with just a note and the current year. Fun!

Friday, May 25, 2007

New Link - Vegan Cook-A-long

I joined the Vegan Cook-Along and I've already tried my first recipe - follow the link to see the results - a yummy Strawberry/Banana Pie http://vegancookalong.blogspot.com/

I added the link to my sidebar too...

Sea Trek

The Man-Cub's teacher asked me to go along on a field trip to see a movie about sharks. So we bundled up and walked over to the facility - it was about 40 degrees and windy - brrr.... Isn't it almost JUNE!

It was so much more cool than a movie - it was a live telecomm link to a facility in Florida (http://www.seatrek.org/) that studies sharks.

Our video feed back to them...

Our super-fun super-charged instructor was Kasey - originally from ND...


It really was a lot of fun and I think we all learned a lot about sharks. We played a Shark Fact vs. Shark Myth game.

...btw - that's a myth - sharks have excellent vision and they even have rods and cones like we do - for seeing color...

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Update - Mrs. Kildeer

I thought you might like to know how Mrs. Kildeer is doing. She has laid four eggs and we don't think she'll lay any more - it's been a couple of weeks now - so I think she's done.

She's so used to us checking on her that she doesn't feign injury anymore - she just leaves the nest and scolds us until we peek and leave. It shouldn't be too much longer before we see fuzzy little baby kildeers...

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Bear Cub

It's official - the Man-Cub has completed all the requirements for his Bear Patch and he's earned one gold arrow point and 8 silver - he wants to get some more before the promotion ceremony in July - we'll see how much time we have for that...

It was a BIG award night for the Man-Cub - here he is with his perfect attendance award - how could he not get perfect attendance - his Mom's the Cub Master...


The Man-Cub passed his uniform inspection with a perfect score - he even had the oficial cub scout socks and was carrying his current Scout Card.


And, the night's activity was to make a picture frame for a Cub Scout photo. Our committee chair brought her camera and photo printer (neat) and took a picture of each scout in front of the flag.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Spring Fling

The Man-Cub's school has an annual picnic - aptly named the Spring Fling. We've been having some crazy weather with storms and tornado watches - highs in the 70s one day and in the 40s the next - we may even get some snow Friday... Anyway, between storms we had lovely weather for the picnic.


Monday, May 21, 2007

Darn it...

I darned the TKD socks Sunday afternoon while I was talking to Mom on the phone. I used the little ear attachment so my hands were free. We talked a long time - so it probably took a little more than an hour.

This is my darning egg - it's probably about 25 years old and is pretty nicked-up...

Darning in progress - I wonder if you can darn over darning when it wears out???

I couldn't find the leftover yarn for these socks so I used some from the Man-Cubs TKD socks - not a perfect match - but who'll know...

Paper Airplanes

The Man-Cub still loves to play with paper airplanes. He made this one Sunday afternoon and was throwing it around the living room when it got stuck in the blinds on the front door. He thought it was so funny and said that he couldn't do it again if he tried. He asked if he could take a picture of it for the blog - so here you go...

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Child Moon

Child Moon
THE CHILD’S wonder
At the old moon
Comes back nightly.
She points her finger
To the far silent yellow thing
Shining through the branches
Filtering on the leaves a golden sand,
Crying with her little tongue, “See the moon!”
And in her bed fading to sleep
With babblings of the moon on her little mouth.

Carl Sandburg (1878–1967). Chicago Poems. 1916.



This is the little moon that the Man-Cub and I saw while we were out with Jack before bedtime Saturday evening - it was hazy and very pretty - and it reminded me of Sandburg's poems about the Moon - so we came in and looked this one up before bed.

Later some bad storms blew in - I thought about getting up and trying to get a picture of some lightening - but turned over and went back to sleep instead...

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Oh No

Look what I found - a hole - and a big one - in my TKD socks - I've been wearing them quite a bit - but I didn't think they would get a hole in them so quickly. I know I said the same thing about the Sacha slippers - but they were just thin and were easy to patch - this is an actual hole - ARGH! I know I have a darning egg somewhere.

New Swimsuit Top

I made a new top to my swimsuit - it has a longer waist and I made the armholes a little longer too. I'm a lot more happy with it now...


shown here with "skimpy suit" version one...

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Flowers

I FINALLY have some flower pictures to post - although these are probably nothing to brag about...

These are my few tulips leaning out to catch the last of the sun's rays - already it's "good and daylight" until about 9:30 at night up here. This photo was taken about 8:30 PM.


... related to yesterday's blog - I went to the grocery store and as I was checking out the clerk kept looking at me funny - I didn't have a bandage, but I had put an antibiotic salve on my abraded face - so I mentionned that I had fallen and how it had happened and she looked at me (pitifully) like I was an abused child who had just told her that I had fallen from a swing. So I showed her my bruised wrists and almost showed her my shoulder as I don't think those are typical injuries from a beating (I could be wrong here) - I'll have to tell the Man about it as everyone in town knows who I am...

I spent a restless night and I don't think I'll run with Jack today...

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

...and we had a GREAT FALL...

Jack and I that is...

You probably already know that I run with Jack - our Parson Russell Terrier - usually about a mile a day. Normally, he's a leash-length in front of me - probably wishing that he was even further in front - judging by the way he pulls on the leash. I had never really thought I was in any danger running this way - Now I know differently...

Somehow he crossed in front of me and we got tangled up and I fell - I was running and I fell hard on the pavement - and because of the way I was holding the leash I don't think that I was able to break my fall properly and my face came into contact with the pavement. I managed to hobble home and take some pics -

Gruesome pictures follow...




The Man says it will be worse tomorrow...
I'm off to take some aspirin...

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

The Almost Birthday

When we lived in SC, the Man-Cub went to a private school and they celebrated 1/2 birthdays for children whose birthdays fell during the summer months. So the Man-Cub's half birthday was in December - right before Christmas - a hectic time...

Here - they celebrate the June Birthdays in May - so today was the Man-Cub's Almost Birthday. He shares the day with another boy in his class - so we put both names on everything. It was a camouflage birthday party. I tried to round up a couple of canteens to pour the "punch" (invisible Koolaid) out of - but no luck - we don't have a camping supply store here - it really did look just like water. We don't have Koolaid often, but if we did I'd probably always get the invisible kind - no dyes = no stains = a good thing...



The Birthday Boys blow out their candles...

Monday, May 14, 2007

The Making of a Swimsuit

For some reason I can never find a swimsuit that I like...

So I decided to make one this year. I was a little bit daunted by the stretchy lycra fabric as I had never sewn with it before, but I read the directions, picked a pattern and bought exactly the sky blue lycra that I wanted. I nervously cut the fabric - there's something exciting about cutting fabric - you can't go back - it's almost a leap of faith - it's a little creative rush that you don't really get from knitting because you can always frog and redo.

I also didn't follow the cutting layout - I had no designs to match and it is 4 way stretch - so I folded over only enough material to cut on the fold and saved quite a bit of material that way. A trick I learned from my Mom...

These are the three pieces ready to be sewn together.

The finished suit. I still have to trim the loose threads.


It's a good thing I had extra material - because I'm going to make a longer top - this one does meet the bottom - but I want it to come down over the waist a couple of inches. I should have thought of it before I cut...

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Zucchini Bread and Flowers

I'm back with a quick post - here's the zucchini bread recipe from the 3rd grade cookbook:

ZUCCHINI BREAD

1/2 cup flax seed goo
2 c. sugar
2 c. grated zucchini
3 tsp. vanilla
1 c. oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
3 c. flour
2 tsp. cinnamon

Mix flax seed goo and sugar, then add all the other ingredients. Divide into two bread pans which have been sprayed with cooking spray - or lined with parchment paper. Bake 50 to 60 minutes at 350 degrees.

Here are the trimmed Mother's Day flowers...