Happy Birthday!

My sweet sister-in-law had a birthday a few days ago - since she should have her card and little pressie by now I'll post about it...

First I stamped the butterfly on white card stock and colored it with colored pencils and then cut out around it and I stamped the Happy Birthday also on white card stock and colored in the flowers there too. Then I fixed the butterfly cutout to the Happy Birthday with a bit of foam tape so it would stand up slightly. Then I folded a piece of blue card stock and centered the white card on it and trimmed around it about 1/4 inch or so.

Then I cut a piece of thin paper to go inside the card folded it and only attached it on one side.

Then I wrote a little note on the inside wishing her a very happy birthday!

Brilliante Award

I am remiss in posting this. Super Rachel at http://cornflowerbluestudio.blogspot.com/ gave me this award while I was on vacation - Thank you so much Rachel - it was so nice of you to think of me!

Here are the rules:
1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.
2. Link to the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs for an award.
4. Put links to those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs for the people you've nominated.

I'd like to pass on the award to these seven blogs:
NicolaKnits - http://nicolaknits.blogspot.com/
SoccerChic-Knits - http://soccerchic-knits.blogspot.com/
The Prodigal Pilgrim - http://prodigalpilgrim.blogspot.com/
MezzoDiva the Operatic Knitaholic - http://sockit-tome.blogspot.com/
Better Than Rubies - http://betterthanrubies.typepad.com/better_than_rubies/
A Sparkly Messy Life - http://asparklymessylife.blogspot.com/
and World of Karen - http://world-of-karen.blogspot.com/

I love reading each of these blogs and I miss them if they don't post Every Day!

Eddie's Story

This is my brother Eddie on You-Tube talking about his recent (ongoing) battle with lung cancer - probably caused by Radon gas in his home.

Watch the video and then get your house tested.

Notebook Experiment: Zebra Cake

Amy at http://www.momadvice.com/blog/ does a weekly post as an experiment and she gathers a lot of crafty posts together in a weekly notebook. We took on one of these notebook experiements - it was so much fun! It was so good and super cool looking that we didn't even wait until it was cool to cut into it - Oh My! - it was yummy warm - and oh so pretty!

Experiment: Bake a Zebra Cake

Experiment Taken from: Amy's Notebook 08.07.08

Materials Needed: Please see http://bakingbites.com/2008/07/zebra-cake/ for the directions and recipe - our only substitution were Ener-G Egg Replacer for the 4 eggs and soy milk for the milk.
The Man-Cub measured out all the ingredients.
More measuring - easier from the counter for some reason.
Stirring.
Pouring - this was the most fun - making the little rings.

Results: The cake was delicious and beautiful.
Before the oven.
After the oven.
Conclusion: We can't wait to make it again to take to a potluck or for a friend's supper. We had a lot of fun making the rings and dipping our fingers in the batter.

First Day

Yesterday was the Man-Cub's first day of school at the Middle School. A lot of people would ask if we were worried and honestly we were not - we always try to celebrate these transitions in a positive way and not make them seem scary to the Man-Cub. He had a great first day. He knew several people in his class and there are a lot of new and exciting things to do in this more grown up world of Middle School. He's excited about changing classes (they didn't do any of that on the first day and he was a little bit disappointed).

Opening the locker - he had practiced this a couple of times before we left for vacation - so I was surprised he was so adept at it when we got to school. His teacher even asked him to help other kids open their lockers...

His teacher said he could sit anywhere he wanted - so he chose the seat right in front of the window fan - it's still pretty warm here - high today is 86 and the school is not air conditioned - I love the neat stack of books - the Man-Cub wore the Pisgah Forest T-Shirt his grandmaw got him in NC...

Here's the schedule - he'll be taking both Band and Choir - it looks like a busy day - it's all good...

School Supplies

Just after we got home on Monday - the Man-Cub went through his newly purchased school supplies and packed up his new school bag. He chose a grey messenger bag this year instead of a backpack...

there's something exciting about new school supplies...

Frederick

I'm going to be like Frederick http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0394826140/ref=sib_dp_pt/103-3132597-2988664#reader-link
and save up images for the winter...

here's one...

Hay Baling Time

The farmer came back and baled up his dry hay...

The Man-Cub has already asked to climb the big round bales - I said 'put on your long trousers first' - dontchajusthate itchy hay legs...

The big bales are so pretty...

I love the texture...

Just Back

We just got back from a vacation down south - to visit family - it's pretty well documented

Here: http://world-of-karen.blogspot.com/

Here: http://hallofflowers.blogspot.com/

and Here: http://kdab.blogspot.com/

But I'll go through my photos and post some soon - Tomorrow is the first day of 5th grade and the first day at the Middle School for the Man-Cub!

What We're Reading

It's been a while since I've talked about what we're reading...

These books are all from the local library. The aquarium and the bird book are the Man-Cub's pics - and he sits for hours perusing them. The Blue Corn and Chocolate is an interesting sort of recipe and history book - a lot of the recipes are vegan or easily veganized - there is some junk about hunted meats too - but mostly it's vegan corn and squash and stuff - and the Rush and Leaf craft book was chosen from the craft section as the most forlorn book in the library - it's not been checked out since 1982 - so of course I had to check it out...

I did finish 'The Gravedigger's Daughter' - I liked it a lot - Thanks again Crystal - I've already passed it on to my sister.

Spring Forward - Socks on the Road

I finished my first Spring Forward sock somewhere on Interstate 24 in Tennesee - I'm pretty happy with it. The yarn is a hand plied 100% cotton and it's a little snug going on over the heel - that won't keep me from making another one just like it 'though.

I really like the pattern - it's easy enough to knit in the car - I get car-sick easily and I need simple patterns that I don't have to look at very much - this one was perfect.

Twins

This Mama deer had 2 babies - both are visible at a slight distance from their Mama in this photo...

Lettuce Bounty

We're still gathering beautiful fresh organic lettuce from our garden.

I get a bag about like this every 3 days or so. We're eating LOTS of salad - and we're still having a hard time keeping up. I sure am going to miss it when it's gone...

Yummy Yogurt

I know I've posted about my Deva Bridge yogurt maker before and the soy milk yogurt process.
http://affectioknit.blogspot.com/2007/04/favorite-breakfast-this-one-is-so-easy.html
I love it and make it all the time.

Shown here with a little bit of flax seed, some pretty fresh blueberries, and some English walnuts.

Bird Log

The Man-Cub got this bird log in his stocking for Christmas.

He loves to write about each bird that he sees...

It has lots of bird facts and I like the way it's organized and the little questions it asks about each bird:
How big is it?
What color is it?
Does it have a nest?
and it has a little place for him to draw a picture...

Cutting Hay

This is one of those images that you need to store up for when it's cold and white outside -

and remember the smell of the new mown hay...

New Potatoes

One of my favorite things from the garden is new potatoes...

We grew Kennebecks, Golden and blue potatoes alongside the red ones last year - but only got a good crop from the reds so that's all we planted this year...

Roasted here on the grill with just a little olive oil salt and freshly ground black pepper - mmmmmmmmm

Bird House

A couple of years ago the Man-Cub built a bird house - he was a Wolf Cub at the time and it was for his Wolf Badge - we hung it on a telephone pole in the field east of our house...

The Man-Cub went out to check on it...

He sadly reported back that no bird had built a nest in it this year...

Gift Soup

It was one of those chilly rainy windy days that remind you in late summer that fall really is just around the corner

and one of my Cub Scouts ran up to the door with a container of soup - he was so proud he had made it himself and it was completely vegetarian - and so of course he had thought of me and just had to bring me some...

Is that sweet or what?

It was chock full of carrots, broccoli and fresh peas from their garden - he said they had shelled the peas just for the soup - all my favorites - the Man-Cub loved it too!

Jack

We sometimes tie Jack outside on his long lead when we're outside playing or grilling - he just can't be trusted by himself - we're all a little bit nervous that he'll slip out of his harness and take off...

We can usually call him back with 'Wanna go for a RIDE' - and he'll run right up to the car...

Spring Forward Socks

My spring forward socks are relaxing in our hotel room...

They're very pretty and the pattern is super easy - you can memorize it after just a few rows.
This is posted at the Vegan Sock KAL as well.

Vegan Hot Dogs

Remember the Vegan Kielbasa...
http://affectioknit.blogspot.com/2008/07/vegan-kielbasa-ive-been-fooling-around.html

Well - it makes a delicious veggie dog too - I'll be making another batch soon - freeze and use them just like veggie dogs - YUM!

Pure Nerd - I'm 83 % Nerd, 17% Geek, 13% Dork

Hop on over to http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take?testid=9935030990046738815 and take the test - you know you want to...

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd.

The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendences associated with the "dork." No-longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful.

...and so it begins...

The zucchini harvest that is - I know we will be unable to keep up with our garden's zucchini production - I mean there's only so much zucchini you can eat right...

So we'll use up what we can fresh but we'll freeze quite a bit - some shredded for winter zucchini bread and adding to soups and spaghetti sauce and some sliced for casseroles - maybe I can even get my hands on some Sheese...

Happy Birthday...

...to me...
The Man and the Man-Cub knew that I would want to haul back a bunch of goodies from the super Co-op in Asheville so they got me 'the Tofu Cooler' for my birthday - it's an extreme 5 day cooler - so that should do the trick...
Inside the cooler they packed some other goodies - two pretty western shirts and a mini crockpot - and a sweet new mandoline (I think I've worn out the little MS one they gave me for Christmas)

- this one is a Jaccard and it's super nice and has 7 blades...
I can't wait to use it...
...and of course my sweet sister sent "the card" back and a cutely wrapped (in an aviation map - the Man-Cub was intrigued) box ...
Inside the box - these adorable shoes...

how cute is that...

Okara

I make my own soy milk so I have a lot of okara - relatively speaking - and being the frugal person that I am - I never want it to go to waste - I've added it to bread - casseroles - and even cake once - but I don't recommend that...

Bryanna posted a recipe for Vegan Parmesan that uses Okara http://veganfeastkitchen.blogspot.com/2008/05/practical-way-to-use-okara.html - so I thought - YAY - here's a way to use up all my Okara...

First I dehydrated my Okara...

Then I mixed it up with the miso in the food processor

and served it with steamed zucchini and onions - so good...

and had quite a bit left over for the next spaghetti meal - or maybe Mom's lasagne...