swan lake

photo walk week # 3

It isn’t really swan lake but, swan reservoir didn’t sound quite as nice. There was a beautiful swan in one of the inlets on the reservoir at the park. I took a few pictures while trying to keep Strider away.

    

A little further along there was three more swans.

I got a couple more pictures before almost dropping my camera in the water struggling with my mutt. He decided he wanted to get closer to the swans and tried to swim out to them. Strider was chest deep in the water before he had to stop. Thank goodness for leashes. He was so sad and crying that he couldn't make new friends and play with them. I am sure the swans were happy with not meeting him.

tea set

update #1
I have been working on the tea set more this week and have finished plates to go with the little cups.  Now I am starting on dessert plates.  My girls are making plans for a tea party when I am finished so it is helping me stay on task.  I keep telling them it will take some time to finish it all up.  They will giggle and go back to making their tea party plans.

knit one, crochet two

I have been working on a few projects this week that have kept me busy.  The first two are gifts.

The last  is a new pattern I am trying to work out.

caterpillar

photo walk week #2

Jirachi, Torchic & Pikachu

I was digging through my stash and came across a yard of this cute Pokémon print.

 

It was quickly claimed by one of my Littles and turned into a pillow case.

shoes on a wire

photo walk week #1

You can see some very interesting things when you take a walk and look around.  This year I am going to take my camera with me more often to capture the things I see while on my walks.

origami medallions

I like to keep busy even when I am relaxing.  Kind of odd I know.  I just have to be doing something.  I have been folding origami medallions lately as "busy work."  They are a simple pattern and very easy to make.

So easy that I have made quite a few of them.

There are more.......

There are so many of medallions that the box they are kept in is full.

I was thinking of getting a bigger box to store them in.  But there are more than 100 of them and who needs more than 100 origami medallions, right?

Any ideas for what I should do with them?

sweet greek bread

When it is cold outside I want to bake.  Today it was one of my favorite breads.  This bread doesn't last long at our house. I hid a couple loaves in the kitchen because it makes amazing french toast.  Any guesses to what I am having for breakfast tomorrow?  Yep, as long as the hidden loaves stay hidden till then.

Sorry Amy you will have to save this one to make later unless you substitute the butter for dairy free margarine or oil. If you use oil only use 5 Tablespoons, half a cup would be too much. You would also need to use water instead of the milk. I have made it with water and oil before and it turns out just fine.

Sweet Greek Bread

½ cup butter
1 c milk
3 eggs
6 Tablespoons honey (might as well make it ½ cup)
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons yeast
4 – 5 cups flour

Heat the butter, milk, and honey to 110 degrees. If you don't have a candy thermometer to check it you can melt the butter and honey in a glass measuring cup in the microwave for about 80 seconds and then add the milk to it. This doesn't quite get the temperature to 110 degrees but it should be warm enough to activate the yeast. Dissolve the yeast in the mix and set for about 10 minutes (until frothy.)

Mix in the eggs and vanilla. Add 4 cups of flour and mix. Continue to kneed in ¼ cup of flour at a time until you have a nice dough ball. I can tell when I poke the ball with my finger it sticks to the dough. But when I pull my finger away it doesn’t have dough stuck to it.

Let the dough rise for about an hour (it will double in size.)

Punch the dough down and divide into 6 portions.

Shape the dough into loaves, place on baking sheet, cover, and let rise in a warm place for an hour (it will double in size again.) I will turn the oven on for a minute or two then turn it off and open the door to let out some of the heat. When the heating element is no longer glowing I place my dough in the oven and close the door. Don’t forget to take the dough out before you preheat the oven.

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees and bake for 15 – 20 minutes until golden brown.

white elephant

We attended a party where we were to bring a white elephant gift under $5 or something you had around the house.  With my yarn obsession and odd since of humor, I knit up this little guy for the exchange.

And now for the side view.

I was a little disappointed that we didn't have time at the party to open the gifts. Everyone was to pick gift as they were leaving for home. So I have no idea who got the white elephant or what they thought of him.  I hope he went to a happy home with an odd since of humor.

sunrise

no wasted...

...bananas this time.


I buy bananas with good intentions to eat them. I like bananas. But, for whatever reason they end up sitting around getting too ripe.

Then I plan on making banana bread. I like banana bread. I set them aside and wait for my once forgotten bananas to get just a bit riper to make sweeter bread. Usually they become forgotten again and end up in the trash because they are way too ripe. Not today, no wasted bananas this time.

I won't have to worry about the banana bread going to waste.  It had been eaten before it cooled off; with lots of butter and a cup of hot chocolate.

THE CHIEF

My Hubbie's mug gets left all over the plant when he is running around fixing things at work.  So there is a standing order to his sailors that if they see his mug anywhere they are to return it to him. I made him a jacket to help keep it warm/cold and so there is no mistake this mug belongs to THE CHIEF.

    

It gave me a chance to play with my new sewing machine and embroidery attachment that my MIL gave me. You can see a bit of it in the background of the first picture. It is a Husqvarna Viking Rose and I plan on getting to know it better this year. I will give a proper introduction, putting her in the spotlight soon.

   

If you can see through the glare of the flash on the late night photo above I used a couple mini-coins from Hubbie's current duty station the USS Enterprise.  I sewed on buttons and then super glued the coins to the buttons.  The elastic loops are a couple of small hair elastics that were on my desk.  Sometimes you just have to use what you have. And now a pic of it all laid out.



So there is my first project with my new sewing machine; though it was my second attempt at the embroidery. For my first try I put little anchors on either side of the lettering, but they were shrunk down too much and the thread kept building up and it got all messy. Sorry no pics of that. I was a little to irritated to take the time to document it.  I almost forgot to take these pictures before The Chief took it off to work.