Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Crafts

One of the things that I put on my list for 2010 is learning how to do the toothbrush rag rugs. Well, I got a jump on things today. Here is a link to the instructional on them. It seems really easy to do. I will be working on them in January as I have some material that I can spare. I think that this will also be one of those crafts that I will be able to make to sell. You never know!

Also I came across this and how perfect it fit me trying to get all of my projects done for Christmas.

'Twas the night before Christmas and all around me was unfinished knitting not under the tree. The stockings weren't hung by the chimney with care 'cause the heels and toes had not a stitch there.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds, but I had not finished the caps for their heads. Dad was asleep; he was no help at all, and the sweater for him was six inches too small.
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I put down my needles to see what was the matter. Away to the window I flew like a flash, tripped over my yarn and fell with a crash.
The tangle of yarn that lay deep as the snow reminded me how much I still had to go. Out on my lawn, I heard such a noise, I thought it would wake both Dad and the boys.
And although I was tired, my brain a bit thick, I knew in a moment it must be Saint Nick!
What I heard then left me somewhat perplexed-ed, for not a name I heard was what I expected. "Move Ashford; move Lopi; move Addie & Clover; move Reynolds; move Starmore; and Noro - move over!"
"Paton, don't circle round, stay in the line. Come now, you sheep, you'll work out just fine! I know this is hard being just your first year, I'd hate to back to eight tiny reindeer."
I peered over the sill; what I saw was amazing, eight woolly sheep on my lawn all a'grazing.
And then, in a twinkle, I heard at my door Santa's coming across the porch floor. I rose from my knees and got back on my feet, and as I turned round, Saint Nick I did meet.
He was dressed all in wool from his head to his toes and his cloths were hand knit from above to below. A bright Fairisle sweater he wore on his back, and his toys were all stuffed in a aran knit sack. His cap was a wonder of bobbles and lace, a beautiful frame for his rosy red face.
The scarf round his neck could have stretched for a mile, and the socks peeking over his boots were Argyle. The backs of his mittens bore an intricate cable, and suddenly on one I spied a small label.
SC was the duplicate stitch on the cuff, and I asked "Hay Nick, did you knit all this stuff?"
He proudly replied "Ho-ho-ho, yes I did. I learned how to knit when I was a kid." He was chubby and plump, a quite well-dressed old man, and I laughed to myself for I'd thought of a plan.
I flashed him a grin and jumped in the air, the next thing he knew he was tied to a chair. He spoke not a word, but looked in his lap where I'd laid my needles and yarn for a cap.
He quickly began knitting, first one cap then two; for the first time I thought I might really get through. He put heels on the stockings and toes on some socks while I sat back drinking scotch on the rocks!!
So quickly, like magic his needles they flew, that he was all finished by quarter to two. He sprang for his sleigh when I let him go free, and over his shoulder he looked back at me.
And I heard him exclaim as he sailed past the moon "Next year start your knitting sometime around June!"

- Author Unknown

Gotta Run,

Yart


Out with the Old

No I'm getting rid of Grim.... LOL! I got rid of my old template for something new and different! I don't know yet if I like this lay out or not. I will keep it for a while and see if it grows on me. I had the other one up for so long that it just became rutty.

One of the monsters got Wii Fit Plus for Christmas. Last night I got on there and did all 15 new activities... Well, needless to say I can barely move today! I know my own fault. But oh, what fun it was. I love all of the new games. I really like the golf putting thing. I am really good at it even though I don't golf in real life.

I have chores that really need to be done. My room really needs to be cleaned before the new year. The rest of the house has been kept on. But the bedrooms, well, lets just say I am thankful that there are doors! I don't really mind cleaning my room, because I can sit for most of it. I just HATE folding clothes and putting them away. And since my room is the room for the clean clothes to come to, it tends to get shoved everywhere. Honestly, we aren't slobs, or even lazy, we are just un-properly motivated.

I have pictures of things from the holidays. They are on the camera and Grim hasn't had time to download them for me. But once he does I will get them on here for show!

I have the dehydrator going. In it there is mushrooms, tomatoes, green peppers, green onions, and cucumbers! And I also got some of the priority boxes from the postal service... Getting excited to start working on Etsy!

Oh, I almost forgot. I was chosen as an alternate winner! I am going to be the recipient of a copy of Magus of Stonewylde's book by Kit Berry. I can't wait to read it!!!

Gotta Run,
Yart

Recap 2009

Since I am getting ready to gear up for 2010! I thought that it was time to take a quick look back at everything that was accomplished in 2009. It was a really weird year. And one that I am very happy to say good bye to!

Some of the food stuffs that were processed in 2009. Not everything made it into the list. I would have like for them to but didn't have time... LOL! Next year I will try and do better!

  • 10 pints Strawberry Sauce
  • 14 half pints Lemon Juice
  • 14 pints Hamburger
  • 14 pints Strawberry Syrup
  • 17 pints Dilly Beans
  • 18 Bananas Dehydrated
  • 19 pints Kidney Beans
  • 2 - 2 ft Ristas Cayenne Peppers Drying
  • 2 Dried Apples
  • 2 pints Yellow Peppers Frozen
  • 2 quart Jalapeno Peppers Frozen
  • 21 quarts Tomatoes
  • 22lbs Dried Onions
  • 25 pints BanBerry Jam
  • 2lbs Strawberries Dehydrated
  • 3 bunches Celery Dehydrated
  • 3 head Cabbage Dehydrated
  • 32 pints Potatoes
  • 4 pints Banana Jam
  • 4 pints Turkey Broth
  • 5 Tomatoes Dehydrated
  • 6 pints Strawberries Frozen
  • 6 quarts Beef Broth
  • 6 Tangerines Dehydrated
  • 7 pints Peach Ambrosia Jam
  • 7 quarts Chicken Soup
  • 7 quarts Green Beans
  • 7 quarts Turkey Soup
  • 8 bunches Green Onions Dehydrated
  • Swiss Chard Leaves Dehydrated
  • Swiss Chard Stems Dehydrated
Things that I wanted to accomplish in 2009 and actually got done!

  • ~ (Doing) build a better food storage
  • ~ (Working on) pay off debt
  • ~ (Done) winter sow seeds
  • ~(Working on) get alternative cooking device
  • ~(Done) build shelves
  • ~(Working on) paint kitchen and redesign cabinet doors
  • ~ (Done) get the basement checked out
  • ~ (Done) put a roof on the house
  • ~(Done) put in grape vines
  • ~ (Done) take out the raspberries and transplant
  • ~ (Done) plant an herb garden
  • ~ (Done) plant a vegetable garden
Some of the things that I learned in 2009
  • ~ (Done) Learn to Knit
  • ~ (Done) Learn to pressure can
  • ~ (Done) Learn to make breads from scratch
Researched ideas in 2009. I know that there was more these are the only ones that I reported.
  • ~(Done)Log Splitting
  • ~(Done)Kefir Grains
  • ~(Doing)Bee Keeping
  • ~(Done)Angora Rabbits
Now on to working on 2010! Wow, I am so hoping that this year is way better then last. Even though I have done wonderful things this past year, the next holds new possibilities!

Gotta Run,
Yart

Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas

I hope that everyone was visited by Santa last night! I know the fat bugger came here... LOL! Grim's traps didn't work again this year though.... poor Grim he was so disappointed! One year he might catch Santa! The monsters got a ton of stuff! They are even going to be warm with the scarves that I was able to get done... and Grim's feet will be warm also (got the slippers done)! I am so happy that I was able to get everything knitted up. I guess that I am a knitter after all! LOL!

The monsters had a ton of fun on Yule. We decorated the gingerbread house that I bought (maybe I will try to make one next year....doubt it though ;o). And the oranges studded with cloves was a big hit. They loved making them for all the family and friends! We welcomed in the light of day.... (no sun just light). They thought that was a waste of good sleep time.... awe well they are young yet! But all in all they did have a good day and that is all that matters!

All that is left to do today is eat.... I cooked most of the meal last night! The turkey, bread, squash and pound cake are done. Veggies cut, potatoes peeled, ham rolls, potato & macaroni salads are made. The ham, kielbasa and heating everything back up is today's chore.

I was able to get peanut butter, toll house, M&M, and russian tea cookies made... all the rest will have to wait until another day. This was one of the most peaceful holiday season's that I have ever had. I even decided that I will be making orange inspired jelly this week since all of the citrus is in season. That way this jelly will make it into the gift bags next year!

I think the one thing that I do want for next year is a type of drink. Maybe ginger beer or something festive that everyone can drink... so no booze! Not everyone likes eggnog or mulled cider.

I am looking forward to this next week of relaxation. It's good to be the Queen... LOL! Tomorrow we are going to be watching all 3 of the Pirates of the Carribean.

Gotta Eat,
Yart

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Winter Break

Finally, it has arrived! I am so happy! Two weeks that I don't have to get up and go out into the cold! And the monsters are happy, too! Well, this weekend is a busy one. I have a potluck Christmas party to attend at the Legion tonight, then at noon we have to take the monsters to the kids Christmas party at the post. They have a good time and last year they each got a gift certificate for Toy's R Us!

One Monday I have some activities planned for the monsters to do. They are going to adorn oranges with cloves and decorate a gingerbread house! I'm not sure yet what I will be cooking for dinner but I am sure that it will not be anything elaborate. We will make our wishes at night and then burn the wishes in a old ashtray. Then I will take them driving around looking at all the lights! Well, that will happen after I get back from working bingo..... I know, I know I signed up for it way before I payed any attention to the date.

Also on Monday we will begin making cookies for the season. I don't think that I will be making quite as many as I usually do. I want this year to be very peaceful! And for that to happen I don't need to get all stressed out by the prep work. I need to clean and cook and bake. Most of which I can handle. But with some of the expectations that I put on myself I get frazzled. Not this year, at least I am going to make a conscious effort.

I also want to thank Mother Moon! You are a very generous person. I received your gift in the mail today. I am so touched by your kindness. I absolutely love the bracelet. And the chocolate is a great indulgence! Thank you again so much!

If I don't make it back on here before Yule. I would like to wish each and everyone one of you a Blessed Yule!!

Gotta Run,
Yart

The walking is still going very well.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Absentee

I know I haven't been around again. But with the mad dash to get everything finished before the monsters are out of school has been very time consuming. And we still aren't done yet. One scarf is almost done. With that one done then if need be she will be able to see her sisters being done... and I will just have to tell her that if I get time I will make her one... You all know how that goes!

I have been doing really well with exercising everyday. I have only missed 2 days all month but in my defense I worked bingo and probably did more there then I would have on the treadmill anyways.... LOL! I'm still not seeing any improvement. But will keep at it at least until the end of January. I figure that if in 2 months I still don't see any change in my weight then I need to contact a doctor to see what else could be wrong.... I am keeping fingers crossed that I will see something as I HATE doctors!!!!

With the exercising I have been watching more television then ever. I have started watching Martha Stewart. I know, I know but she really does have on some really kewl things. The other day she had on an attachment for the Kitchen Aid Mixer it was the Pasta Press! I want one..... It shapes the dough into pasta shapes. You make the dough separate and then add it to the hopper. So if you wanted you could make 10 pounds easily in a day. But with the cost being over $200 I will have to wait until I hit the lottery! It will be on my wishlist for just in case someone has a butt load of money they want to spend on me.... Hint, Hint, Honey! LOL!

2 more Bingo's and then I'm done until February. And I also got some other really good news. The fish fry's are being cancled until the middle of February. That way they coicide with Lent. So we will only have 6 or 7 to do for next year! That made me very happy. So if the weather is crappy in January like it should be, I will be snuggly warm here at home. Not driving from obligation to obligation. YEAH!

I have an etsy shop and I sent for the priority boxes from the post office. I am hoping to have the shop up and running just after the holidays. I know I probably should have set it up for before the holidays. Since I have never done anything like this before I thought it was best to wait till I had time to deal with it properly. I am going to put the hats I've knitted and the afghan's that I have crocheted on there. I have a couple of other things as well, I sewed up a few bags and small towels that I knitted. 2010 is going to be another learning year for me. Which is wonderful. I am all about learning new things. It will also be a year of getting out of debt. We made some strides this year but with the added expenses of being sued and then the bike braking and all of the band stuff, we didn't do as well as we thought we were going to. To recap though we did pay off one of our loans and we did put a new roof on the house. All in all it wasn't a bad year!

I got another $5 certificate to amazon from epoll (survey site). While I added it to my account I was looking around at the books in my wishlist. I noticed that they offered reccomendations. Of course I went looking to see if any of it interested me. The are really good at knowing what I like. I found a ton of books on making soaps, shampoo and cleaning products. All of them went on the wishlist until I earn more certs... LOL!

Time to go watch Martha and exercise!

Gotta Walk,
Yart

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Blue Balls of Christmas

Here is a recipe I came up with.... I made them last year and everyone just loved them!

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8oz cream cheese softened
food coloring (I use blue, hence the name)
1 tsp of almond extract
1 lb package of powdered sugar
1/2 cup of sugar

Combine cream cheese with enough food coloring to get the color you want. The add the powered sugar and white sugar. As you are mixing add almond extract. I used the medium size cookie scoop this time so I only ended up with just over 2 dozen. If you use a smaller scoop you will get a lot more. Once the balls are on the tray I put it in the freezer. Once they are frozen I put them into a zip lock freezer bag. Now they never come back out of the freezer. We eat them frozen. They are so yummmy!! Since they went so fast last year I'm not sure how long they will last

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Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Irish Rose Creations Giveaway

Irish Rose Creations is hosting a giveaway!



You can earn up to 10 entries for this beautiful afghan!



I'm hoping that I win this, my mom would love it..... And if I don't then maybe I will just have to buy her one!

Monday, December 7, 2009

A New Week

Lets see where to begin. I was able to do 1 hour of walking on the treadmill every day in December so far. (Not today yet). So that means I have walked 6 hours for a total of 12 miles. The scale isn't showing any progress, it actually showed that I gained weight. But I am thinking that this is muscle weight. I will continue until the end of the month and hopefully, some of the pounds will start to come off.

Band monster is now done with all aspects of marching until July of 2010. I can't tell you just how happy that makes me. Now all I have left to do is fore fill my obligations to the Legion for this year. We hold elections in May. And I really don't want to be President again. But I am going to go out with a bang. I want to hold a psychic fair, rock and roll rummage sale and a craft sale. All of which have already been turned down. But we need to do something so since everyone wants to bitch and tell me what I can't do but won't help with what I can do, (screw em'). *sorry a bit of a rant there* Back to our regularly scheduled blog!

I got the idea last night to write a book. Now it won't be full of my witty quips, it will be a how to manual of sorts. I still haven't talked to Grim about it yet. So I won't go into to much detail here yet. I need to make some things up and then talk to a publisher. I figure if I'm going to do it I want to go all the way!!! And worse come to worse I can e-book it....blah!

Lots to do today before I run off to bingo!

Gotta Run,
Yart

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Lack of Sleep

I didn't sleep well last night. Troubles with mouthy monster. The school is saying that she has some form of learning disability, what they don't know. They want to test her. I had a parent/teacher today. I agreed to have her tested. But I also went digging through boxes at 3 am to find the hooked on phonics that I bought at a yard sale this past summer. All but one of the cards is there. So guess what we started doing today! Yep, you got it! She is doing better then they said she was doing in class......hmmmmmm! Go figure. But she will be reading and doing much better with the math by the end of this year. And if she isn't then Grim and I have already talked that we will need to do something more drastic. I really don't want to have to homeschool but I will do what is best for my monster.

I did an hour yesterday and an hour today on the treadmill. As long as I keep doing it at least my core will get stronger and maybe I will loose some weight....but then again with the holidays right around the corner I will be happy not to gain any....LOL!

Tomorrow we are going to take my FIL and lay his ashes to rest at a military cemetary. He passed away a year ago. And my MIL wasn't sure what she was going to do with the remains. Then she was speaking to someone at another funeral and they said they would help to get a spot for my FIL. The color gaurd will be there and from what I understand he will be placed in a tomb thing, not in the ground. All this will take place while 2 of the 3 monsters are at school and we need to get back by the time they get out of school. The cemetary is about an hour away. I don't think it will take long but I have never been to this type of service before. Then band monster has a concert that she is part of all weekend.

Now I'm off to get band monster from practice!

Gotta Run,
Yart




Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Getting back on Track

I think that I am getting back into a routine. Last week was so hectic that I almost forgot what it was like to do housework....Almost! LOL! I need to get the bones into a pot so that I can make stock out of that turkey. I really should have done it last night but I just didn't feel like it.

I wanted to let you all know about The Magical Holiday Artists on Etsy are having a December Giveaway! You can find out all the information on how to enter by clicking the picture below!

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Today I need to get my butt moving on scarf #1. It still isn't done yet and I still need to make another one also. Since I can only knit them when they are at school it makes things difficult to say the least.

Gotta Run,
Yart

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

First Day of the Silly Season

This week is another hectic week. Meetings, bingo and more band stuff, oh my! But on the bright side, my mom is almost completely moved. There is only a few more things left in the house. She is now officially living in the new house. The next thing will be to sell the old house. I need to call the realtor for her to get that ball rolling. Then she has two storage units that need to be gone through and cleaned out. Yard sales and donations.... but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Thanksgiving went really well. The Band monster did most of the sides for me. I got the turkey in and the sauerkraut and cabbage going and she did everything else. That was such a huge help and a great experience for her!

Grim and I are going over the plans for the secret present of the year.... I will fill you all in later. Little eyes tend to look over my shoulder. So I don't want to give anything away. But I will share pics when I can.

I recently read in Woman's World that I could walk off 20 pounds by Christmas/Yule. To this you just walk 1 hour every day. This plan doesn't care how fast or how far you go, just the time you put in. I figured that now was the best time to start. As with the silly season this should be a relaxing thing, not a strenuous one!

So I'm off to do chores that were put off by the move...

Gotta Run
Yart