100% Done!

Well the stars aligned, hubby's vacation ended, and my niece caught a cold so I've had a couple of unexpected days to myself. Kind of nice, it almost never happens so I decided to finish up a couple projects.

First I finished reorganizing the pantry, I just don't get how people fail to put thing away. If you bought peas put them with the other peas. How complicated it that? The pantry looked like a bunch of starving apes had gone through it so everything came out and went back on the shelves in proper order. Aside from a couple frighteningly expired items that got tossed it wasn't too bad.

I finally chose the buttons for my cardigan so sewing them on was next. I went with wood, very New England-y in my opinion. I've already worn it a couple times and I just love it. I also finished up hubby's "Man-Ghan". I decided to change to a less sewing intensive pattern. Those blocks make me nutty after 1 row and dropped stitches in that fisherman's rib pattern were insane to pick back up. He likes it anyway and the arrowhead pattern I ended up with is still pretty masculine in the colors he picked out.

I also had time last night for a quickie project, a tea cozy in Noro Kureyon. It's a free pattern from Knitty and called of course the Kureyon Kozy. It only took two balls which is good because the yarn is kinda spendy. I love how it came out, I'll probably put up a couple photos later. I can't decide how much I like the yarn yet. Everyone raves about it but I'm torn. The colors are beautiful but they can be a little garish and the wool isn't the softest in the world before washing. I'm going to try a couple of felted coasters with the leftovers before I decide.

I tried a new recipe this weekend from my King Arthur whole grain cookbook. I needed something to bring when my sister and I went to visit Nana and I wanted to bring something sweet but not too unhealthy. Nana is starting Chemo this week and she was told her stomach might be queasy so I wanted her to have a homemade treat before the treatment started. They were pretty good, kinda sweet for my taste but if you like bars they tend to be really sweet. I was surprised how nice the texture of the crust and topping were being whole wheat and oats. They are a couple other bars I want to try in there, I think I'll do the citrus one next.

Button, Button, I Hate Choosing Buttons

OK, so I knit a sweater and sew it together. Then I put it on the dressform and block it all nice and pretty. Now, I'm stuck. It needs buttons. I hate picking buttons. They really can make or break a sweater. If they're too flashy they look stupid, if they're too plain the whole sweater looks boring, too fancy and it looks pretentious. So, what kind of buttons does this sweater need?

It's got a hood so it's kind of casual, but it's also got cables and lace so it's not really a "grubby". I need 18 of them to run straight down the front so nothing too overpowering for flashy will work. It'll likely spend most of it's time unbuttoned so nothing that will catch on stuff easily.

Anyone else have problems choosing buttons? Is this another neurosis exclusive to me? Maybe I have a problem finishing things, buttons are the last step. So anyone have any ideas what kind of buttons go on this sweater? I'm stumped.

It's January in New England again today. The warm weather from last week is gone and we have ...... SNOW. Lots and lots of snow. We've been trying to teach my mom's Bichon to potty OUTSIDE while she's on vacation. So far, so good once we put one of her puppy pads out in the yard. Yeah the neighbors already think we're the Munsters so this latest oddity probably doesn't shock them. Alas, Bichons are short and the show is deep sooooooo she couldn't figure out how to pee in the snow.

Hubby to the rescue, he grabbed a shovel and made, well he made a dog toilet. Grumbling about spending his vacation digging snow latrines for dogs. Tilly wasn't going to squat without a clear space so it had to be done. At least I remembered to put her doggy sweater on before we sent her out there otherwise she'd blend into a drift like camouflage.

Oh Baby, Have You Seen My Baby?

Isn't she gorgeous? We're getting some big snow tonight and tomorrow so hubby is off to give her some exercise. The delicate flower she is we pay for a storage locker in the winter months so she doesn't get all road-salty and rust-slushy.

Ever hear "There's no such thing as a free lunch"? Well, there's no such thing as a free car either. My sister and her hubby once owned our girl, bought her from the son of the original owner, but alas classic cars are not for the faint of heart or tight of wallet. My hubby always drooled over this car and when my sister sold her house way up in Maine she gave it to him for his birthday. To be completely honest she had to get it off the property before they closed on the house and it was hubby or the heap as having it towed and stored was going to cost a fortune.

Well the bucks added up fast anyway. The old girl decided an hour into her trip that she wasn't going to make it back to MA. So she got towed anyway. My sister, in her usual way, forgot to mention that when she said "all original" she meant the tires as well. Dry rot was not part of her lexicon at the time.

We got the girl home, well to our garage, later that day. Our mechanic made a face I've never seen before but being the good sport he is we left out girl with a promise he could get her back up to spec in a week. Well about $1,000 later our girl had her some shiny new shoes, white wall tires to the uninitiated, as well as a slew of new belts, hoses, etc. Anything that was worn, tired or looked like it might be worn or tired. Hubby went to pick her up and pay the bill, I think he clutched his chest a little, and brought home our new "free" car.

She's a lovely mint and jade, 1979 Ford Thunderbird with off-white leather interior. She has power windows and a cassette player as well as AC and a few other goodies. She's also a real boat, over 18 feet long with a huge wingspan when her doors are open. They all work except the cassette player which died about a month later so if you see one for sale let me know. We hunt parts for her when we have time, NOS preferred. We're always looking for extra tail light lenses, baby's are unique the only year Ford used them and they're hard to find and PRICEY.

Our girl does have a downside or two. She's a 1979 American made luxury car which means she eats gas like crazy. I feel a little guilty about this, I keep pretty green, but we only use her for special trips and in the summer months and she represents a bit of automotive history sooooooooo I offset with other things. Maybe our next everyday car will be a hybrid to make up for the baby's bad gas mileage.

This year we want to have her repainted. We're saving out pennies, lots of them, because you can't just take baby to Macco. We want her paint matched to the 1979 special order Jade Glow she is. New carpet on the floors might be needed too, it's looking a tad worn in spots. For 30 years and LESS THAN 35,000 miles baby looks great, a real head turner. So we'll tuck her back in her locker after a little ride and give her a little freedom as the Winter allows until Spring when she snow goes and the drive-in opens. Baby loves her a Summer night at the drive-in and we love to take her.

Out with the Old, In with the New...

The new and constant major problems that is, so much for the new year being better than the old. At least Christmas is OVER! Yippee! Hubby and I need a new plan, there was WAY too much traveling and too many events this year, it's just too stressful. We had places to be from the 24th straight through until New Years and it started to suck. I had one day off in all that time and I spent it getting a breast ultrasound, not fun, not as bad as I thought either. On the bright side no cancer, recent boob issues seem to have been caused by stress.

When the doc asked me what was going on in my life so I told him, I got kinda a blank stare in return and "Yeah I'd say that's stressful". I felt like asking him ... What doesn't everyone have their mother-in-law, fall and break her arm, sewage backup in a blizzard, Christmas, and Nana in the hospital, brother-in-law's dad get an 80,000 lien on his house from unpaid property taxes, and Christmas all in a month??? I don't ask, because their next question is.. "Why do they all call you?!" I don't know, they just do. My mother claims it's because I'm the "Family Anchor", I say S*%T rolls downhill.

On the bright side I got a little knitting done last week, my cabled cardigan is almost done. Just needs seeming and buttons. I'm not sure what kind of buttons yet so it's been put aside for a while. I had enough yarn to add a hood rather than the collar from the pattern and make the length 30 inches, I like it a lot. I made it from Classic Elite Wings, my favorite yarn but it's discontinued. I got this charcoal color for 15$ a bag two years ago (yes a BAG of 10) when they had the huge 5th floor sale at the outlet in Lowell, MA. So I made a wool/silk/alpaca hoodie cardigan for 30 bucks ... beat that bargain hunters!

I also got a new sock book from winning a contest in my Knitter's Tea Swap. The post office did something too it, it was way late the the package looked like it took a brief tour through Iraq. It survived mostly in tact save a couple coffee stains but who cares I like the patterns it's a very cool sock book from Sirius Knitting. Thanks!

My next project is underway, I'll get photos up when I'm a bit further along. It's a bulky weight afghan for hubby who swears all the ones I make are "too short". Well I'm a foot shorter than he is so I think they're just fine but he wants one for just him. I took him to the store with me so he could pick the colors for his "Manghan" and we ended up with dark brown, tweeded hunter and tan. It's a striped pattern done in blocks so it looks like a Roman Steps quilt. He always picks something I'd really rather not do like sew a billion blocks together. It won't kill me and it's bulky so it'll go fast. One picky remark though and he's getting a wifey smackdown.

The End is Near

Just a couple more things to be knitted before Christmas. Mom decided that my niece and the puppy needed matching sweaters for Christmas. This is the final proof that she's finally become "that crazy old wop" she always poked fun at. It happens to all Italian-American women as they age. It starts with wearing increasing amounts of jewelery and ends with wanting to dress your grandkid and your dog in matching sweaters. Time to move to Arizona with the rest of them, Mom. They even have Dunkies out there just for the old New Englanders.

What actually making the sweaters says about me I'm not quite sure, but hubby is scared. I think it says I didn't want to argue with mom about how freaky it is to dress them both the same. My husband fears it means I've started down the path of "that crazy old wop" a little early in life. Mostly I had a lot of yarn left and why not make Mom happy on Christmas.

I'm also almost done the Christmas shopping. Just a couple more people and some gift cards to pick up. I try every year to be done by Thanksgiving, I can usually make it. I'm one of those people who starts Dec. 26th for the next year. Why? Because I'm damned cheap.. umm frugal, OK poor. Not like living under a bridge poor but like most everyone else lately every buck counts. Plus there's a certain satisfaction in finding a bargain and we have a pretty big Christmas list. Also, I make a LOT of gifts and i like to keep everyone kinda equal. I can't make something for just one person, it doesn't seem fair.

I never suffer the "oh s*%t I need to bring a gift" crisis. I have a whole closet full of goodies I can tap at a moments notice. I've bailed out a lot of family members with my "gift closet" over the years. There's always some last minute event or invitation and you really ought to be bringing a gift. I dislike regifting so I have my closet.

We don't really regift in my family, we kinda have a grab party. This is the result of having a lot of educators in the family. When you teach you get a LOT of little gifts at the holidays. We usually open them "shower style", one person opens while the others catalog for thank you notes. There's usually doubles or triples of a lot of things and the whole family enjoys them.

While I'm on the subject of teacher's gifts, and because it's my blog, I'm taking this opportunity to offend a lot of people by saying WHAT HE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU INGRATE CHEAPSKATES?! Seriously, I was reading Consumer Reports about average holiday gifting/tipping and the people you entrust with your kids rate lower dollar wise than your dog groomer and hairdresser? I was at a craft show once, in a very affluent area, and overheard someone say they didn't want to spend 25$ because it was only for a teacher. I about dope slapped the woman. Here's the thing, teachers make NOTHING compared with equally educated people in other fields. Out of that pittance a lot of them have to reach into their own pockets for class supplies or go without. Show some appreciation! If you have money to spend at the holidays try spending some of it on the people who deserve something nice for the holidays for sacrificing all year for the good of YOUR kids.

I'm not talking about people who don't have much money or are hardcore poor. Believe it or not they are the most generous with what little they have. They appreciate the teachers far more than the snotty folks with the bucks. I've seen both my mom and sister brought to tears over a small 3 dollar gift or a handmade card with some homemade cookies from a family with nothing simply because of the appreciation it shows when money comes so dear. I've also seen the same 3 dollar gift come from a VERY WEALTHY family and what does that say about how much they think of an educator. Priorities people! This is another example of why I didn't go the family route of education, if I want to be taken for granted I stay home with my family =)

Strike! Strike! Strike!

Three cheers for the WGA, leading the way in getting everyone paid for new media! The studios make money off it so should the people who did the actual work. Lets hope SAG, AFTRA and the DGA follow.

I've seen a lot of stupid *^%$ on the web this week about this strike. Someone actually put on a blog that if this strike messed with "Lost" they were gonna thwap Tina Fey with a strike sign.... I only have one thing to say to people of that mindset and it's not for polite company. You get paid for your labors so should people in the media. TV beams into your little rikki tikki brain for free 24/7 how dare you presume to comment on what a writer or anyone else should make for putting there, ingrate!

There are very few secure jobs for writers, a lot of them are one shots deals or freelance and even if you have a regular gig there's always cancellation. Residuals pay the bills folks. They pay for insurance, heat, food, retirement and everything else the rest have to pay with your weekly check. The studios make a ton of money on DVD's and new media they just don't want to share. There's more money in the DVD's than box office now but they want to pay the same and keep the rest for themselves. If your boss wanted you to do more work but not give you more pay you'd tell him to go sit on something sharp. Same goes for the writers, their work is being used in all sorts of new media but the studios don't want to pay them for it.

For those of you who are of the opinion that "they're just writers, anyone can write a crappy TV show"... TRY IT. Go ahead, give it shot big mouth. There's a reason Hollywood is coming to a grinding halt without the writers, they cannot be replaced. Writers create the characters and stories you all are so addicted to and it's hard work.

You want your TV back? Call or write the studios and tell them to give the writers what they want and deserve. In the meantime, go buy a few dozen box lunches and deliver them to a picket line. To those of you who can't appreciate the work of the writers and see the validity of their demands.... bite me you deserve a bunch of reality and game shows.

Stormy Saturday

It's cold, wet and windy here today. The remains of a hurricane are moving through coastal New England but it's a good excuse to cook and nap the day away. Lucky for me my Brother-in-Law brought down our share of the side of beef we got from the farm. If you've never bought meat farm-fresh, you ought to try it. They're from small farms not giant corporate ones. You know who is slaughtering and cutting your meat, their family eats it too so they have a vested interest in cleanliness. You pay by hanging weight not cut, so while it might be per pound pricey for ground and chuck it's VERY cheap for steaks and roasts. The cows are free range and organic. They get to be happy cows while they're growing and you know what's being fed to them. The meat is cut and packaged to your specifications. Hate making roasts they'll grind them, want a prime rib they'll leave the bone-in, only cooking for 2 and they'll pack in small portions. We get pork this way as well.

One of the best parts of buying meat this way is you get EVERYTHING. That includes the fat, suet, organs and we take some of the bones as well. The organ meat goes to the old-timers in the family who have trouble finding heat and tongue nowadays. Grandma always wants the pig's feet, I say yuck but she's and old Italian and she misses having them. The beef suet gets rendered and made into some of the best soap on earth for hubby and laundry and the fatback from the piggies I brine into old fashioned salt-pork a must have for baked beans as well as lard for pie baking and soap. My sister handles the sausage making and does up some hot dogs as well. Waste not, want not is a big motto around here and there is something to be said for hanging on to traditional skills.

Now for what's in use today, the bones. I got a nice sack of meaty joints delivered into my hot little hands Thursday and they went straight into the oven to roast for stock. If you've only every had beef stock from the store, you have no idea what the real thing is like. Real stock makes a rich, thick and out of this world stew like nothing else. It's a little time consuming but worth the effort. Older cookbooks usually have stock making directions so go hunting at the library but it's pretty straight forward. Roast the bones and some onion, celery, and carrot. Dump in all in a pot with cold water and simmer for oh 8 - 24 hours and skim it every so often. Then you strain it simmer it and maybe repeat depending on how you'll use it. When it cools, if you've done it right, you have a clear, brown jelly-like substance that freezes well and has a million uses.

Today I made beef stew. Doesn't it look yummy? Real stock also has some extras that store stuff just can't say. It's fat free, you skim and skim and then when it's cool the fat makes a solid disk on top that you lift and toss. There's calcium and other minerals from the bones that we mostly take as vitamin pills. It's loaded with natural gelatin, remember that stuff they always told you to eat for nice hair and nails, it's in there. Plus it tastes wonderful. You also get the satisfaction of knowing you minimized a lot of waste and utilized every bit of the cow who died to feed you and your family and the knowledge that it was well treated before it hit your plate.

There's another recall from one of the super-farms today on ground beef. I never have to go hunting to see if something i got at the market is going to kill one of my family members. I know exactly where everything came from and who handled it. My suggestion, buy a deep-freeze for your basement or garage and try buying meat direct. It's well worth the time and effort.