WOW, Things have been crazy.

So many things have been going on in life, I am so totally behind on all the little details.

Okay, so first of all.

Grand son #3, born 3 weeks early has made amazing progress and has come home from NICU a full month earlier than anticipated.  He now weighs 4 lbs. 11.5 oz and is 18.5 inches.  I just measured, he is a little longer than a cabbage patch doll, but much smaller around. LOL

I just love this photo, my favorite way to hold a baby.  All snuggled up next to my neck.  He just doesn't look real in this photo, but he is a keeper.

The last few weeks have just been crazy around here.  Between the baby coming home, my mom in and out of hospital and in and out of doctors to try and regulate her medications, add to that my own trips to doctors and lab work for the surgery I had this past Friday, there has just been a fair amount of chaos.

This is post surgery, before the bruising has all set in.  We are having to give our dogs some medicine and I was helping hubby, picked up one of them and now I am bleeding again. Oh well, not much and after all that is part of life I suppose.

I am hoping that this will wind down the chaos now.  Starting in August I hope to get back on track with household chores, menu planning, and able to do some sewing.  I need to make daughter J some clothes for school.  Wow, school starts back in three weeks, where did the summer go.  I also plan to do some sewing for little grand baby M since it is just impossible to find much in the preemie size.  I cooked breakfast this morning.  My newest thing is poached eggs.  I just love them.  I did cook them in the hot water, but I am determined to find a poaching pan like my mom had.  I like the whites a little more set than I am able to do with hot water method.  In my trial and error attempts this morning, I have learned to do the egg drop soup type and that is the technique used to make this really awesome chicken soup that I searched out a recipe on after having it at the restaurant my son works at.  Of course, there a few more changes that may be taking place as well, my last blood work showed that I may now be diabetic and my doctor may have me make so harsh changes around here.  Oh I can make them, if I have to, but I just won't like it much.  I also know that after a month out of the gym, getting back in to some type of work out routine will go a long ways to helping with that problem.  However, if I change my diet, the whole family is changing theirs too.  At one time, I swore I wouldn't change things for them, but there is not one person in this house that would not benefit from a change in diet.  Also, it is not fair to me to have to look at all the junk they like, cook the foods they like, and know that I cannot eat it. I feel it only fair that I only have to prepare one meal.  Hubby can have his treats at lunch, he eats out every day that he works.  Miss J doesn't make the best of choices during her lunches at school either so in a way it is my job as mom to make sure that have at least one healthy meal a day at home.

Okay, that is about all I can handle for now.  The swelling is causing my eyes to be a little blurry and it is just too hard to concentrate long enough on the written words. LOL

Soup - Puppies

Last night we had Minestrone Soup. I just love Minestrone soup and am actually a bit picky when it comes to eating it. I set out to find a recipe that I thought tasted right. I am still going to try and get the recipe from Mom's dining room at her apartments, but this one is really good.  Just click on the link for the recipe over at cdkitchen which I just love their site.

Pesky shadow at the bottom again.  I took five different shots of this bowl, each from a different angle.  Still there, cannot figure what is causing it.  Any way, doesn't it look yummy?

I know that any recipe can be converted to use a slow cooker or crockpot, but for the first time on any recipe I like to make it exactly as the recipe states, with all the ingredients that it calls for.  Then, if I like it I will start adding my own little touches and tweaks.  That being said, I was forced to make a few changes in the original recipe, this is what changed.

I bought one large carton of vegetable broth, (32 oz) because it was absolutely all that Walmart had.  It was the Swanson's brand, which I rarely buy, but it was all they had.  No cans of vegetable broth, any brand, only this one carton.  Which was quite expensive. So, I added a can of chicken broth.  I have tons of that on hand at all times.  While at the store for the broth, I found Hunt's Fire Roasted Tomatoes.  OH MY GOSH! what a fantastic flavor.  So, I bought two cans of those for the soup using them instead of the one can of stewed tomatoes. I like lots of tomato so usually double it in all my soups and stews.  I substituted minced garlic when I found my whole garlic had to turned to black mush.  Must clean out the fridge today.  I used one onion instead of the two because not many around here eat them if they see them.  I found that I did not have any basil, so that was left out.  The last change in the original recipe was in the pasta, I used shell macaroni instead of spaghetti.  I have never seen minestrone served with spaghetti noodles and Olive Garden used the shells, so I bought a box of shells and used a little of that.  I did cook them separate and added the pasta to my bowl, not the pot of soup because I am hoping to jar up and process the left overs to put in the pantry for fall, recently found out that canning pasta is not good.  This will definitely go in to the keeper file.  Next time I serve it, I will grate off a little Parmesan cheese using the hand crank grinder I found in my cabinet.

Speaking of finds in the cabinet, I don't think I posted about my home made ice cream. I know I told some one about it, remember talking about the experience, but didn't see it on a post.  Don't have a photo, forgot to get that, I will next time I make it.  I was thinking about my dad, and we have finally started having rather warm temps (finally normal for this time of year) so went and bought the ingredients to make some ice cream. Since I was using my dad's old freezer, I used mom's recipe.

No Cook Vanilla Ice Cream
1 Lg. pkg. Vanilla instant pudding mix
1/2 c. sugar
1 Lg. can evaporated milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk (Eagle Brand)
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
Dash of salt
Whole milk
Mix together until dry ingredients are dissolved, pour into container and add milk to fill line. Process according to manufacturer's instructions.

Simple, you can easily change it by using that as a base and adding different flavors. Next time we will add some crushed Oreo cookies or peaches.  Am also going to try a batch using Splenda.

Now, that all being said, let me tell you what ended up happening.  First of all, the wooden case of the ice cream freezer leaked like a sieve. Guess it was all those years of setting.  I gave this freezer to my parents some where around 25 years ago.  Dad used it often, but he pasted away in 2003, doubt he used it for a few years before that.  Since it leaked, the drum didn't freezer properly.  It was actually really soft at the top, got a little better as we got to the bottom.  We ate it however.  I then put the left over in a plastic storage container and put it in the freezer.  WOW did it harden up in there.  Still nice and creamy texture.  Here is the weird part, it tasted like banana.  Not strong, just a hint.  I did not add any banana so have decided that banana pudding was put in a vanilla box.  Next time we make it, I will use our freezer which is molded plastic.  It has never been used, found it when I cleaned out some shelves in the garage.

On a sad note, one of the puppies died.  It looked like the momma dog sat on him.  Daughter J was just devastated.  I keep telling her not to get attached, we are not keeping a single puppy, but it is too late for that.  We are still not keeping any of them, but she has become quite attached to them, one in particular.

I have a mountain of clothes waiting for me to put up and need to get a bite to eat right quick.  Tomorrow is pay day and we are out of so many things, will be a big bill just in paper goods (foil, baggies, toilet paper, paper towels) so need to get my list and coupons together.  In fact, if I get them all hung up and put away, hubby will wonder what is wrong with me that the bedroom is cleaned up.  I want to work in the bedroom this morning while it is still tolerable temp wise, will move to the cooler kitchen for the afternoon.  Following the menu plan, will be making chicken salad for supper.  Asian chicken salad with mandarin oranges actually.  I am using the left over chicken from KFC we had on Father's day.  I need to use it up, don't want to waste it, and this batch had a little bite to it which will be really good in the salad.  Of course hubby won't like it, he feels it isn't cooking a meal unless I prepare a meat and several sides.  It is predicted to hit the triple digits today, so I am turning that stove on at all.  It will be running late tonight as I set it to clean.  Okay, so just don't tell the family unit that my menu plan for this week is designed to use up the left overs in the fridge.  Most times if I can re-purpose them they don't notice. I just don't understand this aversion to left overs.

Thanks for stopping by, leave me a note if you like.  I love knowing some one read this.  Come back and visit again soon.

So it begins.

I am not the best at keeping up a blog. However, circumstances in life change, sometimes unexpectedly. I used to have some pretty interesting blog sites working, but when I went to work full time outside the home, they fell by the wayside. Today I went to try and revive them, but cannot get signed on to either of them. SO...I start anew. Kind of like my life now.

April will see me spending some much needed time cleaning house, that has been neglected due to work and illness. Also getting back into my crafts. Until fall, I will be focusing on cleaning and crocheting. Then, in the fall I will be taking over a room that will be vacated, son is going off to college. Cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to setting this room up for all my crafts. It will be nice to get my sewing machines out and set up once again so I can again enjoy my quilting. In the mean time, as I said I will be working on crochet as it is a bit more portable and not so much noise.

When I went to work, I soon realized I would not have time to work on projects as I had before. Then, I got a little consumed (okay down right obsessed) with scrapbooking, buying all manner of supplies and equipment before realizing that it was a hobby that took up even more work space than quilting. Everything was put away. Then I became a little preoccupied (okay, down right obsessed again) with Facebook and farm games and the zoo. Now, I am ready to move on from that and have dived back in to my hobbies. Starting with crochet that is. Problem is, I gifted away all my yarns and fabrics so am having to start over with building a stash. I did keep a fair amount of fabric to play with, and recently found a few skeins of yarn to start playing with as well. I just bought some baby yarn to make a couple of gifts and am sure I still have some yellow that was gifted to me that I can dust off the hooks and make in to some items for charity. My family thinks I need to sell some things to make a little pocket money, so an online shop may be in the works in the months to come. However, I have enough PIGS (projects in grocery sacks) stashed around this house to last me years.

One week of work, spring break trip (which will be a rough one) and then I can settle in to being a frugal homemaker that once a gain plans out menus, cooks mostly from scratch, cuts every corner I can find, actually doing laundry and cleaning, and doing my crafts. I will now be able to spend time with my mom now that she has moved here to be closer, join back in to bible study and quilt group at the church, keep closer eye on teenage daughter, and of course keep up the rounds through the doctors until they figure out all my ills. That is what prompted the change in the first place, medical problems that has caused me to use up all my allowed time off for the year. We have a family reunion coming up in June, a new grandson expected to arrive in August and I am not missing any of it.

Long story short, I have started a new blog to share my life a little bit. That being said, here is what is going on at the moment.

I started this 8 point baby blanket in pink.

I am not sure I like how it is turning out for a couple of reasons.

One, the pale pink in the variegated rings tends to look as though it clashes. To me it looks dirty. However, it is the color for the next round so I am going to go ahead and finish a few more rounds to see how this is going to actually look.

The pattern can be found online at http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977275501 if you want to see the original version which is quite lovely.

The other problem is that even though the pattern called for G hook and knowing that I crochet very tight I went to a J hook, my work is still small. This is the half way point of an afghan that when completed is 36 1/2 inches. I figure that at this point it should be about 18 inches, I am only at 13 inches. I hate to go up any larger on the hook size as I have a hard time working with the really large hooks for some reason. Oh well, we will see how it turns out. One thing about this particularly design, I can just keep adding rounds until I get it as large as I want. Providing I am intelligent enough to follow the increases and decreases.

Another project I need to finish up is an afghan I started two years ago. I believe it is called Apache Tears or Navajo Tears, maybe someone can tell me for sure. The pattern was taught to me by my hubby's grandmother years ago in an attempt to teach me to crochet looser and straighter. Not sure how that worked out.

At the time, my grandson was in to John Deere for some reason so I used those colors. In fact I have a fleece panel with John Deere on it that never got made in to a quilt and now rest at the top of my junk closet. Granny would crochet this pattern using white or cream colored yarn then would embroidery little flowers in the center of the diamonds. This is as far as I have gotten with it and have been tempted mightily to turn the afghan in to a scarf. My grandson is no longer favoring John Deere, his colors would not be burnt orange and white for University of Texas.

Guess my first fabric purchase for a Christmas gift will be to find some UT fabric to make a quilt for his new UT bedroom.

I think that is enough rambling for today. I need to go fix some lunch, start some laundry, then more play time on the computer and Ravelry. I met up with the nicest group of ladies yesterday that I happened across on the website. It is always so nice to meet people that share a common interest. I am normally a little uneasy at such meetings and a bit shy with new people but they made me feel so welcome and by the time I left I felt like I belonged. I am looking forward to more meet ups with the group in the future.