Cookin' & Knittin'

There is just no better way to spend your weekend than cooking and knitting. The only thing that could have made it better is if I didn't have to go out at all!

I am onto the edging of the Summer Sampler Lace. Holy Moly, it seems like it will take as long as the entire stole did...I guess I won't count on being done anytime soon! I would, however, like to be done with my Aran Wrap Cardi by November so I can wear it, and I have two blankies to knit/crochet for Christmas gifts, so I'd better either put away the lace, or quit my job and knit all day!!!

Here's the yummy soup and salad I had for lunch yesterday:



I made the soup flavorful with leftover bubbly from our anniversary (I always save what's left in the fridge for cooking with...)


and cumin, tomato paste, rosemary sprigs and oregano, minced gingerroot, gray salt and pepper.



The soup itself had cabbage, zucchini, summer squash, tomatoes, sweet potato, baby portobella mushrooms, corn cut from the cob, and protein-pasta rotelle! Yum.

Such a great cool Autumn day for this kind of lunch! I topped it off with sun tea made the day before, a chunk of Ciabatta bread, and a lemon cookie. Then a 2 hour nap :D

I was hoping to make some headway on the credit cards next month, but since DS needs glasses and an eye exam, and DH needs new brakes on his car, I guess that won't be happening. Sigh. Oh well, we'll just keep plugging along, doing what we're doing. Simple September is my jumping off point for getting out of debt. And it worked well this month, I was able to send an extra $350 to a credit card...I just have to do that every month!

I walked my pup last night. It was dusk, and about 60 degrees outside. Beautiful, and no wind. A quiet Sunday night, the air smelled so wonderfully of brown, fallen leaves, and I could pick out the different scents of juniper, pine, oak, and maple as we walked! Can't usually do that (only the juniper almost year round--such a stinky tree!)

I feel renewed, and ready to face the work week. My first item of business: getting my hair cut immediately after work today! I'm leaning toward short...we'll see. Happy Autumn, all :)


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Soup Day

Oh, how I wish my feet were still in Maui! But since they are not, today is going to be a soup day in my kitchen. I am going to make some hearty, warm, cheap food that satisfies to your bones!

I read this article about soup-making without stock, and became very inspired. Granted, I've done this tons of times in my past, but reading someone else writing about it somehow legitimizes it...So I'm gonna get into the kitchen and cook! It's perfect soup weather, cool and overcast, and something warm and hearty for the tummy is just what the doctor ordered.

I need to run to the store anyway--I'll swing by the farmer's market and see what soup makings I can find...

I am thinking a crockpot cheese soup would be good, but minestrone really sounds better right now. With big spiral pasta...What are your favorite soups?



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Awards & MeMe's!

:D

NatRedKnits gave me another blog award!


Wow, thanks so much, you've made my day!!! Now I get to pick another 7 happy blogs I love to read, to pass it on:

Here are the rules:
If you've already received the award, great! That means you really deserve it! And feel free to pass it on again!
1) Add the logo of the award to your blog
2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you
3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs and link to them
4) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs!

Here are my picks:
Chookybluea fun rural blog in Australia
Farmgirl Fare Missouri farming and food!
Dutch Colorsfun crafting and life in the Netherlands
Skip to my Loucrafty goodness
Sarah's Homesteadrural spinning in Oregon
Bloesem great blog about style and design
Feeling StitchyA group blog--such amazing inspiration!


Blog awards are fun! It's so nice to get this feedback. Thanks a million NatRedKnits!


And, to top it off, Diane at Bella Vita Farm & Fiber has tagged me for a meme...hmmm, are you up for 7 more wierd/random facts about me?! Here goes:

1. I LOVE coffee, but sometimes I get the caffeine jitters. It seems to hit me randomly though, so I just keep drinking it daily. Can't seem to get my day off right w/o that cuppa.
   
   
2. I have all my wisdom teeth. I guess that's not too common anymore, but apparently my mouth fits them all, heh O.o
   
   
3. I am a waterbaby. I love to swim, having grown up with a lake and a swimming pool. I can never get enough of being in the water! I'm about to join the YMCA and swim in the mornings before work (since I'm so land-locked these days!)
   
   
4. I have a birthmark in the same place on my thigh that my mother does! How wierd is that?!
   
   
5. I HATE Pink Floyd. I don't just dislike them. Their awful music acts on me like that episode on the Three Stooges where Curly pleads,"Moe, Larry, the cheese!" It grates on me, pushes some primeval rage button in my amygdala that gets me really angry at whoever is trying to make me listen to that s**t.
   
   
6. I've always said my favorite poem of all time is "The Mad Yak" by Gregory Corso. I don't know why, but that poem always made me laugh in the past. But I'm not sure what I think of it now! I guess I'd better look for an Edna St Vincent Millay poem or an Anne Morrow Lindbergh poem about the sea for my new "fav."
   
   
7. My favorite short story is "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall" by Katherine Anne Porter. I LOVE this short story, so full of angst and ideas and emotion and the twist at the end...I love a surprise ending and this story couldn't have been more well-written! Again, something from my early 20s, when I was really into literature!

The thing about this meme is, I'm s'posed to tag 7 others to do it. Nah. I'll just let you choose to do it if you want. And, I'm not expecting all those I bestowed the award upon to pass it on--actually, I just wanted you all to know how much I LOVE YOUR BLOGs!!!!

Happy weekend :)





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Simple September Recap

I have been busy. I got my yarn in finally that I ordered in August. I can crank on some mindless garter stitch yay!!! It will be a Christmas present for DS, so I have all of the cozy cold-weather onset to work on it. That I am looking forward to a lot.

I picked up my Lace sampler again. I am halfway done with the final chart. I think this warm Indian Summer we are having is making me not want to have the wooly Aran Wrap Cardi sitting on my lap. So that's a good thing...soon I will have my first finished lace-weight project. I can't wait to see it blocked!

My Simple September has gone really well, except for 2 things:

1. My BFF came to see me from San Diego, and we splurged on a pedicure and dinner and lunch out. But that was a necessary expenditure, because, ya know, how often does your friend come 3000 miles to visit?!

2. I went to the grocery store after work yesterday, and realized I didn't have my checkbook. I therefore had to use a credit card for my groceries. Oooooh, how I hate that. Now I am going to have to double my payment to the card next month to make up for that. Grrr.

Other than those two things, I have been very good about the spending. And oh man do I ever see how those unattenuated urges to buy can build up! I can't believe how often I see something and instantly want it and immediately start telling myself I should buy it. YIKES!

So I think Simple September has been really great for me...a training ground for really watching my $$ output. I don't need to be gung-ho and make everything from scratch, but there are things I CAN do from scratch that are well worth it in the end. (I am speaking specifically of the granola recipe from the beginning of the month. MAN IS THAT A GREAT RECIPE! I'm gonna make that, and some variations, frequently. It lasted me 2 weeks.)

Recap: I did try the coconut ice recipe that I posted about a week or two ago--yuck. I thought it was really disgusting. I think the granola has turned my tastebuds towards more healthy eating :D

I am thinking of a yarny-good budget. Maybe like one pattern book or mag a month...something I can stick with that will prevent me from doing what I did in August. I bulk-shopped on YesAsia. Mm hmmm. Will post about the gets later. But wow. I need to stop that stuff.

So Simple September has been a great exercise for me to re-learn budget techniques, and to re-explore how much I love doing things from scratch. I hope others have been inspired too.

Happy knitting--pics soon, I promise!




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Too bad...

I have been struggling lately. Struggling with the desire to publish my Republican views all over the internet. But I'll tell you why I haven't done so....

I think of people reading my blog, and I want my blog to be fun. I want it to be a source of inspiration, and a place where people can continue to see what they initially thought was good about my blog.

I think of all the otherwise great blogs I've seen lately where leftist propaganda is being flaunted, and I am very disappointed. I really don't want to have a group of lies shoved down my throat every time I visit a knitting blog, or a location blog, or a recipe blog. I feel, as many Conservatives do, that it is enough to have the facts speak for themselves and let common sense prevail. That rumors and throat-cutting politics are the dirtiest techniques to get your candidate into power. And I hate it being stuffed in my face constantly....

However, I am not one to let "the left" have their say forever while I stay mum. So there you have it. My political opinion.

And isn't that kinda conservative?

Okay, I've had my say. Now, on to some serious yarn-y goodness :D




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