Feeling left out

I'm trying to be a grown-up and not stamp my feet and have a tantrum that I'm not going to the Sock Summit, but I'm not sure I'm succeeding. I'm moping around, sighing, wishing that I could figure a way for it to work this year and hoping that there will be a next.

I will just have to live vicariously through Jessica who is going. Wish I was rooming with her there. Oh well, I'll just have to enjoy my time with her at camp. (I know, I really shouldn't be complaining, but still.......)

Sigh!

Grumble!

Where the heck is the chocolate? Maybe that will cheer me up.

Oooh look who's having a Giveaway/Drawing!

Check out Skeins Her Way's blog, where she has some of the wonderful new yarn from Spud & Chloe that she's giving away. It's Blue Sky Alpaca's new yarn line and it looks wonderful! Hmmm, I think I'm going to have to get me some of that.

Wings

Yesterday I spent the day (well, the majority of the day) at my friend Deb's house working on a quilt for one of the teachers at the Elementary School who is retiring. The teacher has taught three of my four children, and no matter how I beg won't stick around to teach EB in second grade in three years time (how rude of her).

She loves Red Cardinals, so we took one of the art class slots and had the kids work on drawing Cardinals with Oil Pastels. We then scanned them and printed them on Electric Quilting Companies Fabric Sheets (got the tips from Erin when she made some class quilts - thank you, Erin). We have 22 kids in the class, so to make things even, I embroidered two blocks. One with a quote and the other with the name of the quilt "You gave us wings!". On the name block we made sure to use the teacher's signature where she uses a sun for the last part of her name. I had to be a bit sneaky for that and ask her to write it down for Madison's scrapbook.

We have to get it to the quilter today, so I'm off to finish the borders, which has a cardinal print and four more of the kids birds set in the corners. It's such as easy quilt to make and has been so much fun. Will post finished pictures when I have them. In the meantime, here's a glimpse of it in progress.

Pantry Challenge

Every so often I feel like the pantry is getting overloaded and out of control, so to clean it out we have "Pantry Challenge Week". Basically, I don't go to the store for anything other than the necessities such as milk, bread (although often I'll even make that and use up some of the baking goods in the pantry), and some fresh produce as needed (although I really try to use up what produce is lanquishing in the vegetable basket).

Then I dig in the pantry and freezers (we have three, but that's another story) and make our meals from what can be found. Sometimes this leads to adapting recipes to suit the ingredients we have rather than those called for in the recipe. Usually we discover some great new favorite recipes to use on a more regular basis.

So far this week our we have had the following for dinner:

Monday: Spanish Rice with Beef (this is a much meatier version of spanish rice) with salsa and corn tortillas.
Tuesday: Grilled Salmon with a Lime-Chilli Rub, butter rolls, Corn on the Cob and potatoes.
Wednesday: Sweet Asian Glazed Pork Loin Cutlet with brown rice and mixed vegetables.

I love the feature on Allrecipes.com where you can type in what ingredients you have and what you don't and find recipes to suit. I hardly ever make a recipe exactly as written and am usually playing around with different ingredients and trying to change them up a little.

We have quite a large food storage (remind me to post about that one) which helps out when faced with a recipe like Monday's that calls for Tomato Sauce and I seem to have only a pantry full of diced and stewed tomatoes and tomato paste, but no tomato sauce. I headed to our food storage and found the Tomato Powder and threw some together with some herbs from our Pasta Sauce garden (again, another thing I need to blog about). Of course, I also have to adapt the recipes to work for a Gluten Free Diet for Declan. It can get tricky, but actually makes deciding what dinner is and making it a lot less tedious and more of a game.

I'm always amazed how usually I can spend over a $150 a week at least on groceries and reduce that to $30 or less and feed a family of six for a week, and this family likes it's food.

Why not give it a try and see how you survive the Pantry Challenge?!

To Do

Things to do in the crafting and reading arena this week.

1. Finish knitting neckbands for Claudie
2. Finish weaving first project on new Ashford Knitters Loom
3. Warp and start Noro Sock Yarn scarf on Loom.
4. Embroider two blocks for teachers retirement quilt
5. Finish sewing quilt top for teachers retirement quilt (top to go to quilters on Friday - argh!)
6. Cast on Seed Stitch Jacket
7. Finish reading Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton and return to library
8. Block Claudie and finish.
9. Finish Libby Sweater (has been sat 90% completed for a couple months now - pathetic)
10. Do a destash - I feel like I'm drowning in so much stash that I can't appreciate what I do have.
11. Need to decide what show and tell project will be for camp and then get moving on it
12. Embroider one block for Madison's quilt
13. Sew a new sleep eye mask for Madison - (she became hooked on these when we went to England - I'm tired of the Virgin Atlantic ones she keeps wearing and am going to make her something cuter)


I am such a dreamer, but I love lists. It's how I accomplish things. I just love the crossing off part.

What's on your to-do lists this week?

Seeking your Support

Here's a message from my son, Declan : (he is such a motivated kid who really wants to make a difference. He is the Student Council President at his elementary school and is walking along with his Student Council member team mates.)

This year in my community, I have committed to participate in the Relay For Life.

I have learned that this year, hundreds of thousands of people will hear the words "You have cancer”. I know that some of those people could be people that I care about. Instead of being afraid of that, I have chosen to do something to fight back against this disease and I’m asking for your help.

Will you make a donation to my Relay For Life efforts? To donate online now, click the link below to visit my personal page.

I am walking in honor of my Grandma who is a cancer survivor and our family friend, Whiz Beck, who is currently battling cancer. They are an inspiration to me.

By making healthy lifestyle choices such as eating right, exercising and not smoking we can reduce the chances of getting cancer by as much as 50%! As someone I care about, I’m asking you to take up this challenge to fight back against cancer by making healthy lifestyle choices and supporting my fundraising efforts.

Thank you in advance for your support. Together, we will celebrate, remember, and fight back!
Eliminate it!

Click here to visit my personal page.If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address: http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY09MW?px=11062115&pg=personal&fr_id=16190&fl=en_US&et=kVloIGsBpA0sozsZ9-hLFw..&s_tafId=276850

Click here to view the team page for Stettin Council CatsIf the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address: http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY09MW?team_id=501427&pg=team&fr_id=16190&fl=en_US&et=PldTse0LE-X6vfZUPxiWUA..&s_tafId=276850