Saturday, August 30, 2014

Lunch With Friends & Sally's Church


It has been over a year since I have seen and had lunch with these 2 characters, Sally on the left, Sandy on the right. I have known them both for about 40 years. They are sister-in-laws, they married brothers. Originally they are from a little town outside of Dayton Ohio. When their husbands found work in NW Ohio they moved north. I got acquainted with them when our husbands all worked afternoon shift at Whirlpool Corporation and the men bowled the Night Owl League after they got off of work. Sally was trying to get pregnant and so was I. She was married about 10 years before she had her first child and I was married 6 years. We both named our first born Rachael (I swear she stole my baby name, lol). Sandy is quite the  trooper. She became a widow many years ago and single-handedly raised her 3 children. Life has not been easy for her, yet she is so sweet and kind, always a friend to everyone.

 

We met at Twin Lakes Golf Course for lunch on Wednesday. I was really proud of myself for remembering to take my camera along, leave it to me to forget to take a pic of the outside of the place, but of course I had no trouble remembering to jump right in and dig into the food. Then it dawned on me that I had the camera and this Chef Salad was so yummy to look at and the poppy seed salad dressing was very good. Do you know that if you are to be tested for drug use, like a urine test for a job, that if you have had poppy seed dressing you will test positive for drugs? I learned that years ago when going to Weight Watchers. They had a delicious poppy seed dressing and the instructor warned us about it. I thought it was worth mentioning even though the subject might not be so appetizing when discussing food. But nurses never have a problem eating and discussing things that would turn a normal person's stomach while eating....guess I'm not normal.


Now forgive me on this one, both the friends had the tossed salad and before yours truly had enough sense to put down her fork she remembered that she needed to snap a pic of their salads. It was rather senseless to take 2 pics of the same salad. I think you get the gist of the thing. It did look a lot prettier when it arrived at the table.


Sandy had the Pulled Pork Sandwich which she said was really good. It did look scrumptious.


Sally had the Lake Erie Perch sandwich. I was so busy cramming my salad in my mouth that I realized I hadn't taken a picture of her sandwich, so she rearranged her food to make it look better, not that it wasn't good mind you, it just looked a little worse for wear after she had been eating on it. We were laughing about it, and I told them if someone comes and asks me why I was taking pictures of the food I would tell them I was a food critic for a magazine, lol. I will say we got in many laughs and had a wonderful time. We are all so busy that time spent together is precious.

 
Now for the conclusion of this post. Sally is taking art classes and I believe she said they are working with water colors now. She is really quite good from what I have seen of some of her work. She loves this stone church, and brought pictures of it along to our lunch. When she saw my camera she asked me if I would do her a favor and go take a picture of it for her. I did, but mind you, I was standing on the other side of the State Route (4-lane highway, truck route) to get these shots.


Her next painting will be of this church. So I got these 2 photos and got them developed at Walmart. The pictures turned out so dark it looks like an overcast day and gloomy. One would never guess they were taken on a bright sunny day. I was so disappointed. She will be coming this morning to get the pictures. I told her how they turned out and I have no clue why, that they were a disappointment. But when I downloaded the pictures to my pc and added them to this post they look pretty good.....now go figure. I am going to try and print them off for her and if it works will she be surprised. I know I sure was.

Hope all of you have a safe and great 3-day weekend. Can you believe this is the end of August already? Where has the time gone? God Bless You All. Keep the Faith ♥

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Claudia Scarf 3&4, Cookout, Rose


Another Christmas present finished, Claudia Scarf #3, for my sil Panee. This one was done in Lion Brand Heartland Tweed medium 4 weight, color number 389 Isle Royale Tweed. A total of 3 skeins was used. I used a Boye size G crochet hook.


Now I will tell on myself, I screwed up. If you have been reading my last posts about this scarf I told you it was worked in 2 sections, the right and then the left side (after the yarn is reattached at the base starting chain)........well, this old gal was just crocheting away and moving right along.


Yeah, I was doing my usual, watching a little tv, minding my own business, I was just about to join the 3rd skein and knew I was on the home stretch.....I was thinking about the next one I was going to make.....

 

next thing I knew I realized something, the light bulb above my head came on and my hook came to a halt.


I never stopped to join the 2nd skein to make the opposite side of the scarf! Now you may think, "well what is the big deal?" It kinda is a big deal cause every row when completed kinda leaves a nice little scalloped edge. If you keep going and don't do the other side you will have a flat edge where the starting chain is. There was no way, absolutely no way I was ripping out a whole skein of yarn, so I kept on going, finished up the 3rd skein and then I hand stitched the ends together and made that scarf into a cowl.....it actually turned out pretty good. No one would have known had I not told them, but you guys know because the Claudia Scarf Pattern is a scarf not a cowl, ha, ha, ha! I did the 4th one that way too, only I did it deliberately.


This one is the 4th and for my sil Faith. Once again I used Lion Brand Heartland Yarn. This one has only 2-5 ounce skeins of medium 4 weight, color 109 Olympic. I used the size G hook. I won't bore you with any more chatter about it but I will show pics on some ways it can be worn. They are so much fun to make and wear.






 I guess I have pretty much finished up with my scarf making for now. I won't be making any more unless I get an order for another. Now I can mark off my Christmas list the ones I made for the 3 sils.


On Monday I mowed grass. I usually mow on Fridays so that the yard looks nice for the weekend and it also frees up the weekend from the bulk of the yard work. I try very hard not to work on Sundays. It is my day of rest. Anyways, on Monday as I was running around using the push mower to trim, sweating my butt off, literally, it was around 90 degrees and humid, I spy something kinda red up near the chain link fence gate on the side of the house.


My poor scraggly climbing rose bush that I trimmed back 2 weeks ago, that hasn't had a bloom all spring or summer, had this one red rose. It looked kinda pathetic but it nearly brought me to tears because the past few days had been kind rough, missing my guy. I know it isn't a deep red, but any gal that ever received a rose from a guy knows what the meaning of a single red rose stands for. So there I stood, thinking how beautiful that silly rose was and wondering if someone was trying to tell me 'I Love You". Maybe God was sending me a message from my guy, I don't know, maybe. Who else makes the rose, only God. I did go get my camera.


Last Friday my youngest daughter Meghan called and invited me to her Saturday evening cookout. I have to admit Meghan is not Martha Stewart when it comes to entertaining (forgive me Meghan). The fact alone that she calls me the day before to let me know she is planning something speaks volumes, but I have to admit that she is getting better at dealing with the preparations than what she use to be. I use to say that Meghan goes out jogging, comes home and throws some nuts in a bowl and 10 minutes later people arrive and she calls that "a party", lol.


I will also say that she is like me in one aspect, she tries to do everything single-highhandedly and that is how I have always preferred to do things. Years ago I did 2 graduation parties by myself, only I started planning 2 months in advance. I know we had at least 80 people at our home for the first one which we had a hog roast. I started serving the food at 2pm and never sat down to eat anything myself till 7pm that evening. It started at 6am when the man came to roast the hog, he finished at 2pm when the guests arrived and it lasted till 5am the next morning. I was never so ready to be rid of people in my entire life, heavens! they just didn't know when to go home, lol.
 

I'm not going to explain who all these folks are in some of the pictures. The pic below is my oldest and her family. The rest are Meghan's friends and several had children and it was near impossible for any to sit or stand still long enough for me to get a picture. I am not the greatest at taking pictures.












Above is my sil Chris watching the kids swing from the climbing rope. The gal in the pic is Meghan's friend Mary. She works at a photography studio. She has taken wedding pictures for my daughter. I should have given her my camera, I'm sure she could have done a better job with it.


Meghan's friends Mary and Tiffany. Both brought their children.
 

Sheryl and her husband Bob. She is a real estate appraiser and does a lot of charity work. They own  properties on Lake Erie and rent them for the seasonal tourists. He spends a lot of time keeping their properties in working order. They are the nicest people.


 This was great, Meghan had strung her lights above the patio area, but half of them went out. We all agreed it was probably because moisture had gotten in where the strings hook together. Electrical tape! Need I say more.


And below, Meghan with our little guy. She and her friends Mary and Tiffany did the Warrior Dash 2 years in a row. They are all 35 years old and in pretty good shape. She can climb that rope. It creeps me out just thinking about it. I wish the pics were better. There was a few other people who I never even got a picture of. You know how it is when everyone is all over the place. I think everyone had a good time, and I will say the grilled hot dogs were pretty good and the fire was nice when they roasted the marshmallows and made smores.


And so, that is what is going on lately in my little corner of the world. I plan to set my crochet hook down for awhile and do something different. I'm still working on and off organizing my sewing room and can say I have gotten plenty done. I have been organizing patterns that I have down loaded over the years. There is nothing worse than having several hundred patterns all stacked up and then spending hours looking for a certain one. I found a solution for that and I will share it with you. Until then, have a good and safe week. God Bless You All. Keep the faith and thank you for stopping by to visit with me ♥

Friday, August 22, 2014

Second Claudia Scarf


Short and sweet post......Christmas present for my sil Sharon. 
I can post these on here because none of these sil use the internet, in fact 2 do not have computers. 
Once again the Claudia Scarf pattern here.
I used Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn color 4001 Red Tweed, 3 skeins. 
This yarn is a 4 medium weight. I used a Boye crochet hook size G.
Scarf is worked in halves, one side then the other. After first side is done you re-attach yarn for second half on the opposite side of the starting chain. 
I did 76 rows each half totaling 152 rows. 
The following are just more views and ways to wear it.






This last photo is kinda washed out looking, sorry. 
I wanted to get a close up of the yarn to show you the little flecks of color that make it a tweed.
I might have gotten a better pic had I turned off the flash.
Now I will be starting another scarf in a shade of purple.
Gotta get these presents done.
I don't want to be doing anything this year at the last minute.
Have a safe and good weekend.
God Bless You All ♥

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

F.A.C.T. Afghan Raffle

What is presently going on in my life, this new hexagon afghan/blanket that I made about 2 years ago and am donating to a worthy cause with 100% of the ticket sales going to F.A.C.T. (Financial Assistance for Cancer Treatments). Done in memory of my husband Roger who passed from this life last year on January 18th, 2013. Below the pictures is my write up that I posted on Facebook.


For raffle tickets go to the Facebook page:

FACT, FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE for CANCER TREATMENT. The address and phone number are near the top of their page. Tickets are $1 for 1,  or $5 for 6. Anyone is welcome to purchase them. The afghan will be displayed at various fund raisers by F.A.C.T. and also in some local store windows in the area. The drawing for a winner will be in May 1, 2015.

Just wanted to give all of friends a head's up on what will be happening in the next several months. This has been in the works since earlier this year. Some of you are aware of a cancer help group called F.A.C.T. they give financial assistance to cancer patients for various things i.e. travel expenses to and from appointments/treatments. They do not pay 100% of the expense but they do pay a portion and it is a great help. They helped us when Roger was so sick. You have to have a doctor's okay and nurses sign to verify the appointments. They rely heavy on fund raisers and donations. They were a blessing to us, and I felt it was time to pay it forward. In my heart I know Roger would have wanted this. Tomorrow I donate a new hand-crocheted afghan/blanket that I made. F.A.C.T. will be displaying it at various fund raisers and sending out info on it with some of their mailings. There will be raffle tickets sold by F.A.C.T. with 100% of the sales going to help other cancer patients. They were a blessing to us and it is time for being a blessing to others in need. I will have details about ticket price as soon as I get it and anyone interested in buying a raffle ticket for this worthy cause can send me a message. I am doing this in memory of my husband Roger who passed away January 18th, 2013. He died of multiple myeloma cancer which was a result of his exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. He fought the battle for over 2 years. I believe he is with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Please know that none of the money comes to me, once again, 100% goes to F.A.C.T.
Just a note, if this fund raiser goes well, then I plan to make and donate either another afghan/blanket or a quilt each year, as long as I am able. 

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Teapot, Refrigerator Dills, and Claudia Scarf


Sometimes a girl just has to buy something she has wanted for ages. Years ago I saw this teapot in a gift catalog. Their picture showed a brown polka dot one. I spotted (no pun intended, lol) this one 3 weeks ago at Hobby Lobby and bought it. I think brown would have shown up better on my black stove top. What do you think?


Next, plenty of cucumbers from my brother Ralph and his wife Sharon. These are short-cut pickles and they are so good.


A package of Mrs. Wages Pickle Mix, mix the brine according to instructions on package. Let cool.


Use a mandolin to make uniform pickle slices.

 Clean jars, lids and rings.


Alternate, brine and then cucumber slices, repeat, remove any air bubbles.


 Make sure pickles are completely covered. Wipe rim of jar, place lid and screw on ring.


Store in fridge. The package of pickle brine says it can be stored in fridge for around 2 weeks. After 3 days I tasted the pickles and they were good, 5 days later they were even better. My daughter found a recipe on Pinterest for something similar, and she said hers turned out delicious. Kris from Simplify blog, found here, saves her dill pickle juice in it's original jars and adds her cucumber slices to that brine. She says the longer they set the better they taste. She blogged about it recently if you want to check it out. None of us needed to cook our pickles and so far so good. I've been canning and freezing for over 40 years and never poisoned anyone yet, never had any moldy food in a jar either. I always put clean, sliced pickles in hot sterilized jars with hot pickle brine and sealed with hot lids and rings. At first I used the open kettle method, but years later started doing the hot water bath processing. This method is completely new to me


Boy did I go nuts for several reasons over this scarf. The Claudia Scarf instructions can be found here. Instructions are in UK terns as well as US terms. Pattern called for fingering weight yarn, well guess what, this old gal used 6-3oz skeins of medium 4 weight of Lion Brand Vanna's Choice 100% Acrylic color Denim Mist 300, with a G hook. If I am going to make scarves for this cold Ohio winter weather than we better be talking something heavier than fingering yarn. The pattern is easy, so easy, in fact a one row repeat, same old, same old and it is fast. It says to chain 62 (54 for a narrower scarf). I started out with the 62, wow was that wide! So, I frogged the few rows and went down to 54 which was still quite wide and bulky.

 
Bulky is an under statement. This scarf can be used as a shawl if you so desire. To wear it around the neck you double it over length wise. No need for a hat, you can wear this wrapped around your head and then around the neck, so warm.


If I just drape the thing around my neck it will just about touch the floor (yeah, I went a bit over board with this). I was a happy hooker until I ran into some issues with the yarn. Several knots in the strand of yarn that had to be removed, so that meant rejoining yarn and extra yarn tails to weave in, grrrrrr! Then the thing that upset me the most was a flaw in the dyeing. Look closely, can you see it, carry on......


 right in the middle of the picture you can see where the yarn went from denim to blue. I'm obsessive about my yarn. There should be no breaks in a skein, no knots, no variance in the dye lot. They even tell you on the label to purchase enough of the dye lot to complete your item. I know by seeing it here in this pic it doesn't look so bad, but when you stand back it shows.....so scrap the idea that this one is going to anybody for Christmas. I'm keeping it for myself.


 Both end edges finish out like this and that is because the scarf is done in 2 sections. You make one side, then rejoin the yarn at the starting chain and work the desired length down the other side. The pattern says 85 rows complete one side (with the fingering weight). I made mine as long as I wanted. You can use your own judgement on length.


I liked this pattern so much I am making more. I started the second one in red for another sil. This one I did 38 chains for the base. It is the perfect width using the heavier yarn. Can't wait till it is done so I can show you . Until then, have a great week. Love you and God Bless You All ♥

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