Guardian Day 1

I got a lot done yesterday, certainly more than I expected. Here you see his belly and neck line, and his face begins near the top. My goal is to do his face today, but already Kimber has a 3-D puzzle she wants help with. This may take a while! lol

I apologize for the quality – I have not yet found the software to upload my camera images onto my mom’s computer (I think my device may be too ancient!), so we have to settle for a poor scan today. But I think you get the idea!

Yeah, you can call me weak

I couldn’t stop myself. I have started a new project. I am going to need a name for this fellow.

I have started The Guardian by Teresa Wentzler. Wish me luck!

A catch up

I apologize, everyone, it has been far too long.

So much has happened since I last blogged, so lets start from the beginning.

When we last left this intrepid adventurer, we had just said goodbye to Scott, who was going back to base to complete basic training. Things went pretty smoothly for all of us, the girls and I got back into a bit of a routine and Scott burned through 7 weeks of training. Week nine of training, however, he blew out his knee, again.

It has been determined that Scott’s meniscus is degenerated too far to heal on its own. He has again been working on physiotherapy excercises and 2-1/2 weeks ago got a cortezone shot.

He came home for a visit June 25th, to stay until July 5. Unfortunately, the morning of June 27th we got a phone call, my grandfather had passed away.

Needless to say, our vacation was cut short. The girls and I were going to be coming home to Alberta for a visit in August for a family reunion; fortunately the airline had no problem changing our leaving date. We have been here in Alberta since June 30th.

Scott managed to stay busy with us gone, going to his Nan’s house to do yardwork and imposing himself on some of our families barbecues. lol

And so the girls and I will be in Alberta for two months, returning late August. It has been wonderful to see everyone, and I hope to get a lot of visiting and travelling in. Kimber in particular really would like to see the badlands and dinosaur bones in Drumheller. I also hope to take them to the mountains, something they have never seen before.

Scott in the mean time is doing much better with his cortezone shot. He is expected to get physical clearance by the end of the week and hopefully will be back in training on Monday. We have our fingers crossed there is a platoon ready to accept him.

Being home means I also have a lot more time for stitching. I have been working on Egyptian Sampler and would really like to finish it before I leave here. If it goes really well, I may even finish another project or two.

A quick check in

Hello all!

I am sorry it has been a little while since I last posted. This last week we had a very special week as Scott came home for a week of leave.

We had a week of gallivanting around the city and beyond, a week of way too much fast food, and a week of absolutely no housework.

And so my task for the next week is to catch up! All my work here within the last few months getting this home in order is undone. Fortunately I have a routine in place, so it is just a matter of spending a little extra time with each task. I had considered showing photos of the mess, but even I am not that adventurous!!

I did manage to get a few stitches into Egyptian Sampler, and it is coming along, slowly. I may find myself over the next little while taking “breaks” to stitch inbetween loads of dishes. Hee hee!

Have a good week, everyone!

Life after Minuit

Thank you all for your kind words on my finish. I am very excited that she is all done. Soon, I hope, she will be gracing my front room.

Now I am left with three WIPs. I am going to try very hard to finish another project (most likely ES) before starting another, but I am itching to do another dragon. I am still deciding which to do (it will most likely be one of the many Teresa Wentzler dragons in my stash). I will narrow down my choices and set up a poll for you guys at a later time.

In other news, I did a bad thing last night and gamed until 3 am, thinking I would catch up on my sleep after the girls went to school. Seems that will not be the case, as my landlord does not know how to use a phone and neglected to tell me someone would be in our basement replacing the furnace. Now the cold is not too much of an issue, but they are LOUD!!!!! And! I was in a groggy sleepy haze and went out to stop fighting the noise to make some coffee, and some guy was in my front hall!!!! I know this is New Brunswick, and I must get used to the laid back attitudes of everyone here, but seriously, a heads up would have been nice. Apparently something fell in our furnace vent (we have one giant one to heat the whole house) and he came up to check it out from the top. If nothing else, I am awake now!! Oh, and cold, of course because without a furnace there is no heat. And it is -22 with the wind chill here today.

My coffee and I are good friends today!

She Is Finished!

“A Midsummer Night’s Fairy”
Mirabilia Designs
Stitched on “Two Cool Nights” by Tirowen Fabrics
28 ct Monaco

Minuit is all finished. This is my first finish in a year and a half, folks. Sad, really, but it is nice to see her finished.

Tales from the kitchen and other suitably scary stories

Today I made croquettes. I remember my mom making these when I was a girl and I loved them. I asked her for her recipe to which she replied with “mash potatoes, roll them into the proper shape, dip in egg white and crushed corn flakes, deep fry”. Simple enough. I tried it and failed miserably. The coating for the potato kept falling off and did not stick. My first batch in the deep fryer ended up as potato bits rather than croquettes.

Then I grabbed a clue. Dip in egg white THEN crushed corn flakes. Turned out much better. And just as tasty as I remember. They did not stay together as well as I remember, though. Maybe the potatoes were not moist enough or too moist before I fried them. I don’t know.

The girls enjoyed them, though Lauryn did not like the “filling” too much. I think next time some garlic and cheese is in order.

Oops! I did it again!

This Brittany Spears moment has been brought to you by the apparent non-caffeine haze my brain was in when I ordered the beads for finishing Minuit. I ordered 03033 instead of 03055!!! Gah! I am at the point now, since I have tried this twice, that I will just find a substitute in my stash. Since I have ordered so many different colours that I apparently have no use for at the moment, I must have one that is close!

They have arrived!

My stash order has arrived. Now I can finish Minuit and start the hunt for the perfect frame. I even have the spot all picked out. (Scott’s Japanese sword collection is being moved. The space is being womanized. Sorry, dear.) That is my plan for tomorrow.

I also got a copy of Daydreams which I am excited to work on. The pattern calls for 14 count aida, which of course I will not be using. But I have looked at it and had the urge to stitch this over one. Am I crazy? Maybe!

In other news, we had thunder here last night! The sky lit up for a brief second and I heard the tell tale boom! Spring must be on its way!

Baked Beans

Yesterday I experimented and made baked beans, from Scott’s grandmother’s recipe. It turned out quite well and I thought I would share.

You will need one bag of navy beans (this is those little white beans; I found them at Wal-mart in 1kg bags. I imagine most grocery stores should have them). Soak them in a lot of water over night. You will need lots as they expand and take up space.

Drain and wash the beans. Boil beans until they split in two. Do not drain.

In a large crock, mix:

1 chopped onion

½ cup molasses (or one can of tomato soup – do not add water!)

½ cup ketchup

1/3 cup mustard ** IMHO, needs more mustard.

Salt & pepper to taste

1 clove garlic

½ lb chopped cooked bacon or ham

Scoop beans into crock, mixing well with each scoop. Add water from the boiled beans until all the beans are covered (mine floated. I have no idea how much water this comes to, but I added around another cup and a half of water, to make it slightly runny.).

Bake in the crock for 5-7 hours. Around ½ hour from finish, scoop out a small amount of beans and mash them and add them back to the crock. This will thicken the mixture.

*** I only cooked mine for 4 hours. Any more and I am sure I would have ended up with a brick of beans.