Sweet Success

 

A fresh batch of spelt tortillas

For years I have purchased spelt tortillas; Rudi's mostly but more recently Trader Joe's. Early Saturday morning Jack and I made our regular trip to TJ's. Sadly, there were no spelt tortillas to be found. A kind store employee looked them up in the computer and sure enough, discontinued. Anger ensued but I held my tongue and just said, "That's unfortunate." 

Grumble, grumble on the drive home. How dare they? ... Ding! I'll make them myself! I instantly found a recipe when I got back to my computer.

Why have I never heard how easy tortillas are to make? This batch shattered my expectations. With scratch tortillas under my belt, what else is on the list?

Check out my cooking blog, The Scratch Diaries, for food related fun and frustration. 

Birthday Train

Finished with plenty of time to spare, a rarity.

Whenever I open Ravelry, Jack asks to search for Thomas. Yes, Thomas the Tank Engine is his all time favorite at 3 years old. He falls short of drooling at this knitting masterpiece but this dishcloth is a close second. The picture of the boy driving his trains on the dishcloth intrigued him which was all I needed to cast on. Happily I found everything I needed in my stash.

An easy knit as expected but it's my first "picture" dishcloth. I worried I might get miss count or maybe even miss the purls for the eyes but all was fine. No major mishaps. Although quick and easy, I don't see myself making any other dishcloths like this.

Jack was happy to get Thomas for his birthday but not nearly as excited as when Monkey came off the needles. What makes me smile though is when he says, "Mama make," and shows me the dishcloth or points to the tortillas. I love being a mom.

Kitchen-Centric Weekend

Incredible gluten-free bagels.

Labor Day Weekend has been chock full of kitchen laboring. The most satisfying of all projects was the gluten-free bagels. I'll admit I cheated and used a mix I had leftover in the cupboard. My husband thoughtfully bought Pamela's baking mix for me a year or so ago and I nearly forgot about it since I tend to make everything from scratch. A couple weeks ago I used it in the bread machine (thumbs up to including a bread machine recipe on the package) and it worked perfectly. Then yesterday, amidst other new recipes, I got the hair-brained idea to pre-make bagels for the morning. 

As it turned out, the kitchen was too cluttered and Jack went to sleep early so I put it off for the morning. Four ingredients in the stand mixer for 3 minutes, rise for 1 hour, boil each for 25 seconds then bake for 25 minutes. A little messy, but really it's as simple as that. The recipe didn't say anything about toppings but I have longed for everything bagels for years. Surprise, surprise I had both caraway seeds and fennel seeds. Sesame seeds, dried onion and Kosher salt but no dried minced garlic to be found! Garlic powder sufficed and were it not for my heavy hand with the Kosher salt, they would have been perfect. 

Unpictured is the bagel (1 of 6 so it was a small batch, quite manageable) I dipped in a spicy garlic Parmesan blend I found at Winco. Great flavor but I should clarify the application of the toppings. Dipping didn't work because the bagels were too wet and floppy after the boil. I ended up just sprinkling the toppings over top and patting them in a little to set. This wasn't a technique I looked up on the internet so there could easily be a better way to get the toppings to stick after baking. Maybe brush with olive oil, sprinkle the toppings then bake? Butter maybe. Egg wash? No matter, the bagels turned out better than I imagined. Especially since my first foray 20 years ago yielded bagels hard as rocks. Dog treats, really. As you can imagine, I am pretty darn happy with this batch.

Other kitcheny projects this weekend:

• Cleaned out just the door of the fridge and reorganized.
• Made Texas Beans (may have been old pinto beans because they didn't quite cook all the way through.)
• Moved pantry items (nuts, dried beans, etc.) to the pseudo pantry and moved the extra cans and unopened condiments to the cupboard.
• Configured a recipe for Mexican rice in the rice cooker.
• Cooked two nice dinners - planned in advance and well executed. (This doesn't happen very often. Usually I forget to start the rice or remember the rolls AFTER dinner.)

Now to finish the weekend with some more knitting!

Bear III

The beginnings of bear number three.

It had been almost two years since I last played around on Ravelry. So many refinements! Most of my books weren't in the library back then, no magazines at all and so many other little things but now, Wow! Back when I added my bear projects I couldn't find a pattern to link it to. This time though, I found it on Ravelry as Due North; an out of print pattern that the designer reworked as Small Bear if you're interested in the pattern. Apparently the book in which it was printed goes for quite a bit on ebay. Dang it! I have the magazine version :)

Jack has the first bear created with this pattern. White wool with mohair carried along. I'm pretty sure it was one of my first felting projects and the store where I bought the yarn didn't clue me in to the possibility it wouldn't felt. White bear is by far the biggest of the bears and barely felted. Still cute though.


Bear #2 went to Jack's cousin. Knit in orange without mohair, it's my favorite so far. Maybe because I was a little better at knitting or felting by then but the orange one is my favorite. Great shape and a nice size for a child to grab, hold, and carry. The other interesting thing I realized while knitting this bear was that I had made an interesting color choice. When I was about 11 my mom knit an orange pig for my younger sister. Adorable but all I could think was, "why orange?" Over and over I thought it to myself, even asked my mom why she made the pig orange instead of pink. She just shrugged, "I don't know." There I was, knitting an orange bear. I smiled and still do to this day when I think of my lost obsession with an orange animal and how I’ve passed it on to the next generation.

The current bear is a gorgeous aqua blue Cascade Quattro which I’m knitting on size 10 needles. The others must have been on 11s because this bear is already tiny. I knew there was a disparity between sizes 10 and 11 but it had never jumped out at me until I was searching for needles this time. This bear just might be named Minnie. I’ve also noticed some holes forming in the piece. I thought I was going to fix what I saw in the orange bear by correctly wrapping and turning but maybe it was always my make ones. Thank goodness for felting but Knitting Help here I come!

Rare Sighting: Monkey

Jack finally slowed down for a moment so I could get a picture of his new monkey.

I loved knitting this pattern and will probably knit it again and again. It's a great go-to kid toy as is the bear pattern I just cast on for a third time (posting soon). Variety keeps me going - I don't often knit patterns more than once, but when they're easy and cute I can't resist. I'll say it again, Yarn Miracle writes such cute stuffed animal patterns!

Yes, I vented the other day about picture quality but just give me a couple days and I'm over it :) I've given up on perfect pictures. If they happen, they happen but I'm just as satisfied with the documentation of our lives whether the pics are good or bad. That is my purpose after all. 

Surprise!

A post! How about the other goings on since I last posted almost 2 months ago? Fun summer stuff and actual knitting...but no pictures yet. I told myself I wouldn't do that but the picture issue got me tangled up in my head. You see, iPhone's* pics are okay but not the caliber I want to see on my blog. I don't want to post without pic because honestly, even I find that boring. Then there's my computer. It's fine and it does the job albeit slowly but some tasks just might put it over the edge. Downloading, importing, uploading ... all of these things test its ancient processor and I just want to get the most time out of this nice, mostly reliable computer. So there. There's picture issues and I'm not happy about it.

While at Surfy Surfy, out of the blue G suggested I look at wet suits so I can start surfing (YAY!). I picked out a really cool spring suit like the girl suggested. Usually spring suits have short sleeves and legs that go almost to the knees. This women's version has long sleeves (no farmer tan) and shorts length legs so you don't get the guys cargo shorts tan (knees and down). I. Am. So. EXCITED!!! Babysitter for Jack and my husband and I can go for a surf :) However, surf class won't be held until after Labor Day so as to clear out the waves of superfluous persons. It really is just better for all involved.

Mystery KAL - Done! It's a cute little monkey and J just loves it. I was just about to put on the tail when he realized I was working on something really cool. "Mine?" he said. How could I resist his angel face? He took off with the tailless monkey under his arm. By the way, yes, I guessed correctly :)

I found a newly formed knitting group that meets at Peet's Coffee and I love love love going to knit! They are fun, happy people. We laugh and joke around, help others with knitting questions and have a rowdy, awesome two hours of productive knitting time. A guy walking by even commented, something to the effect of, "Can I join? You're having too much fun!" One of the girls teaches classes at Michael's (also just down the street) and she'll be teaching a crochet class in the Fall. Bingo! I will finally learn how to crochet! They are all so welcoming to new people. One of the members just happened to be enjoying coffee and a puzzle book one morning a month or so ago and now she's picked up knitting again and on her second project already. I am so relieved to find a great group of people AND knitting all located within my 2 mi radius. Never want to get too far from the beach ever again :)

*iPhone is referred to by name: iPhone. My sisters made fun of my phone and maybe more so how much I played on it (it was new when I was in Seattle visiting). Hence, as a "member" of the family it deserved a name and believe me, they get great enjoyment from including it in conversation. "So where does iPhone want to go?" "How dare you leave iPhone in the car!" Yes, they're a fun bunch of sisters :)

Mystery KAL

Somehow I came across a mystery knit along (KAL) which piqued my interest. I love knitted toys and after seeing the designer's website, especially the knitted kitty, I jumped in. Knitted toys are just cute little projects that are pretty quick. Not quite instant gratification but progress comes quickly. Some might think they're fussy projects because they're so small and usually on small needles but I disagree. This is my first Mystery KAL and it's kinda fun so far! Each week a "clue" (section of pattern) is released and all week long participants try to guess what it's going to be. (For the record I'm going with monkey.) I started and finished this first section on the 4th. That's pretty quick for me. Four "clues" to the pattern so this is a month-long project. I actually think I'll be able to keep up and finish on time ... but I'll be out of town this weekend. If I take a project it'll be my Seattle Socks on bamboo DPNs because I'm going here again. Different hotel but same destination, same work trip. I also just noticed it's been 2 years since I made my last pair of socks!

A Tale of Two Breads

For years I've been pretty okay with the spelt bread I get from my bread machine. Not bad, does the job, dry and crumbly. Two recent events have altered my perspective. First, my husband's business partner is testing out a gluten-free diet and it won't be long before he asks me for guidance. Second, I failed an all rice flour dinner roll recipe. 

On the first point, his biggest gripe was the sticker shock (not taste because he hasn't even gotten that far yet). "Eight dollars for a loaf of BREAD?!!" exclaimed the text. I know it doesn't have to be that expensive but on occasion I've purchased a $4 loaf when I don't have the time or desire to start up the bread machine. Admittedly, that's pretty lazy. Contrary to that tendency, my "conqueress" spirit has emerged. I have now envisioned making bread that would impress even a gluten-lover like my husband -- spongy, moist sandwich bread or a crusty dinner loaf. My current spelt bread is a far cry from normal for most people. If I can demonstrate for friends that gluten-free food can be tasty and yummy and just like their glutenous counterparts, my friends can stop living in agony (and I will feel successful). The closer I can get to "normal" the less intimidating a gluten-free lifestyle will seem.

For the record, spelt is an ancient wheat so yes, it contains gluten. As someone who is sensitive to gluten and not celiac, I tolerate spelt just fine. I like to imagine that the spelt grain hid in the dusty shadows of the pantry while standard wheat underwent poking, prodding, splicing, genetic engineering, everything they've learned since Gregor Mendel opened Pandora's box.

My second point is a post in itself. I started the white rice flour dough (it's not always spelt) in the bread maker on a dough setting so that I could take it out halfway and make it into rolls. To make the long story short, they're not rolls, they're flats.

So here we are at the crossroads of the two breads, or methods rather. I'm pretty sure I can perfect my bread machine output with some refinements. I've heard the yeast needs more time to react, so start it first then add it to the machine. Add 1/2 tsp of xanthan gum for each cup of flour to account for the missing gluten. We'll give those tweaks a shot the next time I pull out the bread machine. It's the other method that is silently begging me to conquer it. Making bread from scratch. I only ever witnessed my mom baking bread on a few occasions long ago. It's a more authentic method that appeals to my from-scratch desire: making my own whipped cream, pancake mix, never using instant rice, ... Eventually I'd like to add pasta to the list, use dried beans instead of canned, etc. I'm still working on this but you get the picture. The book Like Water For Chocolate comes to mind when I consider the time and energy put into cooking for the family. The love comes through in the finished product and nourishes the soul. I suppose it's obvious I'm rooting for the from scratch method. 

It is a far, far better [bread] that I [make], than I have ever done..

Del Mar Fair

Our first trip to the fair started late in the day, after my workday had ended and evening traffic began. Just on the east side of the 5 from the fair grounds is an Albertson's selling discount admission. Yay! A whole $5 off each ticket. I love getting a deal when I'm prepared to pay full price. (No crazy couponing here.)

It's been a number of years since I've been to the fair; same for Gianni. Only on Food Network had I heard of the latest and greatest Fried Fill-in-the-Blank but here at the fair it's right there in flesh and blood glutenous coating and oil. What I really wanted to see was the Fried Butter. Yes, a cube of butter that has gained social ranking by disguising itself with a bread crumb jacket, bathing in hot oil then shape-shifting into a fluid mess once you take a bite. How can that not be a shameful disappointment? Chocolate covered bacon on the other hand has many more fine and redeeming qualities (but I'm too cheap to buy a handful for $6.50 so I'll make some myself. Maybe.)

On our way to find the animal barns we walked through the fine arts pavilion. Inspiring water colors, delicate pen and ink, intricate mixed media, all sorts but needlework was nowhere to be found :( I suppose the cool stuff is reserved for exhibition at the STATE fair. Humph. No 4H decorated cat cages, no award winning preserves, no record approaching veggies, no cavies even. Absurd! None of the cool stuff.

Jack! Oh yes, the reason we made a point to even GO to the fair. As soon as G unfolded the stroller he jumped in and stayed in without fuss. Through the midway he snacked on my sweet potato fries. He gawked in awe at all the rides and lights. Both the roller coaster and log ride were "trains" which we of course watched intently. When we got to the animals though, he begged to get out for a closer look ... then got back in, no problem. G and I thought we were doing pretty well keeping the germs, dirt, grit, and ick just out of arm's reach. We're casually walking though a sawdust/mostly dirt blanketed outdoor booth area when I look under the stroller. I don't know why I looked but both his feet were extended under the stroller and parting the dirt like Moses. He was happy as a clam. I should have known. 

G informed me that the slippers don't quite fit well enough to comfortably stay on his feet. Bummer. Just a bit more than a tad too big so I'm going to try REAL hard to get them in the wash this weekend.

Chocolate Glass Coffee Knit

What a wonderful weekend! When I go out Friday night it just seems to make the weekend longer. So on Friday night we went out to dinner at Leucadia Pizzeria where Jack and I shared a gluten-free pizza. Love that place AND they deliver. We were invited to a BBQ on Saturday to watch the MotoGP race. Fun to meet new people and just hang out on a Summer afternoon. American, Ben Spies, won his first MotoGP race. Woohoo! Jack didn't really let me watch the race; we were upstairs watching Kung Fu Panda. Cute movie but there was racing on TV!


Sunday I started the day with two iced coffees from Java Hut. Pretty good but I've been itching to make my toddy ever since Pioneer Woman posted a recipe for iced coffee. On that caffeine high I scrubbed the house top to bottom and finished the laundry. Rather quickly I might add. When G left for a business meeting, Jack and I went over to Grocery Outlet and dinked around for a while. $97 later and we were out the door. A little surprised by that but we found some goodies: Dagoba drinking chocolate, Oikos greek yogurt, Pamela's mini cookie bites (gluten-free), Cascadian Farms granola, lots of other stuff and a bag of coffee. All they had was S&W store brand but that's fine for toddy. I am just in time with my iced coffee brew because yesterday it read 81 in front of the house. Dang that's hot for the beach! There should be a lot of good iced toddy weather coming up. Yum!

Knitting? Yes there was a smattering of knitting this weekend! I casted off the slippers (clogs, whatever) and knit a few rows on my Seattle Socks but the biggest accomplishment was felting the clogs. Sometimes the felting stage takes forever. Not the actual felting, but the finding time to put it in the wash and monitor it. I found the time last night after all the laundry was done but I always forget to monitor it! We were sitting at the table one second then the next I shot out of a cannon aimed for the laundry room. Thankfully they hadn't started spinning and weren't too small already.  So they're drying now and they fit! With every stitch I doubted they'd fit, mostly because of the cuff but also there were some wrap and turns written in. I followed them on the first go round but it didn't look right so I ripped it out and started again. On the second try they looked fine as I was going but you never know. As for when they'll be a wearable object, I cannot be sure. This morning they are still HEAVY with water and being that there's so much moisture in the air, it could be a week before G can wear them. Ah, the waiting game...

Tuesday our plan is to go to the San Diego State Fair. Feels a bit early in the year for the fair but then Washington schedules all their state fairs for the end of Summer to optimize the sunny days. I hope G doesn't mind stopping by the sewing, cooking, needlework, etc. barns :)

(My husband came up with the title to this post. Not sure he's all there this morning :) )

Out of the Desert

Hmm. Quite a bit has happened since my last post but the best item on the list is moving to My Love's hometown :)

The temperature change has thankfully summoned my knitting needles. I'm almost done with the last project i started in Phoenix - felted slippers for My Love. I had started them as a Christmas gift but locked them up in February when the desert summer reminded me it was just around the corner. Blech. Who wants slippers in the desert anyway? Now, a year and a half later, some wonderful husband wants slippers again. Here they come! ...hopefully. I'm using a pattern from my mom and the cuff instructions are missing. Oops. I didn't realize that until I was at the cuff of the first slipper. Par for course. So, we'll see in the next couple weeks when I finish and get around to felting. (I didn't say I had a lot of extra time. I still have my job and a now almost three year old!)

Oh! I have two, yes TWO yarn stores within WALKING distance!!! Both are incredible. One I've frequented on past trips to Encinitas, Common Threads. But the other I kind of dismissed in the past - Black Sheep. I mistakenly judged a book by its cover. Tsk tsk. The sign was (gulp) boring and it said "beads." I just assumed it would be more of a mixed media type store and I'm not really into much else but yarn right now. As you can tell, big mistake. The store is gorgeous! Two amazing yarn stores within a couple blocks on Coast Hwy. Who knew!? I thought their Noro section was nice until she pointed out I was only looking at the new stuff. More? A whole darn corner of the store! Ahhh heaven :)

Bicycling with little g, learning to surf, cooking on a gas stove (I never knew that was so awesome for lack of a better word), traveling to race tracks with my family .... plenty of fun stuff to come :)

I'm going to assume you're genuinely interested

... is what I wrote to my sister when she asked about my grocery spreadsheet.

For a few months now I've been keeping a spreadsheet of our expenditures - grocery and household mostly. This all started because I was tired of wondering how much we were spending, on what, where was the better deal and so on and so on. Here's what I've developed thus far although I feel some tweaks in the future.

*push glasses up bridge of nose*

In my spreadsheet, size is almost always in ounces except for with green onions, peppers, diapers, etc. For us I also put tortillas in eaches because we only buy the same kinds ever - one for G, spelt or rice for me. I also made a "calculator" I drag down the side with my work. Produce and deli are almost always measured in pounds and I just needed to make it easy for me. The other tool I use is a digital kitchen scale. Last weekend we bought onions at Grocery Outlet, 4 in an unmarked green mesh bag for a fixed price. However, since onions usually go by the pound I weighed them for a true comparison. (Only Super Nerds have digital kitchen scales.) One thing to keep in mind - the weight of some deli items are only marked on the sticker attached to the item itself, no other details on the receipt.

Example:

Purchased Item	Size	Price	Store	Date	Cost per ounce
Almond breeze	64	$ 2.99	Albertson's	8/9/2009	$ 0.047

Cost per Ounce is the only actual formula in the spreadsheet = Price/Size.
My handy calculator mentioned above is rudimentary: Pounds x 16 = Ounces Change the value in the pounds field and the equals field calculates the equivalent.

POUNDS	OZ	EQUALS
1.82	16	29.12

My handy spreadsheet helped verify that we're getting the best price on formula. Similac Iron Shield or something was on sale at Amazon, 19.79 for 24oz (forget the actual size). I plugged in the data and compared it to Costco - Similac was about twice as expensive. I know, Similac Iron Fist is primo baby formula but g isn't picky thankfully.

The other important organizational tip is to enter items as noun, adjective adjective. This way all the onions get sorted together when you go to compare data.

Examples:

Spice, Onion dehyd
Soup, Cream of Chicken
Sausage, ground Johnsonvlle
Pineapple, cut fresh
tomatoes, diced Del Monte

Also, instead of getting up from my computer to go check weight on each item, I finally got even smarter (is that possible?) and started writing on the receipt then entering it all at once. After a while it's fun (for nerds) to go and sort the sheet by purchased item and compare where we get the best deals. It's just ridiculous to see something we bought at Costco or Grocery Outlet for HALF the price per ounce of Albertson's. For produce though, taste is a factor. G doesn't really care for the flavor often found lacking in Grocery Outlet/Dollar Store produce. I understand his position but ... I really like the deal. Now if I could just get G to go to Grocery Outlet *before* the regular grocery store we'd be saving even more.

g is almost 1! We're spending his birthday in Seattle with family. Prior to my mom's most recent round of chemo they had planned on coming down here to celebrate. With the latest diagnosis our plans changed. And quite honestly for the better. All the aunts and uncles are up there. G and I are our own family down here - we'll make the trip to see the clan. I'll have pics when we return!

(WIP made the photo - argyle baby blanket for g's cousin-to-be)

Socks: Then and Now

Wow - what a difference 10 years makes!

Blue sock: My very first sock (whoa check out that shaping). Scratchy, self-patterning yarn, slouchy, sloppy pattern. It was fun to knit at the time.

Pink sock: The beginning of a sock resurgence. Soft, soft warm cozy socks. They could use a less complicated pattern to showcase the beautiful colors but I'm not going to be picky.

Yes, the socks are short. I happen to like shorter socks seeing as how I live in the desert. However, I was more worried about making it through both socks with enough yarn. I think I'm going to work on toe up socks from now on.

I'm not particularly fond of the dark diagonal stripe and the dark big toe.
If I don't focus on it I don't see it.

Just the right length for warmer socks.
My next pair will probably hit just below the ankle bone.

My favorite part - plain old stripes :)

g matched the big sock so well I slipped it on his entire leg. Of course the over-the-knee design hindered his crawling. It didn't last long but I managed a pic.

With as big as it looks in comparison to the pink sock you'd think it would fit like a paper bag. Funny how it looks a little full but mostly normal. REALLY funny that I washed both socks over the weekend and the blue sock *doubled* in size. If we stay in town this weekend I'll try to shrink it with some hot water and maybe an extra hot tumble dry. Incredible.

Here's the famous Chair Pusher at work!

He's been taking a few steps here and there. Usually three steps, four today. Soon enough. I'm going to put down "Hi" as his first word. Sounds more like Ha or just H but in conjunction with the wave I think it's official. Less than 2 weeks for until our Seattle trip! Hopefully we get a San Diego trip here real soon, too.

In the Kitchen

A few weeks ago I received my 35lb bag of spelt flour from Azure Standard and I've been baking and cooking ever since. To kick off the nearly gluten-free baking were M&M cookies. Since then it's been loaves of bread, cake and pancakes. I pre-made a big batch of mix.

The M&Ms were a cheap find at Grocery Outlet so naturally I put them to good use. Spelt flour doesn't have as much of the gluten as most recipes count on so to make up for that I added arrowroot flour. They turned out like real cookies!

Here's little g about a month ago. His hair looks short now with as much as it has grown! He'll turn 1 at the end of the month. He is so cute to watch ... learning, exploring, problem solving ... crawling in circles chasing after the dogs ... waving hi to *everything* ... tentatively shaking his head no ... trying new foods with only an initial shudder of surprise ... So cute!

As for the food for g though he started reacting to the jarred foods. Bananas fine, bananas in a jar not fine, rash. I have no problem making up his food - steam, food processor, spoon into ice cube trays. I get all that taken care of on the weekends and we're good for the week.

Yummy yummy fresh raspberry lemonade. My sister found perfect ice cube trays in a clearance bin - they make perfectly square ice cubes - and so thought of me. Not exactly sure why but I love them so she was right on :) The yarn here has been mostly used up in the Argyle Felted Pillow (rav). Finished last week and ready to go with me to Seattle to felt. Two more weeks!

Goodies

Again, it has been too long since my last post. Just last weekend (or maybe the one prior) I was considering a blog "schedule" to follow. I like writing but I never liked journaling, never had a diary. But I like blogging, it's different. The pictures probably have the most impact, the possible audience makes this writing seem more purposeful and the bonus is the web friends. And so I'm back to ... how to blog more regularly. Wait a second...

Yep. Tomorrow this blog turns 2! Woo hoo! Two years - time sure flies. All right now, back to the issue at hand. Blog schedule. Well, to be honest, that's just not going to happen. I certainly don't want to make blogging a chore. Sooo I think I'll just focus on the pics and posts will follow. No more hiding my camera from myself (found in its second home on the kitchen counter). Don't "lose" the USB cable for my camera (G "found" it in its usual place). Stop leaving the camera on after transferring the pics (killing the batteries).

On to the goodies: Look what's come in the mail for me!

Korres sent me a bunch of samples to try out. Okay, I ordered the jar of cream in the middle and the sunscreen on the left. The rest is bonus! Not to mention I got 20% off through MyPoints, free shipping and I'm not sure, but I think they sent me extra samples on accident. The cute little boxes in the back row were all in the cute bag in the very back. Hmmm maybe the extra samples came because I'm now a facebook fan. Probably.

This awesome coffee cup arrived from KM as a surprise prize after the wristwarmer KAL back in February. (Jeez I'm sloooow. Here's my entry, yes they are a Christmas 08 gift for my sis.) Every morning G and I have coffee, catch up on email and do the crossword puzzle. This awesome mug shoved the former #1 mug off the table to take it's place and hasn't looked back since. Thank you KM!

Horrible picture, I know. I knew it when I took the pic but I did it anyway. I knew that I wasn't really on top of my game and if I didn't take it I'd miss out altogether. The magnets are cutely holding up coupons/papers/recipes on the fridge. Can you tell that they're the Ravelry set? So cute! Werther's - already gone. Mmmmmdelicious. One of these days I'll catch a pic of g with his fish rattle. It's one of the small emergency toys in his diaper bag that at the moment is performing its job - at some point g needed a distraction and voila! Fish rattle to the rescue! Thanks again KM! Great KAL - thanks for hosting! Maybe when we all get some more time we can do another :)

Look at the budding fiber kid! No, I don't push my fiber love on to others. The bin of yarn actually took the place of a cake of wool I had just wound. Yes, I was protecting my knitting yarn by allowing him to play in the bin of stuffing yarn. I've collected the yarn I hate, too short leftovers and gnarled skeins that aren't worth the time to untangle - all of that stuff goes into the stuffed animals. Waste yarn put to good use.

Seattle with Little G

A few weekends ago Little G (g) and I made our very first plane trip to Seattle. I was nervous. VERY nervous. Was he going to scream, be inconsolable, have a poopie diaper on the plane? He's a really good baby so he should be fine. What if this is the thing that finally gets under his little skin. How about all the stuff I needed to lug through the airport ... all by myself?

Well there was nothing to worry about. He was perfect. He fell asleep for both take-offs. Little fuss but no crying. Made goo-goo eyes at the little girls (which, I hesitate to say, but it made them stop crying). g even earned compliments from the other passengers. But all that entertaining made him one tired little monkey.

g fell asleep in the Combi - I love this carrier! I didn't already mention, but the stroller in the airport drove me nuts. I cried. Seriously. I couldn't get it down, up, or even to push in a straight line. It did not help that I forgot how to collapse it while at the front of the security line. I was that Mom holding up the line. A nice older couple helped even though I couldn't tell them how to work the thing. Because I forgot! Ugh. Never again. Baby carrier from here on out.

g in the sweater Grandma knit, with cousin C and Grandma

We were in town for my nephew's 2nd birthday. Grandma wrangled the two cousins for a quick photo - 9mos and 2 yrs. Fifteen months apart - the same age difference as sister F and I. No idea at all how my mom managed. C usually gets free reign of the toy room but with g there he had to *gasp* share. It wasn't easy shielding g from flying objects but we managed. Grandma has a massive play area for C with tons of toys and lots of open space to play. I called home to run the idea by G and now g has a miniature version.

The Mayonnaise Smile

g's cousin LOVES mayonnaise. Sister J spread some mayo on a tomato, C would lick it off and smile ... every time. It was so cute!

g in the arms of Sister F

It turned out to be a very short long weekend. g was less than 2 months when he met an aunt and Grandma and Grandpa. With three sisters, uncles, family friends etc., it was a bit overwhelming for him. It wasn't until the last day that he was okay with me out of his sight and stopped being so clingy. I'm trying to schedule another quick weekend before G, g and I go up to celebrate his first birthday with the family. Just 2 months away so we'll see. He made traveling easy so it's pending my work schedule. Orlando this weekend and Indianapolis in August.

Knitting: YES there's knitting going on! No! There's no pictures! I'm using Misti Alpaca on the Cable Twist socks, fingerweight so I've been adjusting the pattern here and there. I missed Grumperina's mod for sock yarn - woulda been nice. This is my second pair of socks, the first pair was over 10 years ago (loose, sloppy, mismatched). I'm learning them all over again ... and I kinda like socks now! That's tentative. I don't often wear socks here in the hottest place on earth. And I'll need to beef up my sock yarn stash....

Puerto Rico

Back in April I went to Puerto Rico for work. (I told you I've been busy!) This was my first trip and an all-around good trip. It would have been nice to have company but it was a work trip after all. One full day of flying with 2 layovers. Seriously, by the last flight I didn't even know what city I was leaving. The plane landed well after dark, short taxi to the Hilton and.... Uh, are we at the right hotel? It says Xanadu behind the check-in desk. There are THRONGS of people in the lobby. Something is going on...

Yes, I walked right into a movie set - Johnny Depp's new movie. No, I didn't disturb the filming. There were ropes, "Shhh!" signs, security personnel and a LOT of JD fans. I finally got to my room and promptly ordered room service before they closed. I hadn't eaten most of the day. My nerves really got to me - all that running to my flights in unfamiliar airports with just 45 minute layovers. So I calorie splurged with chicken wings and nachos. The wings were okay but the nachos were not nachos. Chips and liquid cheese. Ugh.

The next day was an unintentional free day for me. Yes, it was nice to enjoy the tropical island, but I saved the company money by leaving a day early *including* the cost of an extra night at the hotel. To get myself out of the room in the morning (remember, I'm alone and would have been perfectly happy staying in my room) I picked up Starbucks in the lobby and walked around with my camera.

Nice, family-friendly beach but not overly so. I didn't hear screaming, splashing kids. None of them tried to run me over or get tangled underfoot. But they were having fun. Lots of activities and play areas kept them entertained. Although my little guy wasn't with me, I was keeping an eye out for ways to travel more extensively with the little guy. The only kid thing I can't speak for is food. Banquets were included in the trade show and the only meal I ate otherwise was at Morton's.

The hotel wasn't all beach; there was a meditation garden area. Lots of tropical wildlife like the peacock here. Hmm, I don't remember significant bugs... not bad! After my photographic tour of the hotel I stopped at the pool cafe/bar for lunch. Some sort of burger with a stellar mojito. Yum! (Had to sample the rum.)

The work stuff turned out great. Speaking half Spanish made my brain hurt but I sold product! My next trip is in a few weeks but it's Orlando this time and most of my industry friends will be there.

Catching Up

It seems as though quite a few of the blogs I follow are coming out of hibernation. Well here I am joining the trend. Months ago now I picked up a ball winder!! Wow. Where have you been all my yarn life?


Notice the digital scale? LOVE IT. Easy way to gauge what's left of a skein and really easy to split one. I had put off this project until I got a 50% off Joann coupon (why pay full price?) because I needed to split a skein for my sister's Christmas gift. (No, 2008 still but it's the last one.) Second deadline is fast approaching. I visit the fam at the end of the month. Thankfully we're taking a day trip over to New Mexico tomorrow. Pics maybe ... Don't want to commit to too much now :)


Jack and I at Seaside on Mother's Day weekend. He loves the wind but by the time we took this picture he'd already figured out how tasty the sand is. He wants down by the look on his face. (Daddy picked out the Encinitas gear on our last CA trip.)


He was sooo excited when the water came up to us. He was jumping up and down, splashing. SO CUTE!! BHE finally got to see the little guy play on the beach. The previous day he was taking our new surfboard out for a test ride.


Mother's Day breakfast at Lemon Beach Grass Cafe. Yummy fresh squeezed grapefruit juice and a wonderful meal with the family. Jack is sampling water here although the straw is preferred.


This is Jack perched on the new board, ready to sample some more sand.

RAWR! -Jackosaurus

Jack having his first bite of food. Just like the straw, I think he'd rather chomp on the spoon.

More pics sometime soon so I can get up to date. Jack will be 9mos at the end of the month. He and I are going up to Seattle for his cousin's 2nd birthday. Should be a fun time. Half of the family hasn't met Jack yet so its about time. Of course Jack will appreciate the party venue - a sandy beach.

Encinitas 09 - Trip #1

DH is out. BHE is in.

DH will now go by the moniker Best Husband Ever. Because he is.

We were in Encinitas this weekend because I had some work stuff to do in Anaheim. Went into the weekend with a bit of the ickies. Runny, stuffy nose, mild headache, sore throat, nasaly voice - A real nice how-do-you-do. Shake my hand and take your chances. Yep, meetings were great. Regardless, I performed. But that's enough about work.

Breakfast and coffee at Pannikin. I love that coffee. BHE bought some beans for home :) And then surprised me with matching Pannikin mugs. :) :) Awesome coffee and crossword puzzles make me look forward to our mornings.

While I was up in Anaheim ALL DAY on Saturday BHE and Jack motored around everywhere. Foot and stroller that is. The local weekend bazaar, Leucadia Pizzeria, a Hawaiian place he talks about, Encinitas Surfboards. They had a lot of fun. Next time I'll run around with them. But BHE surprised me again with some goodies - Flips (he calls them Slaps) from the Hawaiian store and then he outfitted our little family in Encinitas Surfboards attire :) He and Jack got T-shirts and he picked out a pale blue hoodie with pale purple logos for me. I love it! He knows Mom is always cold and Baby Bear is a hot little bugger.

Encinitas Surfboards logo on my awesome new hoodie.
Jack's excited to get out of the car seat. Well, probably excited just to be held by Mom.

Sushi at Tomiko's capped off my long Saturday. Amazing sushi. He knows where to go and what to order. I resisted the pressure to have "good" sushi in AZ for so long but I finally gave in. After having sushi in Encinitas this one time it will be never until I give in again. The restaurant is next to the Best Western and from searching, they might be kind of related now. That is truly the best Best Western if that's the case. BHE was there the first night Tomiko's opened. He would know.

Jack was great through dinner. But as good as he is he can only take so much of it. (That applies to all of us, doesn't it?) We cut dinner short before it was too late. I nursed and then collapsed into bed. I would have gotten 9 hours of sleep if it weren't for the darn time change.

Sunday morning after coffee we headed to the beach for some pictures. We happened upon a surf competition and it was truly awesome. Little Jack will be out on a surfboard as soon as he can swim.

The tents were for individual schools and teams.
New slaps too. Can you see the gold stickers on the toe? I didn't until I saw this picture. Nerd.

BHE knows how to get great shots of the surf.

Jack was a great little road tripper. The drive over was quiet then he fed and slept all night. The drive back was a bit longer and the sun was in his eyes so he was fussy. As soon as the sun went down he fell asleep and was fine the rest of the way. I'm ready for another trip to Encinitas.

Woo Hoo! It's windy! We stopped at a rest area just outside of LA - where it's still green and not boring brown. Jack loves his bug from Auntie FR.

AHHHH! Look at the size of the bug! Clean it off!
Okay, maybe we were (I was) getting delirious but I had a good laugh. :)

These Days

These Days by Nico is one of my favorites I forget that I love. From a movie that I loooove - The Royal Tenenbaums. (Intriguing bio there on Wikipedia.) The song itself is haunting or wistful or both, mesmerizing. Not exactly a representation of how I feel these days. I just love it :)

I drove by a new LYS today completely by accident! Knit Happens just HAPPENS to be near my salon and PRACTICALLY on the way home from work! It was a beautiful, sunny day today and I should have stopped in but I was running an errand for work and I just feel guilty doing that.

Click on the link to their blog real quick - they have a snapshot of the store and it looks just awesome. There is no way I could hop in real quick on lunch!

A new FO - The froggy bath mitt for my nephew. (Yep, still working on Christmas 08) Fun, easy, quick. I'd knit the hand a couple inches longer if I knit this one again. It's just not a comfortable fit; it feels short.

Notice the hole by the eye? Yeah, it bothers me and there's a few other tear ducts if you will. I just figured that's what happened when you picked up stitches and knit. Welllll maybe when you do it wrong. Didn't find out I was wrong until after I was done. My previous method had me knitting INTO the work so that the stitches on the work were pulled wonky on the needle. What I should have been doing was put the new yarn on the needle by pulling it THROUGH the work. I think this will fix some of my problems.

And here's a little Jack for you. He's 5 months now but these pics are about two weeks apart.



He loves his car, handed down from his cousin. He's walking pretty well, jumping which just looks weird and drooling on everything. He's worse than the dogs before they get fed in the morning.

It looks like they added some bumper stickers - Starbucks, Army - I have to go look for our RunGP stickers ....

This is a race weekend. I'd like to finish a second man cap this weekend maybe. We'll see.