Pink Pineapple Shawl

I finished the Pineapple Shawl! Actually, the pattern I used isn't a shawl pattern...it's a chair back pattern supposed to be done in thread. I'd seen several people use yarn and a larger hook and use it for a shawl and thought it was so pretty. I couldn't find a pattern I liked as much at the time, so that's what I did too. I've since found some actual pineapple shawl patterns that I like and want to try also. This particular pattern can be found HERE, but you'll have to join the Yahoo Group to have access. It's free, and there are tons of nice patterns there.

I used an H hook and made a conscious effort to crochet more tightly than I normally do. Mine measures 52 inches across the top and 33 1/2 inches from top to the bottom tip. It's really big!

(To find the pattern once you've signed in, go to Files and click on that, scroll down to Chair Sets and click on that, then scroll down to PineFanChairSet.pdfPineapple Fan Chair Set - Favorite Designs Book No. 205 - The Canadian SpoolCotton Company - 1944 - with corrections.)

I don't believe I have ever enjoyed crocheting anything as much as this shawl. I loved the way the pattern just flowed and made perfect sense. It was very relaxing and it felt as if I had crocheted the pattern a hundred times before. Do you know what I mean? The only thing was that it kept tricking me into thinking I was nearly finished when I wasn't. I think I said for three days in a row that I was going to be finished that night, only to find that I really wasn't close to finishing at all. You'll see what I mean if you try the pattern yourself. It took me 20-24 hours of crocheting to complete, but I think I'm a slow crocheter.

I'm a little disappointed about the yarn I used. If I had known how much I was going to like the finished shawl, I'd have used a much better quality yarn. I just used plain old Red Heart Super Saver and I feel like it just doesn't do the pattern justice. I think the next one I do I'll use a baby-weight or sport-weight or maybe Caron Simply Soft yarn. I'd use JoAnn's Rainbow Boucle, but I'm afraid the pretty pattern would get lost in the colors. I learned that lesson the hard way before. If you want the pattern to show up, and you definitely do for this one, use one solid color.

It's been washed on the gentle cycle in cold water and then dried for about five minutes in the dryer, and then I blocked it on a quilt on my dining room table.

Pictures & Updates

Double Chocolate Banana Bread

(Very good and highly recommended...Recipe HERE. It's best after sitting overnight.)

Beef & Chicken Kabobs

Those cherry tomatoes were so good after grilling them! I should have used more.

The Jim Shore Chihuahua my sister bought me.

I put it on top of the box with Little Boy's ashes in it. It's perfect! Thank you so much, Patsy! My mother has a GIANT Jim Shore Cat in her living room that is just gorgeous. I love it.

The front door (from the inside) of the Craig Heard House we toured earlier in the week. I just love those "curtains" on the windows.

Nearly all of the rooms had these big stained glass windows that were just beautiful. They are all original to the house.

What else? Nothing. I'm going back to crochet some more on my pineapple shawl while Barnaby watches some dumb movie.

Oh! I almost forgot. We did go see the Star Trek movie while my sister was here. It was good, but it wasn't great like I expected. Hmpf. I think part of it might have been that I hadn't gotten the steroids or the pain meds at that point and my neck was distracting me, plus I hadn't slept in a couple of nights.

THANK GOODNESS it has been feeling okay the last couple of days. I've not taken any pain meds because the steroids and muscle relaxers seem to be doing the trick for now. Hopefully it will stay that way if I'm careful not to do anything stupid like pick up one of the dogs or lift anything else heavy.

Did I update you on my throat/voice thing after the ENT appointment? Gawd, I can't even remember just from yesterday! I'll have to go back and check. Please stand by...

Okay, I did not. Here's the update:

The bigger granuloma was smaller, but the smaller one had grown a bit. He wasn’t surprised about that because of the breathing tube he put in during surgery last week. He figured it would probably irritate both of them and they'd both be bigger right now. So the shrinkage of the big one is a very good thing, and the other one will probably start slowly shrinking over time. He thinks it will take six months or longer for them to be gone. I have another appointment in a month to check their progress.

I may get another Botox injection in three months, depending on how they look then. At that point if they're smaller but not gone, he'd only inject one side of my vocal cords instead of both and my voice won't disappear completely as it is now. He said I could do that as an office procedure and not have to be put to sleep. But we'll cross that bridge if we come to it.

SO IT'S ALL GOOD NEWS...Yea! I'm happy.

Jeez, I sound manic, don't I? Boo-hoo one day, and yee-haw the next. Y'all are very sweet to love me anyway. ;)

PineappleShawlPurseSteroidsENT...

I've been working on a pineapple shawl the last couple of evenings. It's coming along nicely and I'm really enjoying it. I can hardly wait to finish it and show you. It'll probably take me 2-3 more evenings to finish. Maybe I'll get some extra hours to work on it later this afternoon. Right now I have nothing to keep me from it.

In the meantime, here's a super-cute crochet purse pattern for you. I'm bookmarking the link because I want to make it sometime when I'm in the mood for something different. I think I'd probably use clear acrylic handles on it to keep it more dressy-looking. And I think it would be pretty made in white with different colored pastel ruffles, don't you? Hmmm. There are so many possibilities.

I can tell the steroids have kicked-in. My face was hot and red all day yesterday and I feel like I have lots more energy today than normal. Go steroids and do your thang!

I have a follow-up with the ENT later this morning. I'll probably stop at Starbucks and pop into Walmart on my way home. Even though I have tons of yarn, Walmart has some I want to buy to make more pineapple shawls with. A girl can never have enough yarn apparently.

It seems I can never have enough time to get myself dolled-up to leave the house lately either. I'd better go get in the bath and start the process so I can leave on time for my appointment. I have several pictures to post, but that will have to wait until later. Oh yeah, and I have to throw the afghan for the doc in the washer & dryer before I leave too. I really have to get moving.

You guys have a loverly day!

Go Ahead and Roll Your Eyes...

I'm going to tell y'all what's been going on and the main reason I haven't been keeping up here as much as I usually do. Quite frankly, I've been too embarassed to tell anyone (except my husband) about yet another medical woe. I feel like all I do is complain about one thing or another hurting me, and I think everybody thinks I'm a hypochondriac and making stuff up for attention or something. I SWEAR I'M NOT. I promise you, the last thing I want is another surgery, but what am I supposed to do?

So here it is all laid out...

I've either screwed up the cervical fusion I had last December, or the disk just above that one has now herniated. It's been causing me considerable discomfort. The disk above the one I just had fixed was slightly herniated in the MRI pictures back in December, but now I fear it has herniated even more and is pressing on my spinal nerve causing pain in my left shoulder and left-upper neck. The pain is in a different location than it was at the end of last year so that's why I feel like it's probably a different disk than before.

I just started a round of steroids yesterday to see if it will help calm things down a little. I also got some pain meds this time so hopefully they will help things too. Last time I didn't want or need pain meds because I just didn't have that much pain. It was more annoying than anything. This time the pain is what I consider severe. It's all my brain will let me focus on.

I do have some good news...my throat is not spasming or hurting at all since the injections last week. My voice is just a whisper, but that doesn't matter to me one bit as long as it doesn't hurt. I'll whisper the rest of my life if I have to! I think it's more annoying to other people than it is me.

Okay, whatever. So there you go. That's what's happening. And I feel like a big ol' loser for having another medical issue I'm whining about. I'm embarassed. I'm worried. I'm scared.

There's no need to comment. I know who loves me, and I'm not looking for sympathy over this. I'm just looking to get it down on paper, so to speak, and out of my head.

Bye.

I was just looking on the Internet at the house we're touring today. LOOK how neat!

Purple Hexagon

The finished purple hexagon. I don't know why these hexagons don't photograph better, but they just don't look as good in pictures as they do in person...at least the two I've seen in person don't. Anyway, it's a quick & easy pattern and makes a great gift. You don't have to pay too much attention while crocheting it and can watch TV or chat or whatever. That's my kind of pattern! This is the first afghan I've made with anything other than Red Heart yarn, and it's so soft. I think I mentioned before that I used Hobby Lobby's I Love This Yarn for it.

I started three different shawl patterns last night and ripped them all out. I just wasn't happy with the way any of them looked. I think it was the Homespun yarn I was trying to use. It kept getting all tangled on my hook and pissing me off. I finally gave up and decided I don't have enough time to get anything done for nursie. She'll just have to wait for another time or be happy with my smiling, no-wrinkles face! She's actually a PA and is the one who did the Botox injections in my forehead.

I can see the Botox is working in my face now. I can raise my eyebrows, but everything above that stays in place and there are NO WRINKLES! Yea! I can't really tell anything with the crows feet around my eyes. I'm not sure how that's supposed to work because when I smile, it's my cheeks that raise up and cause the wrinkles around my eyes. That still looks the same. And I don't think she even put any between my eyebrows because that looks the same too. I'll have to ask when I go back on Friday.

It just started thundering and raining and carrying on outside. Guess I better shut down my computer. I'd hate to blow it up.

All the Goings-On

I know I've been neglecting my journal and not updating like I normally do. There's just more than normal going on around here with my sister here visiting.

I finished the purple Hexagon Afghan last night. I'll take a picture later today and post it. Instead of another afghan for Jennifer (the nurse), I've decided to make a shawl out of the Homespun yarn that Carol sent me. I'm going to use THIS pattern. Supposedly it works up quickly, and someone over at Crochetville claimed to have made two in one day. We'll see. Since I'm using a thicker yarn and a bigger hook, it'll look quite a bit different from the picture. Well, here. Let me show you...


It'll look more like this one than the picture on the pattern.


I'm waiting for my mom and sisters to come pick me up to go to Hobby Lobby. I must stay away from the yarn, but do you think I will? No, me neither.


Then when I get home, I must work for awhile since I'm going to be goofing on Tuesday and Wednesday when my sister will be staying at my house. We're taking a house tour tomorrow afternoon through an big Victorian-type house that's been restored and all decked-out. Hopefully they'll let us take pictures so I can share some with you.


Wednesday we are going to see the Star Trek movie for sure. Other than that, I don't know yet.


We had our annual Memorial Day Weekend Family Reunion picnic on Saturday. My sister brought the coolest ice chest-type thingy with watermelon slices in it. I've got to remember to ask her where she got it. It was WAY cool, and I must have one. (Since I go to so many picnics and get outside in the heat so much.) Let me see if I can find one on the innernets right quick so you can see what I'm talking about...


Here it is!

Coleman Party Stacker Cooler

It's a great smaller-size cooler, and it was perfect for the watermelon. She had the bottom filled with iced and then stacks of watermelon slices on top. I like it because it's not so deep that you have to go digging through a bunch of ice and stuff to find what you want. I just called her and she told me she got hers at Tom Thumb (a grocery store). There's one right next door to Hobby Lobby so I'm going to get me one while we're there.

We had really great weather for the picnic this year. It wasn't hot at all and it didn't rain as was forecast. There was a nice, cool breeze a-blowin' and I don't think I sweat a drop.

There they are...gotta run!

Surgery Picture & Another New Project

*Warning Will Robinson* Don't scroll down to the second picture if you are squeamish...is that a word? It's not too awful-bad, but I thought I'd warn you anway.

This is the hexogonal afghan I'm making two of as fast as I can. I want to give one to my surgeon and one to his nurse when I go back for my post-op on the 29th. You'll see them both when they're finished. I'm using Hobby Lobby ILTY for both and an N hook. The pattern is HERE.

My vocal cords & one small granuloma (left) and one GARGANTUAN one (right, duh). (He must be the one eating all those Moon Pies.) The vocal cords are the lighter-colored things behind and above them. They close and vibrate when you speak making the sound of your voice. You can see how those two globular things might get in the way of that distorting the sound.

The doctor did not remove either of the granulomas. He didn't want to remove the small one because they have a tendency to just grow back even larger. He didn't remove the big one because the base of it covers too wide of an area. You can see where he drew on the picture showing how big of an area would have to be excised to get it out. He just gave me a steroid injection and also injected Botox into the largest muscle that controls the vocal cords. It will take 48 hours from the surgery for the full effect of the Botox on my voice & the spasms.

I woke up this morning with a kind of squeaky-high, weak voice. Tomorrow it should be even weaker. That will keep my vocal cords from slamming together and irritating those granulomas, which is making them grow. I will not know how effective any of this was for 6-8 months. Of course he'll do periodic checks to see if they are shrinking.

The freezing of that muscle will also stop the spasms, which also cause the vocal cords to slam together. I've only had two since surgery, and hopefully by tomorrow I won't have any.

I did get the leftover Botox put in my forehead and around my eyes. I can't tell any difference there yet. Supposedly I won't for several days.

Okay, enough of that. Time to make dinner.

Surgery Over

All went well and I am home. I'm going to sleep. Bye.

Oh, Wow...

Oh my gosh, y'all! I am so excited and overwhelmed and choked-up right now! I opened the front door to go get the mail and there was a box sitting on my front porch. Just look at all the great stuff someone sent me in the mail!


Five skeins of Lion Brand Homespun yarn, Five crochet pattern books, AND...

This beautiful, huge, pink afghan that doubles as a shawl when you fold it in half! This picture just does not do it justice. It's really beautiful! I'm so touched by the generosity of it all.

You made me cry, Carol! Nobody has ever made me an afghan before. I absolutely love everything!

The Beginning

This is the first 9 rows.

I'm lovin' it!

The Shawl & The Yarn

This is really a boring post for someone who's not a crocheter, so you have my permission to skip to the bottom paragraph if you're not interested.

I'm going to spoil it a little bit by showing you the yarn Barnaby got me yesterday. Now you know the color, but you haven't seen it all worked up so there'll still be a little bit of a surprise left.

I got through row 9 as of last night. It's not an easy pattern to follow. You really have to pay attention to the instructions and pictures. I waded through a bunch of threads on the forum yesterday looking for tips and hints and revisions. I put the ones I thought would be most helpful into a Word document, so if anybody wants the instructions with the pictures and illustrations AND all the tips, let me know and I'll send them to you. There were also mistakes (at least I think so) that I came across, but fortunately I knew it and just did what I thought was right. A lot of people said the same thing about the pattern.

Okay, about the yarn...It's JoAnn's Rainbow Sensations Boucle in Dark Blue. Make sure you go online and print a coupon if you buy your yarn there! The yarn was regularly $8.99 per 11-oz skein at JoAnn's, but you can print a 40% off coupon and get it for $5.84. AND YOU ONLY NEED ONE to make the shawl! Cheap! They do sell it online if you want to buy it that way, but they didn't have very many of the prettier colors to choose from.

This yarn is very difficult to work with and takes some practice and patience. It's just a very thin strand of thread with a bunch of curly stuff all over it. The pattern calls for you to use a Size N hook, but I ended up pulling mine out and starting over with a K Hook and I thought it made it easier. In the beginning, it felt like I just had a big wad of crappy yarn with no pattern or rhyme or reason to it. But just hang in there and it starts to take shape after a few rows.

Beansie had mentioned she'd like to do one of these shawls as a crochet-along sometime. I definitely want to make more than one of these so I'm in whenever y'all are ready!

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Off-Topic Note: I bawled my eyes out several times during the Farrah documentary last night. I cry so easily! Don't tell anyone, but I cry when I watch the Price is Right and somebody wins something big! I also cry at the store when I read greeting cards. And I nearly always get choked up during the National Anthem. I'm sensitive and empathetic to a fault. I think it's a disorder of some kind, ya think? I love you, man! Boo-hoo-hoo...

Woo-Hoo! It's Friday!

I got up at 8:15 this morning and immediately had a headache and neck/shoulder ache. I've been fighting it exactly a week today when I went out to the garage to meet Barnaby when he got home from work. When I raised my arms to hug him, a got a huge charlie horse cramp in the muscle on top of my left shoulder and up my neck. Yeee-ouch! I swear. I'm the only person on earth that can get injured just giving a hug! How dumb.

So after I got up and fed the dogs this morning, I took some Tylenol and Ibuprofen and went back to bed and slept until 1:00. When I got up, I felt much better and the headache was gone.

I'm going to be making a Seraphina Shawl over the next couple of weeks. The pattern for the shawl is HERE with detailed instructions with pictures. That's a horrible picture of the shawl with that pattern. Below are a few in different colors so you can actually see what it's going to look like. I'm not showing one in the color I'm doing mine in because when I post mine, I want it to be something you haven't seen. Okay, you've seen it but not in MY color.

Aren't they pretty? I just love the way that particular yarn makes these look. Barnaby was sweet enough this morning to go get me some at JoAnn's and bring it home so I could get it started today. He spoils me rotten, and he's all mine.

Now that I've blabbed all about here, I can't wimp out and not make it because it's too complicated. Wish me luck.

I'm definitely going to be watching Farrah's Documentary tonight on NBC at 8:00 PM Central. I know I'm going to cry and I hate crying, but I really want to see this!

I also want to go see the new Star Trek movie, and I rarely ever want to go to the movies. What's up with that? I'm just wild and crazy, aren't I? I'm really steppin' out there and being radical! Well, for me anyway.

That is all.

Tote #2

This is Peaches & Cream 100% Cotton in Lilac Umbre

I just wanted to pop in right quick and make an entry. I've got tons of work to do! We had storms like crazy this morning and lost power. Thank goodness I wasn't working yet and didn't lose anything. But that's all over, and it looks like the sun is going to shine now.

Here's a picture of the beginnings of my second tote bag. As of right now, there are three of us crocheting the tote. Beansie and Faith are in for sure, and Cupy hasn't decided yet.

If you'd like to join us, we'd love to have you. The more, the merrier! HERE is the free pattern for the tote bag again in case you missed it. It's not difficult at all...it just takes time.

Bye!

Do you know why it takes me FOREVER to do things now? It's because I do things like this:

I'm doing laundry today, as I already told you. I take the clothes out of the dryer when the buzzer goes off and proceed to hang them up and fold them. When I get finished with that, I turn on the dryer to about 40 minutes to dry the next load. Forty minutes later, the buzzer goes off just as I'm about to eat lunch, so I extend the time for 10 more minutes while I eat so my clothes don't get all wrinkled. When the buzzer goes off and I go in there to retrieve the clothes so I can fold them, I open the dryer door and THE DRYER IS EMPTY! I forgot to take the clothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer before I started it. DOH! Crap. I'm an airhead. Why don't I just open the window and throw my money out there?

Laundry Day

Laundry Day

I've got 4 BIG loads of laundry to do today. I've not been keeping up with it and it's gotten out of hand. Time to buckle down and just do it!

Barnaby went back to work today. I bet he ends up coming home, though, because he really didn't feel good yesterday. He had whatever it was a lot worse than I did.

The vet appointment for Fletch, Eli, and Sammi went well. All the dogs are healthy with no bugs or viruses or anything.

I think I need to delay my throat surgery a couple of weeks at least. There's a lot going to be going on around here the next two weeks, and between those things and work, I just need to wait.

Let's see...what else? I believe that's it. I'm off to do laundry and drink lots of coffee!

Lazy Tuesday

Fletcher has claimed the desk chair as his own. He's in it most of the time now instead of in a dog bed or on the couch like the others.

Eli sleeping on Daddy's lap. He's all legs and feet. Eli not Barnaby. Hee.

Our lunch today (Barnaby caught the sickness I had last week and stayed home from work again today.) Recipe below.

I'm taking Fletcher, Sammi, and Eli to the vet this afternoon for shots and check-ups. That should be an adventure trying to wrangle all three of them up there and back. I'm certainly not going to go to separate appointments for them though. Fun-fun!

I found this on allrecipes.com, but the recipe below is the recipe I altered after reading all the reviews.

Amish Yumazuti

1 pound ground beef, browned
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
12 oz package uncooked egg noodles
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
¾ cup water
Salt & Pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Place noodles in a pot of lightly salted boiling water. Cook until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Cook the onion and garlic in a skillet with 1 Tbsp olive oil until soft. Add ground beef and salt & pepper in a skillet over medium heat until meat is darkly browned. (Don’t stir until it’s really brown. This makes the flavor really come thru.) Drain off excess grease. Place soups into a medium bowl and dilute with ¾ cup water to thin it out a little.

Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish. Place half of the browned beef mixture in the bottom of the dish. Cover with half of the noodles, then half of the tomatoes. Spoon half of the cream of chicken soup over the tomatoes. Sprinkle with ½ cup of the shredded cheese. Repeat layers, and bake covered with foil for 45 minutes in the preheated oven or until heated through and bubbly. Remove the foil, add the remaining cheese to the top and bake uncovered for another 5 minutes or until the cheese melts. Let stand for 10 minutes to set before serving.

Goodbye.

*Update: We just ate lunch, and this casserole could not have been any better...delicious!

The Game Plan

He's going to take the largest of the two granulomas out next Wednesday, May 20th, and do the Botox injection into that muscle around the vocal cords. But if he gets in there and finds that the base of the granuloma is too large, he won't take it out because it would do too much damage to the vocal cord. The smaller one he wants to leave alone because a lot of times when you remove them, they come back even larger. Should be an easy recovery with no restrictions on speaking.

The Botox will take 24-48 hours to take effect and weaken the muscle around the vocal cord that is spasming. At that point I'll notice that my voice gets weaker and weaker, but that is good because it's keeping the vocal cords from slamming together, which is what is causing the granulomas. It should take between 3-6 months for the small granuloma to go away if its going to. He said the likelihood of the granulomas going away on their own without doing anything is slim.

He is putting the leftover Botox in my forehead and between my eyebrows! For free! Yea! So I will basically be frozen from the vocal cords up. Ha-ha-ha! That was a joke. But the part about him putting the Botox in my forehead & between my eyebrows wasn't a joke. He really is going to do that. Please keep up, people.

That's all that's news. See ya.

Finally, the Tote!

I thought I was nearly finished with this last night, but I've been working on it non-stop since 8:00 this morning! I'm just a bad seamstress. I cannot sew to save my soul. But after much cussing and throwing things and ripping out and starting over, I present to you the Tote Bag! AND, just to show it that it didn't beat me, I'm making another one. So there! Except for the sewing part, it was really fun to make. And I think now that I've made one, the sewing the second one won't be as much of an ordeal.

I used cotton yarn for the main color and acrylic for the trim and straps. The cotton yarn I originally bought to do the trim with just didn't look good so I went with some acrylic yarn I had in my stash.


I cheated a little in the pictures. The straps aren't actually sewn on yet. I want to go get some ribbon to sew onto the backside of them so they aren't so stretchy. That's a little trick that Beansie told me about, along with a few other tricks like splitting the 4-ply yarn and using that to do all the sewing. It worked like a charm!

Click on that link and go see her tote bag too! She and I had a little crochet along and had fun emailing back and forth all week. Her tote turned out beautiful, especially with her flower embellishments. I plan on adding some to mine too. I'll probably work on those while my mom sews the lining in.

Now I've got to go clean up and head on out to Hobby Lobby for that ribbon. My whole day is nearly shot and I'm still in my jammies!

It's Friday

Crochet Journal

I don't know why I'm dragging my feet on getting this tote finished. I just keep looking at it and walking on by. I did get a lot of little things done today since I didn't sit down and crochet. I ran some errands, got the checking account & budget balanced finally (I was three months behind! Shh!), paid a few bills, straightened up the house, chatted with my neighbor about her break-in last week -- or was it the week before? Whatever. Anyway, I'm sure I'll get to that tote bag this weekend. I was way ahead of Beansie, and now she's run off and left me because I'm dawdling.

So, yeah, a crochet journal. I got this idea from Bev who mentioned that she might do something like this to get her crochet stuff in order. Now you can see how big of a dork I am. I typed out all my projects with the start date, yarn colors/types, hook size, pattern location, etc. Since I tend to have 14 things going at once, I always forget what size hook I was using or whatever. Now I'll have it all written down. I'm sure I'll start handwriting it at some point, but it was just easier to get started this way. I can type a lot faster than I write. I guess I could be a REALLY big dork and make a crochet scrapbook and get all fancy-pants with it, but I'm really not into that. Scrapbooking just doesn't do it for me.

Okay, I'm even boring myself now. Y'all have a great weekend. TGIF!

My Lunch, My Throat, Oh My

That's the dumbest title ever. Sue me.

Who knows what this is?

That's right. It's a big batch of mushed-up love. It's two avocados (because they were small, I used two) and a can of Great Northern Beans (or any white beans) all mashed together, some lemon juice, and some garlic powder. I didn't add salt because the Lime & Salt tortilla chips I'm going to dip in it are really salty.

The plate is really cute. Somebody left it at my house after a poker party and said I could have it because somebody had left it at their house. The part that is covered with the mushed-up love is striped in many colors and says "Love" in the middle. I thought it was appropriate for this recipe.

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Throat Update: I've decided I can't sit around anymore and expect this to go away on its own. It's only getting worse and the granulomas are getting bigger. I made an appointment with another ENT doctor today. He's the one who can do the Botox injections into my larnyx to stop the spasms so that the granulomas can have a chance to heal. That's the theory anyway. If they're going to go away on their own, I have to stop that spasming. My insurance will pay for the Botox injections. I wonder if he'll shoot what's left in the bottle into my face? Hee-hee. My appointment is on Monday afternoon. I don't know if he'll do the injections in his office that day or if I'll have to do it as outpatient surgery another day. Stay tuned.

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I've wasted the whole morning away surfing blogs. Sometimes a girl's gotta surf, ya know? Now I'm going to get up and get busy finishing up that tote bag. Are y'all sick of hearing about it yet?

Have a great day!

Pieces & Parts & Pigs

The pieces and parts I have done on the tote bag.

That biggest piece is stacked with the front and back panels of the tote and the front and back pockets, and there's one strap there that's still in progress. I'm so close to finishing I can taste it. Woo-hoo...crochet geek heaven.


I think I need to go buy a new button. That one laying there may be too light. You can't see it very well in the picture, but it's wooden. I'll have to wait and see. The very last thing I'll do is sew that on. I'm pretty sure it will be done by Friday or before.

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I don't know why I haven't felt like blogging much lately. It seems like my mind is just blank or I'm thinking too much to put anything rational or remotely interesting down on paper. And then besides that, my dogs are being heathens and hoodlums getting into everything they're not supposed to. It's probably because they haven't been outside much for a week because it's been raining every day.


All I know for sure is I'm minus two pairs of shoes, one sports bra, two pairs of underwear (eww...they love my underwear!), two checks from clients and a deposit slip, one boot that belonged to Barnaby, a pair of his house shoes, and I don't remember what all else. They did all that stuff in ONE DAY! It's a good thing I love those brats, or they'd be in the clink at the animal shelter.


Okay, here comes the "Pig" part of the title...



I have a confession to make...


I ate six Moon Pies yesterday. There, I said it. At least it was the singles and not the double-deckers. They are evil.



Supposedly there are peanut butter Moon Pies now, but I've never seen them. Good thing. I love you, evil Moon Pies!

Uh, Um, Hmmm...

I have writer's block. I'm just sitting here staring at the screen.

Rain & Stuff

Abbey will never make a good super model. She was not very cooperative while modelling the burka, I mean washcloth, I made this morning. It would have been funnier if she looked at the camera, but she refused. The old girl is not in the mood these days to put up with much of anything except belly rubs. Her 12th birthday is on Mother's Day next Sunday. That's very old for a boxer.

I emptied our rain gauge on Friday afternoon of 2 inches of rain. This morning there were 3 more inches and Barnaby snapped this picture. I love the rain. Barnaby, me, and all the dogs piled up in the bed yesterday afternoon at 3:00 and listened to another line of thunderstorms roll through. It was a lovely couple of hours.

Three o'clock coffee waited until 5:00 yesterday while we napped and listened to the rain. Speaking of 3:00 Coffee, The Cinnabun Cake turned out great, even after messing up on the ingredients. I may mess it up every time I make it.

I made a baked bean dip yesterday to eat during last night's race. I took pictures and everything for y'all, but they mysteriously disappeared from my camera. Hmpf. I'll try again when we reheat it later tonight. Because I know you are dissappointed that you didn't get to see a picture of bean dip! Bean dip pictures are all the rage, haven't you heard?

I'm just not very funny today. I hate it when that happens. I'm leaving you now to go color my hair. Have a good Sunday.

The Scallop Purse

The Scallop Purse

Here's another picture of it in ONE COLOR. I think this is the prettiest, but I'm partial to that color lately. That's the same color I'm doing the tote in. My scallop purse is made with Red Heart yarn in Light Raspberry and I don't know the name of the variegated one but it's Red Heart also. I used these colors to use up the variegated one, and I only had about 5 feet left. I really wanted to use more of it in the scallops, but I was afraid I was going to run out before I was finished.

You'll see that the pattern gives you an option for crocheted straps or wooden handles. I like options. Don't fence me in! But also don't give me too many or I won't be able to decide. Crazy people are like that. I decided to go with the crocheted straps. My mom will add a lining in the next week or so, and I'll let you see it when it's done.

As usual on Fridays, I wanted to make a goodie for the weekend. The first place I looked for an idea, I found THIS RECIPE. I didn't want to make a big 9 x 13 pan just for two people, so I decided to halve the recipe and make it in a 9 x 9 pan, which always confuses me, and about half-way through adding ingredients, I forget that I'm suppose to be halving everything. And that's exactly what happened this time too. It didn't even dawn on me that I'd done anything wrong until it was already in the oven.

Looks good! I have to wait for Barnaby though.

I measured the cake ingredients correctly. It's when I got to the butter, sugar, and cinnamon swirl part that I screwed up. I used 1 stick of butter and the full amount of everything else. Thank goodness I didn't use 2 sticks of butter, because I think that would have ruined it for sure. I think this way it will be okay, just a little sweeter and cinnamonier than the original.

It's so fun in the kitchen when you get old and insane. You young'uns just wait.

I haven't been working on my tote bag for the last couple of days. Yesterday I was unconscious most of the day because my head was full of snot from this dang cold and felt like it could explode any minute. Today I feel better. I found some old prescription medicine I had for colds/sinus stuff, and it's drying me up really well so I don't feel so miserable.

ANYWAY, I digress. Instead of working on the tote bag, I've been working on a purse I started the night before I got the pattern for the tote. I'm waiting for Beansie to get her yarn and catch up a little before I proceed with the tote. I should be finished with this purse this evening. I really like it, and I can't wait to show it to you and give you the link for the pattern. It works up really quickly.