Mad Housewife

Two reasons to never leave the wine choice to my husband:

Bwa-ha-ha!  Fancy!  But the one person that drank wine said it was actually really good.  I don’t think she was just being nice either.  Can you read the name?  Mad Housewife Chardonnay.  Hee-hee.

Here’s the food we had. The taco dip (good recipe given in my prior entry), meat & cheese tray from Sam’s Club, crackers, snack mix, and the star of the show: The Chocolate Heath Caramel Cake.  Oh my, that was really good cake!  (Recipe also given in my prior entry)

I mean REALLY GOOD, and it was EASY to boot!  YUM.

The party went well, except we didn’t finish playing until 1:00 AM.  I’m still trying to recover, and I didn’t drink a thing except water.  After everybody left, I did the dishes and cleaned everything up, and then I couldn’t get to sleep until after 5:00 AM. 

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I didn’t do a lot of crocheting this weekend, but I did make these two Granny Mandalas.  It maybe took me 2 hours to make the larger one and 1 hour to make the smaller one.  The blue one is prettier in person than it’s showing in the picture.

My sister sent me this picture yesterday.  It’s the Valentine Granny Blanket and pillow that I made for her a year or two ago.  She keeps it on her granddaughter’s bed.  I just love that bed.

I gots nuthin’ else.

Bye!

My Dirty Secret

You’ll have to wait for my dirty secret.  First I’m going to show you what I’ve been making today…

 

Chocolate Heath Caramel Cake

1 pkg. chocolate cake mix
1 can sweetened condensed milk
Caramel ice cream topping
1 (8 oz.) container Cool Whip

4-5 Health or Skor bars, chopped up

Bake cake according to package directions for a 9×13 inch pan; cool for about 5 minutes. Using the handle of a wooden spoon, poke holes into the cake. Let the cake cool for a little while. Slowly pour sweetened condensed milk over the cake, letting it sink into the holes; then drizzle some of the caramel over the top of the cake. Let cake cool completely (I usually cover it and put it in the fridge for a while). Top cake with Cool Whip. Decorate the top of the cake with candy bar chunks and swirls of caramel topping. Refrigerate.

Taco Dip

8 oz cream cheese

8 oz sour cream

16 oz jar mild salsa

1 packet taco seasoning

2 cups iceberg lettuce

2 large tomatoes, diced

1 cup cheese

2.25 oz black olives

Combine cream cheese, sour cream, salsa, and taco seasoning and mix well with an electric mixer. Spread on the bottom of a large shallow glass dish. Top with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, shredded cheese, and black olives. Serve with baked tortilla chips.  (This was originally a “light” recipe using all reduced fat ingredients.)

I got both recipes from Pinterest.  You can see the Website names on the photos.

We’re having a couples poker night at our house tomorrow night.  That’s the reason for all the food preparation today.

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Okay, so here’s the secret…

I’m NASTY!

It’s not a secret anymore, is it???  I may have let it go a little too long between cleanings, ya think?

GROSS!

So I found some instructions (Pinterest again) on how to clean your oven door and glass.  It said to make a paste of baking soda and water, smear it all over the inside of the door, and let it sit for 15-30 minutes…

I did as instructed like a good girl.  Then I scrubbed it with a scrubber brush and made a BIG NASTY MESS, wiped it all off…

AND…

It really didn’t work.  You can see how dirty it still is.  It did get a lot of the gunk off, but not nearly all of it.  After this I read the comments and it didn’t work for most of the other people either.  Well, crap.  Now what?

Note to self:

Scrubbing Bubbles will NOT clean your oven.

Yeah, that was my bright idea.

Like I was going to wipe it off and my oven would be sparkling clean.  Guess what?  It didn’t take one more spec off.  I could have gotten out the Comet and tried that.  That would have been my next bright idea, and it might have worked.  But instead, I said SCA-REW THIS!  And left it like it was.  At least it’s cleaner than it was yesterday!

Love y’all for your nice comments about my baby dress pattern-writing attempt.  You’re so sweet.  But I’m still not going to mess with it anymore.  EVER.

I’m outta here!

A Designer I Am NOT

Let’s all just forget about the little comment I made the other day about designing my own dress pattern, shall we?  I SUCK AT IT!  It’s too much.  I get confused.  I doubt myself.  I feel pressure.  I get confused again.  BLEH!  Just forget I ever said anything, okay?

Here is a picture of the beginning of the dress I was attempting to design.  I’ve crocheted and ripped out the skirt part countless times trying to use just the right stitch and put just the right amount of flare in the skirt.  I wasn’t going to even show you this picture because I was thinking someone might “steal” my idea.  HA!  I don’t care!  Steal it!  Go ahead!  I’m finished with it!  You can have the designing and all the headaches that go with it.

I’m going to go crochet on my blanket now, relax, and forget all this bullshit designing stuff.

WHEW!

I feel better all ready!

Hippy Dress!

How cute is this??!

I’ve been making this dress over the past few days testing the pattern for Ellen at WiLdAbOuTCoLoR.  She now has the pattern available in her Craftsy Shop HERE.  It was so much fun to make with all the colors.  You’ll see that she used different colors for her dresses, and she also used a different yarn.  I wish I could put this dress on and wear it!  Hee-hee.  Below is the info for the dress I made.

Pattern:  Hippy Baby Dress 

Yarn:  I Love This Yarn (Hobby Lobby)

Hook:  H

Size:  I made the Toddler size, but there are also instructions included in the pattern for a baby size dress.

Note:  Since I used a heavier worsted yarn than the pattern called for, I used a smaller hook also.  It still came out 1.5 inches bigger (10.5 inches across the chest).  The baby size dress came out 9.5 inches across the chest using this yarn and hook size.  If you use Caron Simply Soft as she did, both dresses come out one inch smaller across the chest.  Also, I extended the skirt to 20 rows since I made a bigger size and also because the color pattern I used needed another couple of rows so the black was evenly spaced.  I can also picture this dress using different colors of pinks and white.  It wouldn’t be as “hippy” looking, but it would be so cute and girlie.  I may make another one soon using those colors.  I just love making baby dresses!  They are so much fun.

Speaking of making baby dresses, after testing this pattern for Ellen, she has inspired me to try my hand at designing a dress pattern too.  I worked on it most of the day yesterday, crocheting, ripping out, crocheting, ripping out.  It takes a lot of work.  At least it does for my poor little brain!  Hopefully I can finish it and get it posted here soon.  That means I’ll have to reopen my Etsy shop too!

Thank you, Ellen, for allowing me to test your pattern.  I had a blast with it!

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I have to get to work.

See ya!

Howdy

This really is the best white bread recipe I’ve found for my bread machine.  It holds together well for slicing and is great toasted.

White Bread

1 cup water

1 large egg, beaten

2 Tbsp dry milk powder

1/4 cup white sugar

2 Tbsp oil

1 1/2 tsp salt

3 cups flour

1 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

Add all ingredients to your machine according to manufacturer’s directions.  I set mine on light crust and I still remove it about five minutes early.

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Several of you asked where I got the little patch I used on the bomber jacket.  I got it at Hobby Lobby.  They are not in the sewing section with the plain patches.  You will find them separate from those over in the section near the beads where they have supplies to decorate totes and hats, etc.  They had a whole selection of military-looking patches.  I also bought the one above.  They had airplanes, stripes for the sleeves, American flags, etc.  Wal-Mart does not have them.

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Somebody needs a bath and a haircut.  He has an appointment with the mobile groomer on Wednesday.  Look at those hairy, dirty feet.

The three wise men guarding the front door.

Ollie is doing great.

Thanks for asking!

Bomber Jacket

Better late than never!

Pattern:  Hexagon Baby Sweater

Yarn:  I Love This Yarn (Hobby Lobby)

Hook Size:  H

Trim pattern and inspiration:  Petunia Pill

Project Happiness Factor:  OFF THE CHART!

This took more time and effort than I expected, but I enjoyed every minute of it!  If you follow the link to Petunia Pill above, the photo of her Bomber Jacket shows the trim pattern much better.  My iPhone camera would not photograph that color without blurring it.  I need to stop being so lazy and find my regular camera for photos of my crochet.

Guess what I woke up with this morning?

No, it wasn’t Josh, sillies!

But YUM.

He’s a hunk of a man, isn’t he?

Anyway…where was I?  I’m all flustered now.

Oh yes, what I woke up with…

 

GAH!  It’s ruining my whole day.

See ya.

Highfalutin Farm

We visited a REAL farm yesterday to buy some fresh eggs and milk.

The first thing we saw when we pulled up to the little store was a sign that said, “Out of milk until further notice.”  Huh?  A diary farm with no milk?  Get to milkin’ you lazy-ass farmer!  What kind of place are you running here?

And then the things they did have were expensive.  We bought some eggs ($5 per dozen!), some butter ($6), and some hot pepper cheese ($7).  (The carton the eggs were in is from Whole Foods, but the eggs were fresh from the farm.)  We had some eggs for supper last night and they were more flavorful than the kind we buy at the store, but they weren’t $5-per-dozen good!  The butter tastes like butter, and we haven’t tried the cheese yet.  It was a fun little adventure even though we won’t be going back and paying those prices.

On the way there, we saw a momma duck and her little ducklings crossing two very busy streets.  One little baby duck could not make it up the curb from the street, and momma duck went back and got him.  It was so cute. 

I didn’t really get a good picture of them, but I wanted to show you anyway.

Here are the black and white votive covers I made a couple of days ago.  I made the red one a long time back.  These are very fun to make and make great little gifts.  The pattern link is in my previous post.

Linda asked me about the pattern I am using for the throw pictured in my previous post.  The free pattern is HERE.  It’s a fun pattern and a very easy one-row repeat that is mindless.  One note about this pattern:  Your starting chain really shrinks up quite a bit after you get the first row done, so make your chain AT LEAST 1/3 longer than you want it when you start.  I started with a chain of 250-ish and it’s not near as wide as I wanted it.  It makes a really pretty pattern.  I made a baby blanket for a shower gift using this pattern a few years ago…

Here it is.  I put a pretty white ruffle around it and dressed it up a bit since it was for a baby girl.  I used I Love This Yarn from Hobby Lobby for it.  It was so soft and squishy.

I’ve just about finished another project to show you.  I have to put the finishing touches on it later today and then I’ll take some pictures for ya.  Then I have a pattern I’m very excited about to test for a friend.  I’m sure she’ll let me show it to you when I’m finished with it.

See Ya!

Miscellaneous Rambling

When I saw this amongst the magazines at Walmart yesterday, my first thought was, “Chickens?  Really?  A whole magazine devoted to chickens?”  And then I thought of Kris!  You get this magazine, don’t you Kris?  You can tell us.  It’s just us!  Do you need a chicken intervention?  Hee-hee.

I have a few crochet things going at the moment.  Who knows which ones will stick and I will finish.  This is the beginnings of a throw.

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Some Links

1.  I made a couple of THESE  yesterday.  I made a black one and a white one. 

2.  I made THIS RECIPE last night.  They were good, but not as good as I thought they’d be.  The crescent rolls are a little too sweet and they kind of just disintegrated in the au jus.

3.  I bought THIS BOOK yesterday and started it last night.  So far it’s just so-so, but I on got through the first chapter.  I wanted to see what all the fuss was about since I really enjoyed reading the Twilight books.

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I was sitting in my bedroom the other night doing a crossword puzzle and minding my own business.  I stay in there a lot when The Captain is working.  It feels weird sitting in the living room in the evenings when he’s not here. 

This is a picture of where I sit in my bed and crochet, read, watch tv, read blogs on my laptop, etc.  See all my mess all around me.  I have to have all my stuff and the ever-present coffee or water cup with a lid.  I have to have a lid (or a sippy cup as The Captain calls it) because I spill things constantly.  You can see that when this particular picture was taken, I was making the girl Amineko Cat.  Sammi is also always there.  The others come and go.

ANYWAY, as I said, I was minding my own business when all of the sudden…WHAM!  Something hit my bedroom window really hard (in the back yard).  I froze and I felt adrenaline spread through my body straight down to my feet.  Fletch started barking.  WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?  I got up and grabbed my gun out of it’s usual place.  I looked out the back door but didn’t see anything, so I walked out onto the back porch.  This is what I saw on the porch about five feet from the window:

Mr. Dove had flown, full speed ahead, into my bedroom window and knocked himself silly.  Dumb-ass bird.  I couldn’t believe he wasn’t dead as hard as he had hit, and I couldn’t believe the window wasn’t broken.  He just sat there blinking, apparently in a stupor.  He’d look at me when I got close, but the only thing that moved was his eyes.  Did he break his neck and was paralyzed?  No, he wouldn’t be standing up if he was paralyzed, would he?  I felt so bad for him.  I figured his little brain was swelling bigger and bigger by the moment and he would fall over dead any second.  I left him alone and went out to check on him about every ten minutes to find him still sitting there awake but unmoved.

When The Captain got home about 30 minutes later, he went outside to see him after I told him what had happened.  When he got close to the dove, he flew off about 30 feet into a tree in our back yard, and then a few minutes after that, he flew into a tree in our next-door neighbor’s tree.  I have no idea what happened to him after that, but I didn’t find him dead anywhere so hopefully he survived.

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Here are a couple of pictures I took of the TV screen the day the tornadoes were EVERYWHERE.  I was calmly crocheting Stormy the cat while watching this on LIVE TV and hoping they weren’t coming straight for my house.  That’s scary stuff!  If they were, I wouldn’t have been calmly crocheting.  I would have been in a closet with the dogs.

My little Sammi is so sweet!

She always thinks someone is going to kill her at any moment.  I don’t know why she’s like that.

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I’m gonna go now and stop rattling on.

Y’all have a great week!

Sally Lunn

I made this bread Thursday night.  Have you ever heard of it?  I hadn’t until about 15 years ago when a lady brought it to the place I worked for Christmas.  It’s delicious!

Sally Lunn Bread

1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water

1 cup warm milk

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup sugar (I used 1/2 cup)

2 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

5-1/2 to 6 cups all-purpose flour

HONEY BUTTER:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup honey

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the milk, butter, sugar, salt, eggs and 3 cups flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

Do not knead. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Stir the dough down. Spoon into a greased and floured 10-in. tube pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

Bake at 400° for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan to a wire rack to cool. Serve with honey butter if desired.

Recipe source:  Taste of Home Magazine

Note:  I used 1/2 cup of sugar instead of 1/4 cup because I think it’s better that way.  It’s still not sweet like cake though.  It’s somewhere between a cake and bread.  I love this bread!

Hee-Hee

Fletch would love this!

Cuteness

I thought I’d make an appearance since I’ve been MIA the past few days.

Isn’t this cute?  It was on Flickr by TwinkleToes2day.  It’s nothing I want to make or put in my house, but it is a cute little handmade gift that a lot of people would probably like.  It would be cute on a front door.

I’m not working on anything at the moment.  I’m still looking for my next project.  I need some inspiration.

I’ll be back soon.

Bye.

Funny!

Ha-ha-ha!

Stormy Hooks Up

It was love at first sight.

She needs a name!

I thought of Stormy and Sunshine...

or

Stormy and Sunny.

Do you like her sweater?

What should I name her?