Crocheting Norah's blanket

These are some pictures of the blanket I am working on for Norah.  I made the fleece blanket part last year--I'm ashamed to say she's almost 1 year and I'm still working on this.   Anyway, I made the fleece part last year and started crocheting an edge on it.  But then I got so busy between work and school, I didn't finish the edge.  Thank goodness I made it big enough for her to grow into.  This will fit on a toddler bed, or she can spread it out on the floor to lay on.   Anyway, I'm in-between jobs right now, so, now I finally have more time for my sewing and crocheting projects.  Woo-hoo!

NEW BREAD MAKER IS A COOL NEW TOOL

This is my new Cuisinart bread maker -- and it makes more than bread. The apples below are ready to go into the bread maker. In about an hour and a half we had some OUTSTANDING natural applesauce. It also makes cranberry sauce, jam and chutneys.

DONNA GOES ANTIQUING

These both were labled as "vintage" mixers. The one on the left I recognize as a type of mixer I've seen before, but the one on the right was new to me. I never saw that kind before. That little cup there lifts up and my guess is it would fit over a cup or small bowl and then you would pump the handle like a butter churn and mix.


I bought these rolling pins and the old pot to hold them in. The man who runs the store said rolling pins like the one on the right are hard to find. It is all one piece of wood. He said most rolling pins are like the one on the left, where the handles fit into the rolling pin.



This is my favorite new piece--the butter churn. I saw this one at the same store as the rolling pins and had to go back and get it.

PHOTOGRAPHY CLASS

I am taking a photography class through the Parks and Recs. It's a digital photography class -- designed for beginners. I am enjoying it very much. We only have one more class left. I have learned a few things--which was the goal! One assignment that I really loved was one I wouldn't have guessed I would like. The assignment was to take some abstract pictures and once I learned what I was to do, I loved it. Here is one photo I took that I thought came out pretty good.

IN THE GARDEN

Bob and I spent more than 2 hours in the garden Saturday morning getting the grass and weeds under control. We were gone for a week and the grass and weeds were sky high! It looks much better now.

Asiatic Lillies

Bob planted some new yellow Asiatic lillies. Here is a picture of all of them before something decided to eat one of them. Since this was taken, one of our orange tiger lillies bloomed.

OUR GARDEN, 2009

Here's Bob--planting tomatoes

I spent all afternoon yesterday planting seeds in our vegetable garden. Bob had already planted the tomatoes and transplanted my herbs a few days ago. The herbs were growing in pots near the house and once I saw how well the parsley did that we planted in the garden, I decided I would move all the herbs there. I planted basil and chive seeds in the garden as well as planting thyme and rosemary in the boxes out front.

A few days ago, I had planted some flower seeds in various boxes on the deck and on the upper patio.

Yesterday, Bob tilled the garden then I went out and planted the seeds. In a week or so, we should start to see some signs of beans, peas, radishes, carrots, cucumber, zucchini, onions, lettuce and beets. I reserved a spot for jalapeno peppers and green bell peppers. It took me a few hours to get it all done, and I was exhausted--but it was the "good" tired feel. It's always nice to look around and see that you accomplished something good.

The only thing was that once I got done planting, I knew it all would need a drink. I was so tired, I had decided I would talk Bob into watering it all for me. Turned out I didn't need to. I had taken a shower and changed clothes. I went upstairs to fix dinner and thought I'd water in a bit, after the strong sun started to go down. But, as luck would have it, I heard thunder. I was thrilled. Mother Nature took care of watering everything for me with a nice, soaking thunderstorm. I even grabbed one of my indoor plants and set it outside to get a nice drink.

While I was planting seeds in the garden, Bob went to the fish pond and dug a couple holes then filled them with potting soil. I planted Dusty Miller there this morning. (at 6:00) While I was out and about early, I found more potting soil and a pot and planted some Shasta Daisy seeds. I love those!

Now the hard part is to have to wait for the seeds to take root and plants to start coming up. That is why I like to buy plants that have already been started and plant those. But, to grow things from seeds does give you some satisfaction, too.

But soon, I should have some veggies and flowers growing all over the place!

NEW MONOPOLY GAMES

I have added some new Monopoly games to my collection. A few weeks ago I added the Disney Villains version.

Then, for my birthday Bob gave me 2 more versions--the M&Ms version and the Planet Earth version.

My Collections

Monopoly--I started collecting Monopoly Games years ago--again without planning to. At the time, our son was "into" Star Wars, so we bought him a Star Wars Monopoly. Then, I started seeing other versions--cities, National Parks, ball teams, US Navy, etc. So, a little at a time, I started buying them and receiving them as gifts. I think I have over 30 different versions of the game. I keep most of them in my library. But, I put all the sports versions out in Manland.

Baskets--I have a lot of baskets. Most of them are grouped in two places in the house--mostly on display. But some are put to practical use--baskets with tops are great for storage. They look nice and hide clutter. Others I use to serve bread and other food. I put plasticware in them at parties. I grab a basket when I go out to cut fresh herbs.

Postcards--I buy postcards from everyplace I go. They are easy to pack, and the pictures are gorgeous. The photographers usually get better shots than I do at major attractions. I need to find a way to display them. Some of them go into my photo albums with vacation photos. I wish I had a good way to display the others. Right now they are just in various bags in cabinets or storage containers.

Collector's plates--I have a collection of Disney plates. They are displayed in my sewing room--on the shelf that my Dad made originally for my bells. The bells outgrew the shelf. But, it displays my plates beautifully.

Disney's Eeyore--I love Eeyore. They make him so sad, he's cute. Those big sad eyes. Then, I noticed Disney was making an Eeyore for every season--a baseball Eeyore, a Santa, snowman Eeyore, summer Eeyore and so on. I have them up on 2 shelves in my sewing room. I even named one of our cats Eeyore.

Mugs--we started buying mugs from our vacations and received them as gifts. After a while I realized how many mugs we have. But, they are all unique, practical and are pretty easy to pack when returning from a trip, especially if we drive. I have them all over the house and try to use different ones on the weekends. That way they stay clean and ready to use.

Teapots--again, never planned to collect them--but as my interest in tea grew, I would see nice teapots in stores and would buy them. I have received many teapots from friends and family--and now I have a large collection of teapts and teacups.


Bells--my bell collection is quite huge. I never intended to collect bells. It started with the gold Sandwich Glass bell Mom gave me from her Tiara Glass collection. Then Bob gave me a Ziggy bell for Christmas. Then Bob's parents gave me some bells. Next thing I knew I was collecting bells. Dad built me a shelf. Now, I usually get a bell from cities, states and countries I visit. I have Christmas bells, crystal bells, cow bells, a Diana and Charles bell and many, many more.


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Things I love

I love to exercise--the more the better.

I love tea. It's very soothing. I love to have tea with my friends. My favorite is a traditional English afternoon tea. On weekends, I like to fix a pot of tea, brewed in the proper English fashion. It sure beats the foam cups I use all week at work!

I do like to cook and bake--but during the week I'm usually pretty tired when I get home--so everything is pretty plain, fast and simple. On the weekends I like to spend more time trying new recipes, and finding different herbs and spices I can put into food. I love to learn about herbs, spices and flavored vinegars and oils. I'm also learning to cook with wine.

I love to sew, cross-stitch and crochet. I'm always looking through craft magazines to see what crafty things I can learn to do. I also like to paint--water colors--but don't spend a lot of time on that anymore.

I love any beach, but especially an ocean beach. Just listening to the water melts my stress. That and any Kenny G CD.

I also love the mountains, the woods and wildlife. I always say I need a house that sits on a mountain, overlooks the beach, and has woods all around with plenty of wildlife to watch.

I love to travel---when I prepare for a major trip, I start studying the guidebooks months in advance, learn every detail, figure out what I want to see the most. If it's a foreign country, I start learning the language, especially the polite words, food words, signs and transportation and emergency words.

I love to read--especially murder mysteries--but not horror or gross and gory stories. I do like to read biographies of people I'm interested in. Lucille Ball, Mary Tyler Moore, Bill Cosby, Jay Leno, Carol Burnett, Christopher Reeve--and many more.

I love my library. After Sarah got married and moved, Bob turned her room into a library. And, in typical Bob fashion--he did a beautiful job on it. It looks like a traditional English library. I have my books divided into fiction and non-fiction. Kids books. Then within the non fiction section I have them divided again by cooking, history, biography and so on. Even my fiction section is divided by author. I love it. I don't loan books to people though. I have loaned out books to people before only to either have them returned damaged or not returned at all. When I ask about the book I learn the book was lost or they gave it to someone else. So, now I'm very selective about who I will loan a book to.