# 3 learn to crochet and finish a project

The other night my late night client talked me through learning the basics of crocheting and had me making a long chain by the end of the night. He sent me home that night with some cheap yarn and a hook.

I was hooked...hahaha...grabbed some of my stash yarn and a pattern off of raverly and made a scarf. Then I decided that the scarf needed a bright pink flower on it. I love it!! I need to find a pretty pin to hold it when I wear it since it is so short. Or maybe I will just give it to my niece this winter. We will see.

Tuesday
Messy Bessies
Slippery Salad
Devious pudding

So tonight was the first night following the Accidental Gourmet.

Turns out Messy Bessies is actually Sloppy Joes.

I added a minced carrot to the Messy Bessies. But it got OK reviews. The salad was oranges, apples and grated carrots over lettuce with a homemade dressing. We didn't make the dessert since my boys made me brownies last night while I was at the ER.

Tomorrow night is an egg dish and a spinach side.

Oh and can I just say how much I long for a camera that takes decent pictures.....sighing with longing.....

Accidental Gourmet

Going through my cookbooks I found The Accidental Gourmet. I forgot I had this. I have never prepared any of the recipes from the book but they sound pretty good. So the book has prepared menus for every week of the years. Each week contains a shopping list for the week, and each day of the week has a main dish, a side dish and a dessert. It even has a time line to get dinner prepared in a timely matter.

So this week's menu:

Monday (already passed)

Tuesday
Messy Bessies
Slippery Salad
Devious pudding

Wednesday
Eggs in a Basket
Finich your Spinach
Cookie Surprise

Thursday
Chicken de Cristo
Albuquirky Beans
Carl's bad Cantaloupe

Friday
Little Whippersnapper
Double or Nothing
Nobody's Biscuits
Ice Creammm


And i am bound and determined to get my own Recipe book put together. So from now, I am going to keep a notebook in the kitchen and every recipe we like is going to go into the notebook. I will then start to organize them into a book form.

#66 The massive hair loss

I did it I cut my hair!!

And I love it!



I loved my long hair too but it was so much work to do anything with! I usually just threw it up in a bun and went on with my day.



But boy was it long!!

And now it is super short!!

My sister was there for support and the hair cut was a mother's day present.

And we went out for drinks afterward.

So now I just need to get all the hair together and ship it off to Locks of Love Hopefully with all that hair they can make one big ole thick wig for some sick kid!

#4

First step to learning how to sew, I bought a sewing machine!!

Went to some garage sales today and found a Singer 900 listed for $25. I talked them into throwing three bags of sewing things in with it for a total of $30. Not bad. It works and everything!!!

Pear Tartin and Roast Beef

Sunday I decided that I wanted a nice family dinner that would taste amazing! So i put together a pretty good menu. Roast beef in the crock pot with baby potatoes and mushrooms, a side of roasted brussel sprouts, a green salad. And then last minute I decided that such a lovely dinner needed a dessert. So I had some pears sitting on the counter and I remembered that I saw the Barefoot Contessa make this lovely cake with plums and i thought she had said that you could use apples, so i thought why not pears. Turned out beautiful and delicious!!

So for the roast i went online and googled around until I found a crock pot roast recipe with really good reviews. I don't remember where I found it, could have been on allrecipes.com

Amazingly easy crock pot roast!
1 packet dry brown gravy mix (i used the reduced sodium one)
1 packet dry italin dressing mix (I used the zesty mix)
1 packet dry ranch dressing mix
1/2 cup water
3-5 lb roast (I used a shoulder roast with the fat trimmed off)
Some potatoes
Some mushrooms

Throw the meat in the pot.
Mix all the packets in your water and then pour on and around the roast. My roast was only 3lbs and I used 3/4 water which was too much water. I would reccomend that a smaller roast use 1/2 cups water and for the larger roasts use 3/4 cups water.
Put it on low and let it cook all day.
(My mistake here was I put it on high in the morning and I overcooked the roast, still tasted really good but it was a little dry!)
A few hours before you are ready to serve the roast throw the potatoes in the pot. I don't like mushy potatoes with my roast.
Throw the mushrooms in and make sure they get all in the liquid so they get cooked too.

Serve and enjoy!

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Brussel Sprouts
sprinkle of olive oil
1/2 Red Onion sliced up
Mushrooms sliced
Lemon sliced
herbs de provence

pre-heat to 350
I use my pampered chef red baker, probably my favorite thing ever!!

So throw the brussel sprouts in the baker sprinkle the olive oil over them and then shake so they are all covered with the oil. throw in the sliced up onion and mushrooms and shake again. Sprinkle the herbs de provence on top, lay the lemon slices on top and cover. Put in the oven and let it cook until the sprouts are fork tender.

Now for the cake!

3 pears sliced and cored. (Enough for the cake and for snacking on while baking.)
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing the dish
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar, divided
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1/3 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Confectioners' sugar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter a 9-inch glass pie dish and arrange the pears in the dish, cut side down.

Combine 1 cup of the granulated sugar and 1/3 cup water in a small saucepan and cook over high heat until it turns a warm amber color, about 360 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Swirl the pan but don't stir. Pour evenly over the pears.

Meanwhile, cream the 6 tablespoons of butter and the remaining 3/4 cup of granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, until light and fluffy. Lower the speed and beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the sour cream, zest, and vanilla and mix until combined. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and, with the mixer on low speed, add it to the butter mixture. Mix only until combined.

Pour the cake batter evenly over the pears and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes, then invert the cake onto a flat plate. If a pears sticks, ease it out and replace it in the design on top of the cake. Serve warm or at room temperature, dusted with confectioners' sugar.

Eat while enjoy a nice glass of red wine!

I am going to cook more like this! I felt so good putting such a put together dinner down in front of my boys!

Dutch Babies

A friend gave me his wife's recipe for dutch babies so I had to try it out.

1/2 stick butter
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
4 eggs
dash of vanilla
dash of nutmeg
dash of cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425
Take a high walled baking apparatus (I used a cake round) and throw that stick of butter in it and throw it in the oven while you mix up the batter.

Throw the eggs in the blender and beat them. Add the milk and make sure it is covered up. Next add the flour and your dashes ( those were added by me and not in the original recipe) Once all mixed up, carefully pull the apparatus out of the oven and very carefully pour the batter in it.

Cook for 20 to 25 minutes.

Put obscene amounts of powdered sugar and some lemon juice on top. Eat. Enjoy!

I also chopped up some fuji apples and put them in the cake pan when I put it in the oven with the butter. The only thing I would change next time would be that I used whole wheat flour and the baby was a little dense. Still yummy but dense.

My Son's picture he took of with his little kid Fisher Price camera.

#72

Today I finally shipped off the hair to Locks of Love. Technically that was almost 15 years worth of hair!!

They should be able to make a nice wig out of all of that hair! Glad that I finally sent it off and am no longer a hair hoarder!!

#30

I was hired on as a home caregiver. By far not my dream job at all. But it will pay the bills until school starts up again. I am also still turning in resumes and applications for better jobs, but my savings account says that I can not wait around anymore for the perfect job to come along.

Worst part is the only full time position they had is working Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 8am till 8pm. Ugh and ick!!

Knitting

So far this week I finished my Owl hat, started and finished a scarf, and I am now casting on a baby blanket!! Whew!

Pictures will come along soon! Camera broke while in Mexico and once I start getting paychecks I will get a new one. Borrowing my mom's and it is not that good.

The official 101 in 1001 list!

I’m currently participating in a Day Zero Project. I have set myself 101 goals that I plan to accomplish in 1001 days. That’s approximately 2.75 years. Many people like to create lists of goals for themselves and allowing for a few seasons to pass allows for some greater goals to be placed on the list and allows more time to accomplish them!
The Challenge: Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.
The Criteria: Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on your part).

Start Date: 1 May 2011
Due Date: 26 January 2014

For My Hands and Mind

1. Pick 5 new knitting patterns and complete them
2. Finish the random knitting projects around the house
3. Learn to crochet; complete a project
4. Learn to sew; complete a project
5. Read 101 books and write a short review about each.
6. See a foreign film in the theater.
7. Take 5 classes for fun.

Fitness/Health

8. Go running at least 2 a week for 10 weeks in a row.
9. Run a 5K
10. Run a 10K
11. Run a half marathon.
12. Run a marathon.
13. Get bike repaired and child attachment.
14. Reach weight goal of 160 pounds.

Family

15. Get a family picture taken.
16. Take a family vacation.
17. Go fishing.
18. Go camping.
19. Have a family night once a week. (board game and pizza and movie)
20. Go to Wildlife safari.
21. Go to Disneyland.

Foodie

22. Prepare 3 recipes from each cookbook I own.
23. Organize recipes and make a custom recipe book.
24. Pick fruit and make jam.
25. Can pickles.
26. Plant and maintain a herb garden.
27. Learn the basics of wine.
28. Go wine tasting.
29. Eat Vegetarian for one week.

Employment/Financial

30. Get a temporary job until school starts.
31. Volunteer at least 3 times a month.
32. Maintain credit card debt at under $500
33. Start a savings account for Steven.
34. Save as close to $4000 for last two terms of school.

School

35. Read readings from Patho/Pharm winter term.
36. Read readings from Patho/Pharm spring term.
37. Pass nursing course.
38. Gain certification for ACLS.
39. Take WR 227.
40. Graduate.

Home

41. Organize guest room.
42. Decorate guest room.
43. Decorate bathroom.
44. Decorate living room.
45. Organize pantry.
46. Make a freezer, fridge, and pantry list.
47. Decorate laundry room.
48. Get a bed.
49. Get new couches.
50. Plant raised beds.

Steven

51. Teach to write and recognize the alphabet.
52. Teach address.
53. Teach basic math concepts.
54. Teach how to rhyme.
55. Teach how to tie shoes.
56. Go to hiking 5 times.
57. Go to science factory once a month.
58. Swimming lessons.
59. T-ball
60. Karate class.
61. Get into kindergarten.
62. Teach sounds of letters.
63. Volunteer.

Health and Beauty

64. Use teeth whitening kit.
65. Wash face twice daily for 1 month.
66. Cut hair.
67. Perfect the smoky eye.
68. Drink 2 liters of water a day for 30 days straight.

Creativity

69. Make a blog entry for each thing on this list.
70. Take a picture to represent each thing on this list.
71. Take a picture a day for 30 days and blog them.

Philanthropy

72. Donate hair to locks of love
73. Send a care package to Iraq
74. donate $5 for every item not completed to a children charity.
75. Volunteer at the food bank.
76. Volunteer at Volunteers in Medicine.
77. Teach Steven how it is more important to give then it is to receive.

Miscellaneous

78. organize all photos and get rid of the ones that don't mean anything.
79. Label names on the back of all photos that I can.
80. Scan all photos onto the computer.
81. Learn to change a tire.
82. Have a fondue party.
83. Hire a maid service for a day.
84. Buy new camera.
85. Go "off the grid" for a weekend. (no phone, computer, electronic media)
86. Plant a tree
87. Get up early and watch the sunrise.
88. Go to a concert.
89. make Steven a Christmas stocking.
90. Use own bag for groceries only for a month.
91. Organize yarn stash, with patterns picked and printed for all yarn.
92. Compile all birthdays/anniversaries/important dates into a perpetual calender.
93. Downsize clothing; get rid of what doesn't fit or has not been worn in a long time.
94. Downsize shoes; get rid of what doesn't fit or has not been worn in a long time.
95. Make a list of 101 things that make me happy.
96. Donate blood 10 times.
97. Join a book club.
98. Write and mail 5 handwritten notes.
99. See the Northern Lights.
100. Visit the Grand Canyon.
101. Build a bookcase.


Wish Me Luck!!

My list

So the list begins!

The hardest part is narrowing down what to put on the list! I have to keep telling myself I have 1001 days to get everything done and that it's OK to dream a little big on some of them.

Phew it took forever (well maybe not forever) but I have compiled a list of 101 things that I want to accomplish in the next 1001 days! I am pretty sure that I can accomplish everything on this list! Some will be harder then others but I am confident that I can do this!