I Have Been Without Internet Service for the Past Two Days

because my modem died--AGAIN! Yes, I am screaming. This is the third time my modem has died in less than 1.5 years with this DSL service. I called my provider and they said I had to pay for the new modem. I explained my less-than-satisfactory record with their modems and indicated that if I had to shell out my own hard-earned cash for another inferior quality product, I would change providers. Precisely 23 hours later, the modem arrived at my doorstep--free.

Hopefully, I can now blog merrily along without further interruptions.

Today I thought I would share this meal I recently prepared with these simple ingredients and some mashed potatoes.

These humble ingredients turned into this very tasty Cheeseburger/Mashed Potato Pie.

My son used to love this when he was at home.

The first thing I do is put 1 pound of burger in a glass pie plate. Just quickly even it out. Don't pay much attention to how nice the sides look because they won't stay like that anyway. Season to your liking. I just used salt/pepper.

Bake on 350 degrees for 20 minutes. See how it shrinks down from the sides? That's why you don't want to fuss with it. Drain off all the fat. I then added some caramelized onions & celery and sprinkled assorted cheese crumbles on the bottom. Use any cheese your family likes.
Add a layer of mashed potatoes. Add more cheese. I used American cheese slices here because of its melting qualities. Cover this cheese with more mashed potatoes and sprinkle more cheese on top. I used sharp cheddar on top. Bake another 20 minutes or until heated through.

When it comes out of the oven, you can add a little green garnish. I used some of my own chives that I froze this fall as well as some celery tops.


Let it sit about 10 minutes before cutting.

MMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......Serve with a side of green beans for a very easy and tasty dinner.

I spent a lot of time sewing this weekend

and nursing poor DH, who was very sick with what appeared to be the "Winter Vomiting Virus". I had never heard of it before, but I did a net search and this virus fits his symptoms perfectly. Most people would call it the "flu", but it was not. People seem to call just about everything the "flu".


As the name suggests, the main symptom is violent vomiting.

It's highly contagious. I thought it would be. I wore rubber gloves and used bleach/water to clean everything in the bathroom -- floor, walls, commode, commode handle. I sprayed my bleach/water solution on every glass, spoon, etc. he used. I tried my best not to touch anything after he did.

I did not have to cook at all on Friday or Saturday, unless you consider heating up a can of chicken noodle soup cooking. Poor DH only ate a few spoonfuls on Saturday. He slept most of the time. So other than my continuous bouts of disinfecting activity, I spent my time in a different room sewing.
I must have filled this bobbin 3 times each day.
Look at this ironing board. It's so full of fabric I have no room to iron! (I iron every single little piece as it's sewn on)
Oops! I seem to be missing the garbage can as I snip the excess fabric off each block.
Carpet is not a good thing in a sewing room!

I have found that paper piecing is not very fast (I agree with Sandy, who mentioned this in one of her comments). It also wastes a lot of fabric. I cut (or more precisely, hack off) pieces of fabric that are much larger than I need. I have found it better to waste than to cut too small and have to tear out tiny little stitches.

The weekend went by pretty fast (they all do), I made about 12 star blocks, DH is better and it seems I have escaped the virus. . . at least so far...........

I've been Hibernating

It's been so cold here. Most days in the single digits, often with negative wind chills. Luckily we haven't gotten all that much snow. Oh my goodness, I just watched the news and they are talking about a traffic jam in PA (I think) for 16 hours! People were stuck overnight in their cars.

I've been going to work, coming home and sewing. That's about it. I wouln't even leave the house if I did not have to go to work.

I haven't been in the mood to blog. I think it's time to take a blog break. Don't you find that if you miss a day or two of blogging it's so easy to keep missing days?

Here's a picture my Mom took while watching the birds from her window.

I just love cardinals, especially in the snow.

I hope everyone is surviving the big snowstorms.
Stay inside and keep warm!

A new Dining Experience

I dined alone tonight.
Just me and this Campbells Select Southwestern Corn Soup.
Lightly blended sweet corn, red peppers, and chipotle, with a hint of lime.

The package boasts "Deliciously Good!" and it was. I loved this soup, especially with a few Frito scoops.


Look at that Frito full of thick, creamy soup!

This is the first time I've tried those Campbell Select soups and I can't wait to try the other package I have in the pantry. This one truly was restaurant quality.

A few hours after dinner, I had a scoop of vanilla ice cream with the Chambord poured over the top--just like you all said, it was delish! I did not have chocolate sauce, but it was good all by itself. I have a feeling that bottle of Chambord will not last another year.

Paczki

Paczki are Polish doughnuts, usually eaten on Fat Tuesday. (The true Polish custom is to eat them the Thursday before lent, but due to Mardi Gras, it has become common to eat them on Fat Tuesday). There are different pronounciations, but we pronounce them "punch-key".

Lent used to have very strict fasting regulations and was truly a time of sacrifice . During the time when no faithful Catholic would think of eating eggs, fat, sugar, or meat during lent, frugal cooks began making Paczki to use up these ingredients so they would not spoil during the season of penitence and fasting.

This particular Paczki is filled with lemon and topped with powdered sugar.

Notice that there is no hole in a Paczki.

This past weekend we attended a Mardi Gras event. After draping my neck in a pair of battery-powered light up beads, I partook of this wickedly delicious indulgence. The custom is to satiate one's desire for sweets prior to the 40-day fast. To make very certain that my desire was sated, I thought it only appropriate to indulge in a second Paczki (the second was apple filled, and topped with cinnamon).

That did the trick. :)

Remember those 3-inch blocks

that I was making last Sunday? Well, I made a few different 3" inch blocks after work each night last week. This morning I had quite a sizable stack and decided to see what I could make from them. It's like a jigsaw puzzle fitting these pieces into a larger block. You never know just what it will look like until you get done.

This is what most of that stack morphed into:


Isn't it just amazing how tiny little blocks of fabric turn into larger designs? Do you see how the little bits of blue make another star when their centers join? I've been doing this for years and yet I am still amazed when I see the outcome.

Unfortunately I am running out of the light green background fabric. I will have to decide whether to continue with the stars with a different background or just make 9 stars for the center and something else for the rest.

I am leaning toward changing the background fabric to a slightly darker green and maybe even a third green, so that it will look as though I planned for the color to gradually get darker from the center outward.

So far I am liking this one enough to spend time to make a king sized quilt for my bed. I don't have a star quilt yet.

I had to go out of town for work on Thursday

It was a three hour trip and it looked like this most of the way:

Thank goodness, the boss was driving!
I can't tell you how much I HATE having to go to these meetings. I get nervous on roads like these, even as only a passenger. I feel sorry for the driver because I am always grabbing the side handle, gasping in white-knuckled fright because I think we are too close to the car ahead. Sometimes I slam on the invisible brake on the floor ahead of me. I keep apologizing, "Sorry, I know you're a good driver. I just get a little excited."

I am surpirsed the man continues to insist I go on these excursions.

Once we arrive safely, I usually enjoy the meeting.

I always like going out to lunch after the meeting.

This time I had the daily special: 1/2 a dogwood sandwich and a cup of basil ham soup.

I had never heard of basil ham soup, but it was quite good.

The boss has a real sweeth tooth and wanted to try this Maple Pear Brulee Cheesecake.
It had a nut crust with a bottom layer of poached pears smothered in maple cheesecake, then topped with a very thin layer of torched caramel sugar.

We split this piece.

Yum-o! (Oh, help me! I just used a Racheal Ray-ism).

Thanks for all the ideas to use the Chambord. I think over vanilla ice cream sounds like something I would like. I will have to remember that the next time I get ice cream.

Also, thanks to those of you commenting about the labels. I have found them pretty handy myself. I couldn't remember how I had cooked a particular dish, so I just clicked the "cooking" label and found the entry in no time.

The English language has always fascinated me

Today I heard a chef use the word “schmear”.

I’ve been hearing that word a lot lately and every time I hear someone say it, I think they mean to say “smear”. I did not think “schmear” was a real word.

I did a little investigating and Ifound out I am so wrong.

It seems schmear is a multi-faceted expression denoting everything from bagel toppings, to a tiny amount (just a schmear), to a big bunch of stuff (as in the whole schmear).

The Encarta World English Dictionary defines a “schmear” as “something such as cream cheese spread on a roll or bagel,” while Miriam-Webster has this entry:

Main Entry: schmear
Variant(s): or schmeer /'shmir/
Function: noun
Etymology: Yiddish shmir smear
: an aggregate of related things

Who knew?
Well, probably everybody, but me!

Speaking of knowing, who knows anything about this liqueur?

I've had it for years (it was a gift) and I haven't the vaguest idea what to do with it! It's certainly a pretty bottle, isn't it? It's probably something I am supposed to sit and sip, but I'm not much into liqueur sipping. Can I use it for some type of cooking? Does it last forever?

Well, at least the piecing is finished.

It still needs to be sandwiched and quilted. The snowmen all need buttons added, but they will get in the way of the quilting, so I will add them last.



I added the corner star units last night.


For now I will just fold it up and tuck it away--never to see the light of day again. No, no, just kidding. I need to finish the one I am quilting now before I start this one.

Hmmm.....the Battery is Still Working

I wonder if I just did not have the photo program opened and that is why it would not download? How embarrassing would that be for me?

I was in the mood for some mindless sewing today.
I made a bunch of these little 3-inch blocks to use up some of the scraps I've been accumulating.
I have a vague idea of using them as centers for log cabin blocks in fall colors.


I made all of these while watching Father of the Bride I and II.
I've always enjoyed Steve Martin movies and Diane Keation is my favorite actress.

Remember Franck ?
He was the decorator who talked like this: "Hello! Who you? Get 'avay'! I don't like 'vat' you say!" He was so funny.

I made a big pot of chili earlier today and now I am going to put some garic/cheese bread in the oven.

I bet 50% of the nation is having chili today while watching the big game.

Very Weird

Today the battery was not dead.
I added the latest border to the top of Let It Snow (which I have named this quilt) and I really wanted a picture of this stage. So I put the battery back in the camera and gave it a try. Voila!

So here is where I am with the quilt:

I worked all last week during the evenings on the three bottom snowmen.

Now I just need to add a bit more - maybe a foot all around and it will be big enough for a good blankie to wrap up in to watch TV. I like them big enough to really snuggle into so no part of my body is exposed to the cold winter indoor temperatures when I lie down to watch TV. I have no idea yet what that last border pattern will end up as. I can see I really need the blue/white stripe on the bottom. I hope I have some of that left!

My poor Persian Shield plant. It and the four hibiscus trees live in a litte room in the basement during the winter. The basement is warm enough and there is a large window in this room so they get just enough light to survive. Barely survive.
Look at this poor thing. I forgot to water it last week.


I think there is still hope.
The same thing happened last year and look how it came back. It's amazing how tough these plants are.

My Camera Battery Died

I went to Staples today to buy a new one and THEY HAVE TO ORDER IT!
This is Day Two without taking a picture.
I am in deep withdrawal and probably won't be posting until it comes in. What's a post without a picture?

I found a tin of fudge in the freezer (forgotten from Christmas). It's helping the withdrawal symptoms to subside just a bit. :) I actually found it last night and it is, in fact, how I found out the battery was dead. I took a picture of it to show you and I couldn't get the camera to load it to the computer even after I charged the battery. So I trotted off to Staples first thing this morning. What kind of office store does not keep stuff like that in stock?

I also cleaned the remote control for the TV. Have you been hearing all the reports about how filthy remote controls are? Supposedly the remote has the most bacteria of anything in a hotel room.

I must admit, mine was dirty. I used two q-tips, 2 toothpicks, a toothbrush and some Murphy's Oil Soap because it felt greasy. The little crevices were full of gunk (that's what the toothpicks were for). Now it's very clean and no longer feels greasy. Who would notice? NOBODY. That's why I'm telling all of you!<*grin> That's what happens when your beloved digital camera is on the blink. You start to go nutty and clean remotes with a toothpick!

Sissy, I must respond to your comment that my house must be immaculate. I can see how one might think that by my recent postings. But that is far from the correct assumption! I do clean a lot, but it never seems to stay that way!

Hope you all have a fun superbowl weekend.

What's wrong with the Blogger spell check? Geez, does anything work correctly anymore? I hope I don't have a ton of misspelled words.

I Hope this Doesn't Count for 7 Years of Bad Luck

It doesn't.

Did you ever wonder about why breaking a mirror is said to be unlucky?

Well, I just wondered.

Here is what I found (taken verbatium from http://www.bitesizecanada.org/cause_14.htm)

Centuries ago many believed that a person's image in a mirror was a reflection of that person's soul. That is why the
legendary vampire, who had no soul, casts no reflection in a mirror. To the people who held this belief, breaking a mirror
meant preventing a part of the soul from reuniting with its body. The absence of a portion of the soul, it was believed, would certainly lead to ill fortune.

But why seven years? This goes back to a Roman belief that a person's health and
fortune changed every seven years.

I thought that was an interesting little tidbit for a Thursday morning.

Working on more snowman blocks

I need three more.
It's going pretty slowly because I've been doing more ripping out than I'd like. Ever try to rip out something sewed with a stitch about twice as small as a regular sewing stitch? It's especially fun when you sew the exact seam wrong--TWICE. Some days just aren't made for sewing!

Calidore, you asked if I had any tips on how to do paper peicing the easy way. Yes, make sure you sew with the tiniest stich you can. That way the paper will come off the back easily. Just don't make any mistakes you have to tear out!




See this little piece of white that's sticking out? The exact same thing happened on the first one and I just can't figure out why. Maybe I will get it right by the 4th block! I will have to make creative use of the rick rack for the arm to cover it.

Laurie, does your friend who wants to make this one know how to do paper-piecing? If she ends up making it, please post a picture! It would be neat to see what fabrics, etc. she chooses. By the way, I had to get the book from an interlibrary loan, too. It's a real pain copying the pattern and trying to figure out where to cut each piece. This author did not add the seam allowances - you may remember my rant about that earlier.

Is There Anything I don't Share on this Blog?

Yesterday DH walked into the bathroom and caught me bent over with the hair dryer in one hand, a toothbrush in the other, and the camera on a tripod, set to go off on it's own. The man is used to seeing me photograph weird things, but this one did stop him in his tracks.

Well, what can I say? I do this all the time.

I've already told you how I dry my hair upside down.

Well, as my head is way down near the floor, I get a good view of all the raised panels. Sometimes I see dust. At least once a week, I grab the toothbrush (in the drawer for just this purpose) and I give it a swipe or two, to remove all of the dust. There is nothing weird about it. It's quick and easy.

"How do think the crevices stay so clean?" I ask DH as he gives his head an incredulous shake and walks out. It's not like he would ever (in a million years) think to clean them. I guess men think it all happens by magic.

Sometimes I am the queen of multi tasking! :)

See, I wasn't lying when I said the toothbrush was one of my top two cleaning tools.

Today was nail day. I got a bright color and had a little fan embellishment on one finger. I was in the mood for something different, but this is brighter than I thought it would be. Oh, well, I only have to keep it for two weeks.

I am enjoying this cup of Amaretto Cappucino as I wait for the polish to harden up so I can sew. It takes about an hour and that's about how long I've been doing this post (my Mom called right in the middle of posting, so it's taking me a long time tonight).

O.K. now I have to label it. Hmmmm, I guess I will call this one a "cleaning tip".

Did You Notice my New Categories on the Right Side?

Neat! I love this new feature.

At first I thought it would take forever and a day to categorize my huge blog. After a few attempts, I figured a quick and easy method which I will selfishly share with all of you.

Why is it selfish?

Well, I want to be able to see all the posts you've made in the past pertaining to a category of my interest, just by making one quick click.

So here is how I did it...


Go to your dashboard and click Posts

In the search box type in whatever you want to categorize. All of your posts pertaining to that will pop up. Select "All" and a little checkmark will be placed in all of the posts that came up.

click the arrow in the little box that says "label actions"

click "new label" in the pop up box that pops up.


Another pop up box will appear asking you what to call your new label. Type in whatever you want it called (I used Fall Color). Then click OK


It will take a few seconds and then it will change everything at once to appear with a "Fall Color" category.

To get the categories to show on your blog, you need to go into your layout and add a page element. Click where it says "add labels to blog".

Did you understand this or did I just confuse everybody? Or maybe you all knew how to do it already since I think I was one of the last to change over.

I didn't get every single post categorized, but I got quite a few of them.

Kitchen Germs

excerpt taken from this article:
Between 50 percent and 80 percent of all food-borne illnesses are contracted in the home.

Restaurants and supermarkets are bound to health codes by law: Food storage, food handling, utensil cleaning and cooking temperatures are all regulated. In the home, all bets are off.

Cross-contamination and the mishandling of food lead to some 72 million instances of disease in the U.S. every year. There are more than 250 known food-borne diseases, including botulism, salmonella, shigella, listeria, campylobacter and hepatitis A.

The dirtiest item in anybody’s home is the kitchen sponge.

The dirtiest room is the kitchen, the dirtiest spot is the sink and the worst culprits are the sponge or dish towel. Bacteria colonies with a total population exceeding 50 million can live on a single dirty sponge. And that’s what you use to wipe down countertops, forks and drinking glasses. Blecch.

The best bet is to soak the sponge for about a minute in a solution of bleach and water (approximately 1 ounce of bleach to a quart of water will do) after each use. Another option is to boil the sponge for three minutes. Nuking a sponge is not as effective, since microwaves have dead spots, and dishwashers won’t necessarily reach 155 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature needed to kill germs.

Some might think I am a little paranoid about this stuff. I keep a bottle of bleach and water under my kitchen sink, and I use it all the time.

This is the bottle, but it's not really Clorox Clean-Up. Years ago I bought a bottle of the Clorox. I saved the empty bottle and fill it myself with a splash of bleach and plain old water. (You want to be sure to label the bottle so you don't spray bleach where you don't want it!)

Every time I cook chicken, I spray the counter, the cutting board, the knives, etc. with this. (I had just finished spraying this bowl that I tossed my chicken fingers in). I spray the bottom of the sink, too.

I let it sit a few minutes and then just wash with good hot soapy water.

It makes me feel good to read the article above, which pretty much says to do exactly what I've been doing for years.

There are two cleaning items that I could not live without:
#1 Bleach
#2 a Toothbrush

What about you? Which two cleaning items do you use most often?

I Couldn't Resist This Photo Opportunity

I can't think of a more perfect setting to show you my latest border additon to this quilt.

This is the first time I've used words on a quilt. It was fun.

I so wish I had not put those first borders around the snowman. Too late now, so I will have to figure out some way to make them look like they belong. It would be nice if, just once, I would figure out the quilt design, BEFORE, I start sewing. But I never do and probably never will.

I will also change the butttons. Since I am not using the teal colored fabric, I will switch to black. I am waiting to do that until after the quilting is done.

1:15 p.m. Update: I've been working on this ALL DAY! I am not even dressed yet! On one hand it's wonderful to get so involved in a project; on the other, I really have a lot of other work I should be doing.

I've added more of the inner border fabrics and I think it's better now. My plan is to add 3 more of the snowman blocks across the bottom. I will work on them next week.


Debbie, it's the first borders (the stripes) that I wished I had not put on. I thank you so much for your comment. It means a lot when another quilter thinks it looks O.K. I've mentioned here before that I really don't know any quilters in my non-blogging life. Sometimes it would be nice to have a quilter friend to bounce ideas off of. So if any of you quilters wander on in here, please don't hesitate to offer advice. I am no expert and would appreciate honest advice. Like, "Yo! Zo! What the heck were 'ya thinkin' with those loud stripes?" LOL.

My life without quilter friends may be changing soon. My sister recently bought a "Little Gracie" quilting machine. . . Don't ask... I know it's weird to buy such an expensive machine before you even know how to quilt, but she has no desire to hand quilt, so she bought it and is now teaching herself to make patchwork quilts. She knows how to sew and is crafty, so she's learning fast. I may ask her to machine quilt this one. I am still working on handqulting the one I made last year. Machine quilting would sure speed things up!

On the other hand, I am in no hurry to finish. As you can see I already have one snowman quilt.

Calling All Blogger New Version Experts........

If I click to update my template, I will lose all of my blogroll links as well as my stat counter. Is that correct?
I just HATE when they change something once I have it all figured out!

BBQ Country Spare Ribs

This was one of those meals that I wished I had invited someone over for dinner. It turned out so delicious! DH thought they were the best ribs we've ever had.

These were pork ribs.

Do you boil ribs before you cook them? I know a lot of people swear by the boil-before-you-bake method.

I don't. I am of the belief that boiling just removes flavor. It also dirties another pan and who wants extra clean up? Not me.

I just take them from the package and put them in a roaster & put salt and pepper on them. This time I put quite a bit of Emeril seasoning on also.

I put them in a 400 degree oven for about 40 minutes. The high temp is my way of getting a little browning action without taking an extra step on the stovetop. Then I turned the oven to 350 for one hour. Then I turned it to 225 for another 1.5 hours. I cooked them about 3 - 3.5 hours total. During the last hour I dump on our favorite BBQ sauce (Sweet Baby Rays). Since 225 degrees is not enough to brown the sauce, I stick them under the broiler for the last 10 minutes or so.

I also roasted these potatoes as well as carrots (way in the back).

The potato are sort of like French Fries, without frying. I seasoned them with Kosher salt, pepper, and paprika. Splash a little EVOO and stick in a 450 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

I put carrot sticks on a separate baking sheet and put them in the same oven for the same time. Before cooking I grated a bit of fresh ginger over them and sprinkled with salt/pepper and olive oil.

When they came out of the oven, I grated just a skosh of orange peel over the top.

All in all, I was happy with everything.

Except this little accident...OUCH! (If blood makes you squeamish (like it does me) don't look)



Gotta watch those sharp knives!!

So Far so Good

Well, everything seems to be working with the new blogger. The only difference I discovered is when I sign in to Google, I have to put my email address. I don't remember saying that I wanted that as my log in. Maybe it's automatic?

Calidore, so sorry to hear you had problems making the change and had to start a new blog. I have not yet made any template changes. It said mine was outdated. I guess I will have to update it to get the categories, etc. I am afraid to attempt the update because that is probably where the problems begin. I personally like a plain template. All that clutter of stuff all over is distracting to me. I would like to just keep the one I have.

A few of you asked about the bean pots. Yes, I do use them when I make baked beans to take to a pot luck, which is not very often. There is just nothing that looks more homey than baked beans in a bean pot. If I ever have a sandwich & salad buffet at my home, I will use a bunch of them for all the salads. I think that would be neat. You know how I am all into the presentation of tables.

All week long I worked on making these little 3-inch blocks for the next border of my snowman quilt.

I thought I would pick up the mitten & button colors.
After spending 4 days making them, I decided they just weren't doing it for me. As much as I hated to I had to start all over. I will save these for some other quilt. It will be wonderful to have them all finished and ready to sew on when the time comes.

After tossing around a few alternate ideas, I chose to stick with the red and blue colors. I wanted a somewhat intricate pieced border, but something a little easier than the blocks above (which took about 20 minutes per 3-inch block).

I decided on this:



I think I like it.

Test Post in the New Blogger

Well, what do you know. I popped in here and it said it was ready to switch me over. It's been saying that every day, but today it actually worked!

A few days ago, Dianne asked to see pics of my family room. So I thought I would use that to test the new blogger.

You've seen them before, Dianne, but you've probably forgotten. So here it is again:



These are some of my bean pot collection:


No time to play with this right now. Be back later this afternoon. I haven't been in the blogging mood all week. Maybe checking out the new blogger will get me back in the mood.

Crossing my fingers that everything works!

Maybe it is Worth Looking at those Magazine Offers

Here's a heads up in case you get lucky enough to get this offer.



I am glad I opened it before tossing it in the garbage.


Just $23.95 for 21 issues.

That’s $1.14 an issue! When have you last seen a magazine for $1.14?

I couldn’t resist that one.

It’s an uppity magazine for high end gardeners, but I feel certain that I will get at least a $1.14 worth of inspiration from each issue. Just the pretty pictures are worth a buck.

Once Again Pea Has Inspired Me

This was dinner tonight. DH thought it was great. I told him to thank Pea in Sudbury. He just looked at me. He knew it was a blog "thing". LOL.

Pea made some chicken fingers last night. I had chicken breast thawing to make for dinner. After seeing her fingers, I decided to make something similar. I baked mine in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. They were great. We also had mixed veggies, tossed salad and corn muffin tops (bought at Walmart today--they were VERY good).

Thanks,Pea. If I hadn't read your blog, I would have made the same old boring chicken breasts, topped with cheese and salsa.

Update: Monday, 400 pm

I really should not post a food picture and not give the recipe. Don’t you hate it when you see something you want to make and there is no recipe?

So here is what I did:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

I took 6 breast halves and cut them in pieces. I crushed about 4 garlic cloves and threw them on top with a light sprinkling of soy sauce and a drizzle of olive oil. They marinated in the refrigerator for about three hours.

I took a large freezer zip lock bag and tossed in about 3/4 of a cup of flour, a couple good shakes of paprika, salt, pepper, and some green dried stuff that I don’t remember what it was (big grin). I remember the Food & Beverage Director from work gave it to me for something I planned on making. I must not have made the dish and now don’t know what it was. If I had to guess I would say thyme. It does not really matter, use any spices/herbs that appeal to you.

Drop 6 or 7 pieces of chicken in at a time and toss to lightly coat. Spray a baking pan with nonstick spray and arrange in pan so no pieces are touching (I had to use 2 pans for the 6 chicken breasts). Drop in a few chunks of butter. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes. It really depends on how thick your chicken pieces are. Just don’t over bake or they will be dry. If they don’t look browned enough, you can put them under the broiler for the last 5 min. of cooking. I did not do that.

Finished the Paper Pieced Snowman Block Yesterday

I embroidered the facial features, used a large rick rack for the arms and added a few button embellishments as well as a flower on his hat.

I think he's cute. Now I just have to figure out how to design a quilt around him as the center block.

This morning I puttered around with it a bit. I added some borders, so it now looks like this:
I have no clue as to what I will do next.


I just got back from Wally's World where I saw my sister, 2 sisters-in-law, MIL, FIL and an uncle. I tell you, Sunday morning at Walmart is a socialite's dream in my town. LOL.

I bought some more clear storage bins for fabric--smaller ones this time for all the one-inch strips I have for log cabin quilts. I really don't seem to be getting anywhere in my quest to organize my fabric. I just keep buying bins, which take up just as much space as the previous boxes. Everything still looks like a big mess.

I've concluded that without a big exclusive space for quilting, I am always going to be living in the midst of a big mess.

That's just the way it is...

Valentines From my First Love

from 4th, 5th and 6th grades.

I found these in my very old scrapbook that was falling apart (along with the piece of chewed gum he gave me). I tossed the fozzilized gum, but I can't possibly throw these away after all these years! LOL

Ah, yes, First Love was so dreamy….tall, dark, handsome. I always seemed to go for the tall guys.

I have not seen First Love since I was 18 years old. He was still dreamy when I last saw him.

My sister saw him once a few years ago.

“Really?” I tried to be nonchalant when she mentioned it to me.

“Yes. He gained a little weight.”

“Haven’t we all?” still trying to give the old devil-may-care attitude. “Is his hair still dark?”

“What hair?”

“You’re kidding!” Forget the nonchalant airs. I had to gasp for breath. “You mean he’s bald?”

“Not a hair on his big head.”

“How big was he?” Now I have no shame. I want to hear it all.

“About 275 lbs.”

I grasp my chest in a Fred-Sanford style, shocked that tall, dark and dreamy is now tall, fat and bald.

Then I smile. “Thank goodness he never liked me as much as I liked him.”

We both laugh.

Revenge is so sweet.