Sunday Supper - Zucchini Pizza Casserole

 

Tell me that doesn't just look yummy!  I sure wish I'd had this recipe for Zucchini Pizza Casserole from Taste of Home back in July when my husband was coming home from work with eight zucchini everyday.  I could have had a winter's worth of this casserole in the freezer just waiting to be baked on some cold blustery night.  But, it's not too late.  The farm stand is still has baskets full of zucchini.

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Not quite That open minded

 Let's getting the knitting part of this over with.

And let's also ignore the leather-like, skin cancer about to form, skin.  Yikes!

But knitting - I started yet another Reyna on Sunday.  This wasn't in the plans but I needed something that I could quickly grab and cast on in the car.  I had a bit of a drive, well, ride, in front of me.

Our ultimate goal is to end up 100% debt free and living on tidal water.  But in order to do that, we've got to build/remodel several more houses, sell them and make a little profit each time.  The idea is that eventually we won't need a loan to buy/build the final river house.  

We got excited when a realtor pointed us in the direction of a house in Heathsville, Virginia.  We were going to have to have an open mind about it though.

The house is round.

Round!  Round and ugly but on a deep water creek with direct and quick access to the Chesapeake Bay and it has a private harbor.  

It met the majority of our requirements.  It's on tidal water.  The harbor is deep enough water for a boat (4 to 6 feet depending on tides.) The Bay is only about 20 minutes away by boat. It was a fixer-upper, as in, the house had been abandoned before it was ever finished being built.  It was 2,000+ square feet.  And it was in our price range.  Plus, we were all fighting over who got to claim the turret as their their own room.  We decided to be open minded about the roundness and go take a look.

The listing wasn't quite accurate.  It's not ON the water.  It's IN the water.  The front part/water side of the house is on piers IN the water.  It's hard to see in the photo but if you look closely, you can see the piers in the water... and it was low tide when we were there. 

And that dirt area there beside the steps/walkway is the only parking area.  Hey - at least we wouldn't have to mow grass!

Okay, so the outside needs some work.  Both decks are falling off and I don't know how you clean cedar siding but I know it would look a lot better after it was cleaned.  The wooden steps and walkway were in good shape though.  Ugly, but sound and solid.  

Despite the filthy windows and the cloudy sky, the view was nice.  The harbor opens up on the right just behind that tree to give you access to Cranes Creek which is really more of a river at that location.

Mike was pretty impressed with the carpentry inside, which doesn't happen often.  I'm a yarn snob, he's a carpentry snob.  

The house had never been finished.  The outside was finished and the exterior walls on the inside were finished, but the interior walls separating the rooms had just been framed in and abandoned.  It was interesting construction.  All the rooms were pie shaped.  The first floor had one room about 1/3rd of the circumference of the house that was open and looked out at the water and the other 2/3rds of the level were separated into six bedrooms.  Six very, very tiny pie shaped bedrooms.  There was room for a single bed and not much more.  Each of the rooms did have a closet though.  

In the center of the house was a very pretty spiral staircase.  We went up to the second floor.  The second floor was split so that half the circumference was one open room, and there was a kitchen (we knew that because it was written on the wall) and two more tiny bedrooms and one slightly larger bedroom.  

So are you picturing it?  You're standing in the center of the circle, looking at either the water or surprisingly pretty wood paneling on the exterior walls with a boat load of rooms framed in, each in a pie wedge shape.

Do you notice anything missing?

There was no electrical, plumbing, or even a room framed for a bathroom.  There was also no septic system or drain field.  Who builds a house with no plumbing or electrical?

Oh, and that beautiful spiral staircase...  The stairs narrowed as it went up and the stairs going up to the turret were too narrow for Mike or I to go up them.  We literally didn't fit.  My skinny little daughter barely fit.  Her hips rubbed on each side as she tried.  And when she got to the top, up in that turret we all wanted to claim for our own...  Well, the turret was a turret, not a room.  The top of the stairs had a two foot at its widest triangular landing and that was it.  

Nope, we aren't quite that open minded.  But hey - there wasn't any glitter glued to the ceiling. 

 

Somewhere out there on the banks of that river, there's a home or a lot just waiting for us.  We just need to be patient and keep looking.

Sunday Supper - Buffalo Chicken Dip (or dinner)

Okay, so this one is supposed to be a recipe for an appetizer dip but...

I think I will make a pot of rice to mix in with this Buffalo Chicken Dip from tasteofhome.com and call it dinner.

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On The Needles

 Timeless is still OTN.

I am making progress though.  I'm seven decreases in on the first sleeve, only eighteen more decreases to go. And then I can do it all over again on the other sleeve.

Did you notice the sheep stitch marker?  I think she's absolutely precious.  I had signed up to take a bus trip with my LYS to the Maryland Sheep & Wool festival back in May.  Of course the festival was canceled.  Center of the Yarniverse gave me the option of getting my cash back or getting a gift card for the full amount, a 10% discount, and some unnamed freebies.  Of course I chose the gift card option.  The shop just recently opened back up and several of those little sheep stitch markers were in the bag of freebies.

And because I seem to be on a roll with live critter photos recently...

We had another visitor but he didn't ring the doorbell.

Three on Thursday

 I don't think there's an actual link up going on today, but that doesn't mean I can't still post three random things on a Thursday.

I accidentally bought a new knitting book the other day.  I don't feel too terribly guilty about it because I plan to knit that sweater on the cover.  I bought some yarn last week for a colorwork sweater without having a pattern in mind.  Now I have a plan.  I just have to finish the mohair sweater first.

Gregoire Welty, missing from James City County 

We had a little excitement around here the other day.  You know how the news always picks THE most redneck, derelict, uneducated people to interview?  They chose well the other day.

It was the day I had that nauseous blurry vision headache and I'd been laying down, bra-less of course, and without hair clips or pony tails so when the doorbell sounded and I jumped up, I looked like some kind of crazed psycho-killer witch haired woman.  And first, you have to understand how exciting it is for our doorbell to ring.  It's only the second time in over nine months that someone has rung it.  We are country people.  Everyone comes to our back door.  Even the Jehovah Witnesses come to our back door.

So the doorbell rang, I jumped up and saw the Channel 6 news vehicle out front.  Cool!  I went to the door, still bra-less and still looking like a psycho-killer with wild witch hair and probably with pillow marks on my face... and couldn't get the door open.  The lock is approximately 100 years old, literally, and we've been having trouble with it lately.  Well, it refused to open.  So the news guy and I are yelling through the glass door at each other.  And Sarah comes along with a sarcastic comment about how I don't know how to open the door... and of course she was wearing some weird, even by stay at home covid standards, weird outfit.  But she couldn't open it either.  And Mike comes along, in his underwear because he'd injured his knee at work and he'd been laying down icing it and well, I don't know why he was in his underwear, but he was.  He struggled with the door and after a few very loud and very vulgar curse words, got it open.

So there we are, me bra-less and crazy haired, Sarah in a weird covid outfit and Mike cursing in his underwear, talking to the news guy.  Apparently a man from the next county over had gone missing and his car was found only a 100-ish yards from our house.  The news guy was wondering if we knew anything.  We didn't.  But it was quite exciting to report that.  

You know you are living the covid life when not knowing about a missing guy's abandoned car is exciting and a major conversation piece at the next three meals.

If you are interested, here's the most recent Channel 6 news article.

In an attempt to beat the excitement of someone ringing our doorbell, this guy dropped in for a visit.  I don't know what he is but he's fearless.  He's eating a wasp!  I'm not sure if that makes him my best friend or my worst nightmare.  I definitely don't want to tangle with a bug that has a cicada head, a dragon fly body and eats wasps.  And not only is he eating the wasp, he carried the wasp to that location.

It's been a very exciting week!

On the Needles

Timeless Pullover knit with Aloft

Well, technically, it's off the needles at the moment.  I finally finished the body of my Timeless pullover.  Next up, the sleeves.

My apologies if that photo is blurry or there are tons of typos in this post.  I've had one of those nasty, nauseous, blurry vision headaches all day today and I can't see well enough to tell what that photo really looks like.

I can, however, see well enough to tell that I'm very pleased with the way the body fits.  It's slightly looser than it needs to be but I'd much rather it be too loose than too tight.  And I LOVE the neckline!  It's not all that exciting on the mannequin, but I really, really love the way it looks on me.

Speaking of being pleased with how it looks, I'm thinking of knitting another in some kind of summery type yarn and not adding the long sleeves.  I would probably knit a row or four more on the sleeves but that's it.  It looks really cute without sleeves.  The only glitch with that idea is that the gauge is 5 stitches to the inch, which is generally worsted weight yarn which may be way too hot in the summer. I'll have to see what kinds of yarns are out there.  I don't generally knit summer sweaters, or with cotton so I really don't know.

Sunday Supper - Chilled Cucumber Soup

Remember when I went to visit my cousins at the river last month?  They served The best cucumber soup.  I was a little nervous about trying it because the only other time I'd ever had cucumber soup before was disastrous.  I was in a fancy social setting and I thought I might literally gag trying to swallow it. It was some nasty, nasty stuff.  But my cousin's was delicious.  I even had second helpings!

Despite cold soups not being a family favorite and this recipe from simplyrecipes.com doesn't look exactly like my cousin's, I'm going to try it.  It sounds simple enough to make so it won't take a lot of effort. 

Want to take bets on which family member makes the most fuss about it?

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends on social media. Until next time, Happy Knitting!

Three on Thursday - Quick and dirty

Today's Three on Thursday post is going to be quick and dirty.  It's almost midnight, it's storming, the power is blinking off and on and I just realized I forgot to write a post.  At this point, I'd just skip it except I skipped a post earlier this week.  On Tuesday, we had some medical drama (thankfully everyone is okay) and then Sarah surprised me with a new puzzle.  The puzzle had water and boats and a cabin and I just kinda lost my mind and sat down and worked the puzzle for almost six hours straight.  My excuse for almost forgetting this post was that I didn't realize it was Wednesday.  Time is slipping past me at a scary rate!

Anyway, three random photos...

What is that you ask.  Well, we've been looking for a fixer-upper house to buy and boy, have we seen some doozies!  This particular house looked fantastic on the outside but the inside was down right scary.  The living room had glitter on the ceiling.  It wasn't gold paint swirled on, it was actual glitter. Glitter glued to the ceiling.  Glitter glued to the weirdly textured ceiling in a four or five foot circle in the center of the room.  Why???

My Not a Reyna is off the needles.  It's obviously not blocked yet.  And it was so humid when I took that photo, the picture is blurry!  It doesn't look like a true Reyna but I think I counter-balanced my garter/mesh sequence screw-up and it looks just fine.  It will look Awesome once it's blocked!  I just drool over that yarn color.

Daddy was giving Hayden bunny ears.  I'm thinking Hayden may be double jointed.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends on social media. Until next time, Happy Knitting!

Sunday Supper - Creamy Cucumber Salad

 Okay, I can't say I'm excited about this one.  I don't know why anyone would ruin good cucumbers by putting vinegar and dill on them but....  My husband requested it recently and this recipe sounds like it's pretty close to what my mother-in-law can remember making so...  

If it will make my husband happy, I will make Creamy Cucumber Salad from Cathy at Lemon Tree Dwelling.  It certainly looks easy enough and I can always keep a plain cucumber set aside for me. 

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends on social media. Until next time, Happy Stitching!

If it keeps on raining

Trying to get a little fresh air while I knit but there's lightening in that dark storm cloud.

Good grief!  The thunderstorms that keep rolling through are wilder and more intense than the hurricane was.  Literally!

We've had so much rain over the last 24 hours the pool is about to overflow.  Again.

It wouldn't be Friday if I didn't share a photo of Hayden. 

 

She looks so little in her highchair.  She's almost five months old and wears her baby food just like her daddy did.  

Three on Thursday - Isaias

To celebrate today's Three on Thursday, I have three random hurricane facts for you.

1.  As hurricanes go, Isaias didn't throw much of a fit.  Locals can probably thank me and my over-preparedness for that.  I fully believe that hurricane preparedness is like having a car warranty or fire insurance.  As long as you have it, you will never need it, but within 24 hours of it expiring or canceling a policy.... Bam!  Your car is on the side of the road and your house is in flames.  That theory applies to making what I lovingly call "protection payoffs" to the fire department and rescue squad too.  I make a donation every year and have only needed them twice - the two years I failed to donate.

2.  That giant puddle was the extent of our damage.  Mostly.  We did loose power for about twelve hours and the basement had two feet of water in it because it took us a few hours to remember to run the generator to the sump pump.  No real damage done though.  Just a lot of empty buckets and my spare Tupperware were floating around.

3.  The tornado didn't get us.  Thank goodness!  At 4:25 a.m. our phones did the Beeeep, Beeeep, Beeeep thing that signals a tornado warning.  Mike got up and looked out the windows and didn't see anything (like he would in the pitch black dark and POURING down rain...) and I decided I would rather die in my bed than go sit in the cold, dark basement with a dead mouse on the floor so I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep.  

Three minutes later, the power went out.  Yikes!  Staying in bed may have been a bad decision.

And then the power came back on.  Yay! 

A few minutes later, Sarah came in to announce there was a tornado warning.  The beeping of her phone hadn't woken her but her ceiling fan failing to circle had.  I suggested she to go to the basement, I was going to die in my bed under my comfy covers instead of hanging out with that dead mouse.  After all, it was 4:25 a.m. and the warning was going to last until 5 a.m.  Thirty five minutes is a long time to hang out in a dark, dank basement with a dead mouse.

She went down stairs, looked out the window with her dad until dawn and I lay in bed for hours thinking every noise was a tornado. 

Luckily, the tornado missed us by a couple of miles.

Thanks for reading!  Please join me over at Carole's for today's Three on Thursday link up and if you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends on social media. Until next time, Happy Knitting!

 

Will we or won't we?

Will we get hit by a hurricane or not?  It makes me a little crazy not knowing.  If  Mr. Weatherman can tell me within a 15 minute window of when it's going to start snowing, why can't he tell me if 1) Isaias will be a hurricane or a tropical storm when it passes by and 2) Will it pass by or hit us directly?

By the time you read this, I will probably know the answer to that question, but I'm writing this post on Monday afternoon.  Don't get me wrong - I LOVE a good storm.  I love the ferocity of wild weather.  Absolutely love it!  In fact, I get a little manic right before a big storm hits.  But I'm a little worried about this one.

Back in the day, my Go Bag would consist of my purse, my knitting bag, a book, my toothbrush and if I wasn't pressed for time, a pair of clean underwear.  But now that I'm older, I'm a little more needy.  I'm realizing I'm going to need a whole bag just for the medications!  Good grief!

And there's my mother-in-law to worry about this time around.  I really, really hope we don't have to do the tornado drill or worse, evacuate entirely, with my MIL in tow.

And while those two things run through my mind, I can't help but be reminded of Hurricane Isabel.  We were living about two miles away from this house when Isabel hit.  Isabel was supposed to be a tropical storm and no big deal at all but...  After Isabel passed through town, we didn't see the first Rescue/Aid/Responder for nine days.  We were cut off by downed trees, downed power lines and flooded creeks and rivers.  If my husband and some of the neighbors hadn't cleared the trees out of the roads themselves, we'd probably still be trapped there 17 years later, still awaiting rescue.  And despite the first Responder showing up on day 9, we didn't get our power back on until the morning of day 14.  And this time around, we're even closer to the river and have much larger trees surrounding our house.

I'll admit, I'm a little concerned.  

Oh, and then there was Gaston.  We were actually living in this house while we built our own house when Gaston hit.  Gaston dumped ten inches of rain one afternoon and left us with ten feet of water in our house and no electricity, water or a septic system for six weeks.

They are saying Isaias may dump eight inches of rain on us.  And the rivers are already full.

I'm a little bit freaked out.

Torn between knitting, finishing a book and storm prepping.

But it's okay.  As long as the husband remembers to bring home an extra gas bottle for the grill and a bag or two, or ten, of ice, we'll be fine. 

We'll be fine as long as the we don't loose power for 13+ days.  

Honestly, if we loose power for more than an hour or two, I may only be F.I.N.E.  Say a little prayer for us please.

To everyone else in Isaias's path, stay safe and dry!  And fine, not FINE.  :)

By the way, I finally started reading A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness and I can't put it down.  I am SO glad I got the whole trilogy on my Kindle.  At least if the power goes out, I'll have something to do in the dark.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends on social media. Until next time, Happy Knitting!

Sunday Supper - Easy Peach Cobbler

I've been craving peaches.... And I think I mentioned I got scolded at the doctor's the other day because my A1C hadn't budged and I'd gained one pound.  (Mean old doctor! She refused to believe it was the weight of my mask.)  

Anyway....

Easy Peach Cobbler from Julia's Simply Southern

Introducing Easy peach cobbler.  Not only does it use the fresh peaches I've been craving but it also calls for coconut sugar rather than refined white sugar so it's better for diabetics.  

Now the big question - can I find coconut sugar in my local Food Lion or Walmart?  Probably not but I sure hope so!

Okay, okay, let's be honest and correct about that last sentence.  Can Sarah find coconut sugar at our local Food Lion or Walmart?  Sarah likes to grocery shop and finds it relaxing while I rate it one step above scrubbing toilets.  Am I not the luckiest mom in the whole wide world?

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends on social media. Until next time, Happy Knitting!