Another Granny Square

Thank you all for the well wishes. My back/pinched nerve is feeling better but I'm still on muscle relaxers, can't stand for more than a moment and I'm still not walking well.  It's getting better though.  I've gotten the use of my leg back although I'm still completely numb from my mid thigh to mid calf.  That's an improvement though.  

Have you ever had a pinched nerve or back issues that caused numbness?  It's such a strange sensation.  My knee feels like it's about four feet in diameter, and even though the skin is completely numb, my thigh is sore to the touch and keeps itching.  It hurts to touch yet I can't feel it when I scratch.  It's very strange.  But I'll take numb over the massive muscle spasms I was having.

I'm still on the muscle relaxers so I haven't been knitting but I did finish another granny square baby blanket.  It's not traditional baby colors but I thought it would be perfect for a boy.  Actually, I'd like to have an adult size one for me.  I'm absolutely in love with the color combo.  Sunflower yellow, gray, sage green and dark blue.  It's very "me."

And so this post contains something else besides me whining about my back issues...

And because that is horribly pixilated...

Another horribly pixilated photo just to make sure your eyes are hurting and you have a headache.  😁

I can't get over how much Hayden has grown.  She's gotten a bunch of molars, her hair is growing into baby ringlets and she's saying more and more actual words.  She's so funny.  She's terrified of the train (remember that the train tracks are right beside our house?)  She hears the horn blow off in the distance and goes running to comforting arms.  But as long as you hold her, she likes to watch the train go by.  She gets so excited and shouts "choo choo" and giggles.  

Well, it's time for another round of pills so....

Sunday Supper - Marinated London Broil

Something we haven't had this summer is london broil cooked on the grill.  Most summers, we have it at least every few weeks.  Around here, in our sexist household, grilling is "Men's Work" and I'm okay with that.  Mike has been gone so much this summer though, we haven't grilled all that much. 

Anyway...

photo and recipe courtesy of diethood.com

I stumbled across this marinade recipe for london broil and I think it's about time we put the grill to good use.

Bed Rest

Apologies for typos. I'm writing this on my phone and I'm a Horrible phone typer.

I was MIA last week. I pinched a nerve in my back and have been on bed rest. I'm sitting up today though. Yay!!

You really dont know how good it feels to sit instead of laying down 24/7. 

There hasn't been any knitting because well, laying down + muscle relaxers + pain pills. I tried to knit but my guage was pathetically off. 

I'm on the mend now I think.  I sure hope so anyway. I've been to my GP, an orthopedist and ended up in the ER Wednesday morning.  The ER doc seemed to think I was a pain pill junkie just looking for drugs, but he gave them to me anyway.  One day of decent meds and I was able to get out of bed and hobble down the stairs. 

So now, I'm off to knit, knit, knit before I need to lay down again.  Hopefully next week will be more productive.

Meanwhile if you are local, don't forget to stop by Ashland's 4th Friday event tonight. I won't be there but many of my fellow crafters will be. Our booth is in front of the yarn shop, Center of the Yarniverse. Stop by and say hi for me.

Sunday Supper - Grilled Corn

 

photo courtesy of delish.com

Oh. My. Goodness!  One of my favorite things about summer is grilled corn.  We've always wrapped ours up in tinfoil with a little butter and some salt and cooked it on the grill.  I just love opening the foil wrapping to discover "burnt" corn.  It's so sweet and caramelly!

But this recipe for grilled corn from delish.com doesn't even require the tinfoil.  Honestly, I'm not even sure you can call these simple instructions a "recipe" but...

Enjoy!

Layers of happiness

Despite all the drama that has been going on around here, I've had some really good days recently.  We are having even more, different plumbing problems.  How is that even possible??  So no, the plumbing hasn't been great but in other areas of my life...

The husband finally finished fixing and painting the deck so we can swim once again.  Yay!

Hayden seems to have fully recovered from her head injury.  She'll have to go back to the doctor for an offical 'all clear' but she's not stumbling or acting weirdly.  She can still count to three, feed herself, walk and run, throw the ball, point to various body parts and say "eye" when she tries to poke yours out.  In other words, she's back to normal.  Double Yay!

I finished the custom hat for my Etsy customer and he seems to be happy with it.  The two colors played together SO much better than I thought they would.  I'm so glad I ordered double the amount of yarn I needed.  I plan to make another for the shop.  

Anyway, it's always nice when you have a great customer and finish their project well before the deadline with no problems along the way.

But what I'm most excited about is my hair.

Remember this post about my horrible, swamp witchy hair?  Since that post, my hair has only continued to grow.

It grew and grew and grew until...

(Warning:  You're about to see a zero makeup photo.  Yikes!)

I followed a Youtube video, cut eight inches off and layers into my hair.

There's still plenty of length left, but only in the very back.  I cut so much of the weight and thickness out.  I loved it while it was wet, but I was pretty nervous about what it would look like once it dried.  My hair tends to grow sideways as it dries.

I love it!  I've only had about three haircuts in my entire life where I didn't go home and cry.  I cannot believe I was able to do this to my own hair.  I am just so excited and happy with it.  If you could see any of my childhood Barbie dolls, or any of my dolls for that matter, you'd understand my shock at how well the cut worked.  I have Never been good with hair!  But I absolutely love my new do.

Sunday Supper - Summer Minestrone Soup

 

Today's recipe is for summer minestrone soup from simplyrecipes.com.

Okay, honestly, I'm not sure how well a big pot of hot soup will go over with the family in the middle of a Virginia August but ... Just look at all those vegetables!  What better way to use up all those fresh garden vegetables?

Oh, if only we had a garden this year.

But no matter.  There's a nice vegetable stand down the road.  They'll have an overabundance of fresh vegetables I'm sure.  Minestrone, here we come!

This hat!

 Ooh! This hat!

I am seriously digging this hat!

I received a custom order over at my Etsy shop shop the other day.  Happily, the customer knew exactly what he wanted.  A hat with a gray brim and eggplant purple crown to match his new ski coat.  He even sent me a link to the coat so I could see the colors.  I just love it when the customer knows, and can verbalize, what he wants.

Once again, Knit Picks was on the ball with their shipping and the yarn arrived quickly.  And I immediately began knitting.

I am absolutely LOVING these two yarns together.  From looking at the skeins, I was afraid there wouldn't be enough contrast and that they were going to make a rather bla hat but...  Goodness!  It's like they were made to go together.  The gray (Mineral Heather) has hints of the eggplant (Amethyst) in it and they are absolutely perfect together!

Now, if I'd only had more time to knit today.  Poor baby Hayden took a tumble this morning, fractured her skull and gave herself a concussion.  She's okay though.  She has a big old knot on her forehead, but she's home and didn't have to stay in the hospital.  

I know I shouldn't laugh, and I know I'm going straight to Hell for it but... I can't help but laugh at Hayden.  She's obviously dizzy and having some vision issues due to the concussion.  She keeps falling down and even out/off of her child size comfy chair.  Now that I'm over the original "OMG! She fractured her skull!!" panic attack, I can't help but laugh at her as she stumbles around looking like a little drunk toddler and shaking her head in what I assume is an attempt to get her vision to clear.

She really is funny to watch, but now I'm feeling extremely guilty for admitting it so I'm going back to knitting.

Oops

 Oops!

Now, how on earth did I do that?  I used a row counter.  I used the same needles.  I knit them on consecutive days.

Oh, I know how I did that!  

Good grief!  

You know what I did?  I started off several repeats using the "0" on the row counter as a counted row.  Instead of telling the marker I was on row 1, I told it I was knitting row 0.  Doh!

Good thing I used a large skein.  I can simply recreate my error and knit a second pair of mismatched gloves that hopefully will match these.  Although it might be easier, simpliler and quicker to forget these and just start over.

If you are interested, the yarn is left over Colorburst I still had in the stash pile.

Sunday Supper - Bacon Wrapped Prawns

So, I had to Google prawns.  For those of you not in the know, they are different from shrimp, but used interchangeably.  I imagine we'll be using shrimp for today's recipe.

photo courtesy of foodnetwork.com

This is another dish I'm fairly certain my husband will be happy to prepare.  He LOVES shrimp and I'm horribly allergic.  Perhaps I'll make myself some bacon wrapped chicken on skewers and cook them far, far away from his shrimp.  I'll be getting my own private bowl of chipotle bbq dipping sauce too.

No matter who prepares them, this recipe for bacon wrapped prawns in chipotle bbq sauce comes from foodnetwork.com and I'm 99.999% sure the entire family (other than me) will love them.

What's better than a grandbaby?

 It's been a whirlwind of a week.  

Hayden and her family moved in with us.

Their apartment lease was up the month before Covid hit and he was in the process of finding a house to buy and so they had moved in temporarily with Megan's parents.  But thanks to Covid, Zack was unemployed for a while so no house.  

Jump to July, 2021 and well, they decided they had over stayed their welcome.  Meanwhile, Mike decided he wanted to help Zack out.  Mike had paid for Sarah's schooling but Zack had chosen to go straight to work and skip college.  And now, Zack is regretting that decision.  So, rather than pay for Zack's education, we will give them a basically free place to live while he pays for himself to go to school.

I'm looking forward to spending lots of time with Hayden.

But best of all, Hayden also brought her dog, Teddy.  And that means, I get a "free" dog.  I can play with him and walk him and snuggle with him but I don't have to pay his vet or food bills.  I don't have to make sure I'm home to let him out and I don't have to clean up after him.  I'm getting a free dog and a free grandchild out of the deal!  Can't ask for more than that!

Knitting wise, I'm still knitting the Fable Fur headbands and I've been beading a few more pairs of socks too.  You're going to have to wait a while for a photo of me wearing one of the headbands.  It needs to cool off a bit first.

Have I mentioned how badly I'm suffering from fall fever?

Off the needles

 Okay, the title should be Off the Needles a Looong time ago.

I finished this shawl, knit with yarn from Organized Chaos Yarns, back in April and I am just now getting around to photographing it.

The yarn, Colorstravaganza, is fingering superwash and I love, love, love it!  I think it looks like faded denim and I want a whole sweater knit from it.  I absolutely love the faded denim look with little blips of color.  

My daughter says it doesn't look like denim but I think it does.  My faded out jeans even usually have the blips of color on them from dropped markers, paint and/or nail polish.  So yes, my jeans and my shawl will match this winter.  I can't wait!

And because I'm excited about my new roommates...

Meet Pumpkin, the platy fish.  Her little black nose reminds me of a puppy's.

And Spot, the nerite snail.  I love his spots.  They look like they've been drawn on with a Sharpie.

Spot has his work cut out for him.  Captain Morgan, my old nerite, died and the tank got overrun with algae.  Again. Argh!

Hopefully Spot is hungry and has an appetite close to Captain Morgan's.

Sunday Supper - Cleo's Potato Salad

 Recipe and photo courtesy of tasteofhome.com

The description for this potato salad recipe says it's perfect for summer barbeques.  My husband loves potato salad so I just might be able to entice him into throwing us (i.e. doing all the cooking) an outdoor, summer barbeque this evening.