Call an Uber

I'm still knitting Sarah's blanket.  I have four days and six inches to go.  I should be fine.  Ahh, actually, I decided to strike that comment from the record.  I don't want to jinx myself.

I'm also not getting much reading done.  I'm still reading Abducted and I probably will be for a while.  I've only been reading a few minutes before bed each night.  Instead, I've been catching up on American Horror Story.  I was hooked on the show when it first came out but stopped watching when they had the clown season.  I just don't do clowns.  Honestly, I'd forgotten about the show but Netflix reminded me that I was several seasons behind and I've been binge watching ever since. 

American Horror, Roanoke

I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, but over the last six days, I've watched Hotel (season 5) and all but one episode of season 6, Roanoke.  I am absolutely Loving Roanoke although it's got me completely wigged out.  I've even let out a couple of girly squeals of terror.  

Between living so close to the Lost Colony and having an archaeologist for a father who was slightly obsessed with what happened to the colonists, Roanoke was a big part of my youth.  We studied it frequently throughout my school years, we took countless field trips, and I remember my dad's excitement when they thought they'd found evidence of the colonists.  (They hadn't.)  Add in my love of horror stories (not the gore but the thrill of a good scare) and it's no wonder I'm loving Roanoke so much.  But what I'm Really loving about it...  is the Uber driver.

Join me for over at Kat's for #Unraveled Wednesday to see what others are knitting and hopefully reading, not watching.  Looks like there's no #Unraveled link up today, but you can still visit Kat to see what she's up to.

2018 Plans

Christmas day can not get here fast enough! I love Christmas and I've been fighting the  urge to listen to Christmas carols and decorate, specially since we've been experiencing an unusually cold cold-snap for the last few days.  I've been in the 'Forget Thanksgiving, let's be Christmassy' mood for several days now.  But, as excited as I am/was for Christmas, now, I'm just excited for December 25th.  I know, I know.  Ordinarily December 25th would mean Christmas, but this year, Christmas is being outshined by....

Orange blanket and a Strickplaner

.

The start of my new Strickplaner.  It starts on week 52 of 2017, which just happens to be, December 25th.

Have you heard of the Strickplaner?  Oh my!  You MUST check it out if you are a knitter or crocheter.  I first heard about it from Wendy Knits.  Her Meh post was the most exciting thing I've come across on the web in a long, long time.  First, Wendy announced that I'd won Knit Mitts and then she proceeded to introduce me to the Strickplaner.  Before I even finished reading Wendy's post, I went to the Strickplaner site & purchased a 2018 planner.

Strickplaner is german for knitting planner and let me tell you, this little book is THE perfect planner for knitters!  I haven't taken pictures of the inside of mine because the Strickplaner website does a great job of showing you the details.  But please, take a look.  They have both photos and a couple of short videos. 

If you are a knitter (or crocheter) and use any kind of a planner, this just may be THE planner for you.  The planner is great for all knitters (& crocheters) but it is simply Fantastic for knitters who make money (or wish they made money) from their knitting.  

Besides a normal weekly calendar with space for appointments and to-do lists, the Strickplaner has goal setting and tracking pages and a bullet journal styled section for keeping up with patterns, yarn purchases, projects, contacts, lists and blank grid styled pages.

Oh, and did I mention, there's a Free pattern for a knitted book cover that comes with it?  

Is it any wonder I'm practically pee-my-pants excited for December 25th?

And nope, I'm not affiliated with Strickplaner in any way, other than that I am the proud owner of one and can not wait until December 25th to begin using it.  And you can bet, if I ever finish knitting Sarah's orange blanket (which I'm starting to wonder about,) the very next thing I begin knitting will be a cover for my Strickplaner.  I can't wait!

As a side note, after typing this post, I will forever be confused about how to spell 'planner' correctly.  

Join me over at Frontier Dreams for today's #CraftingOn linkup.

Makers' Monday

Welcome to Makers' Monday, a celebration of knitting designers, artists & creatives of all types.  

Today, I'm talking about stickers from Nicole Kelly Creations.  

Do you decorate your planner?  Do you even have a planner?  I couldn't survive without my planner.  I joke that I'm so dependent on it, I wouldn't be able to find my way to the bathroom without my planner.  But honestly... it might be the truth!  I'm so dependent on it that if I don't write down what I plan to fix for dinner, I won't ever start fixing dinner.  It will be 9 p.m. and I'll be wondering why I'm so hungry while checking my planner for the next task on the to-do list.

planner stickers 

And since I  spend so much time with my planner, I like for it to be cute or pretty... or at least colorful.  I'll admit, I don't begin to get into decorating my planner like some folks do but...  I do enjoy channeling my inner artistic child which means, I slap on fun, motivational stickers and write with colored pens.

stickers from Nicole Kelly Creations

Recently I discovered Nicole Kelly Creations on Etsy and have purchased from her several times now.  Nicole has so many cute things listed in her shop, I could easily purchase 40 more times.  I mean, come on!  Look at those clothesline stickers.  Aren't they adorable? They make me actually want to do the laundry!

birthday gift sticker

I also love their size.  They are perfect!  Big enough to see, small enough to use both on the monthly calendar and to have room to write beside on the weekly spread.

Now, I wonder if she has any 'Momma needs a drink because her baby is turning 21' stickers.  Yikes! How is that even possible?  How on earth is my baby turning 21?  I'm only 28 for goodness sakes!

Okay, okay.  Let's ignore the mini nervous breakdown and focus on planner stickers.

If you're in need of some motivation to tackle Mount Laundry, or if you know someone obsessively attached to their planner, make sure you check out Nicole Kelly Creations.  Her stickers and washi tapes would make great gifts or stocking stuffers.

(Sorry!  I know I'm talking Christmas when Thanksgiving is still a couple of weeks away but....  It got really cold here the other day.  Like, really, really cold and I've caught a bad case of Christmas-itis.)

Apples!

Remember a while back, Sarah & I were planning to go apple picking but the car wouldn't start so we postponed the trip?  I never mentioned it, but we made new plans to go.... and Sarah went to Florida instead.  She came back, and we made a new new plan to go apple picking... and it rained.  And rained and rained and rained.

Finally, the weatherman said the rain would stop.... but it was going to be 40 degrees and dropping into the low 20's by evening.  I wasn't exactly thrilled about going in such cold weather.  I'm weather phobic (I tend to get a little panicky if the temperature goes above 72 or below 65) and I assumed that if it was 40 degrees here at home, it would probably be about 6,000 degrees below zero on top of the mountain.  (The apples are grown on a mountain.)

The scenic route

Well, despite Mr. Weatherman's prediction, off we went (we took the scenic route and stayed off the interstate) and as it turns out, I wasn't too far off on my guestimate of the mountain's temperature.  It was FREEZING!  The wind was just .... just unspeakable.  

There's a reason they're called The Blue Ridge Mountains

We arrived at Carter Mountain Orchard which starts off on the side of the mountain.  We checked in, got out apple picking bags and the instructions on where we were supposed to go and up the mountain and into the orchard we hiked. Thankfully, once we reached the actual orchard and got lost among the rows of trees, there was no wind at all.  Just gloriously warm sunshine.

apple picking

Sarah and I each filled our bags with apples and had a good time laughing at my lack of coordination.  The paths between the rows of trees were pretty muddy in places and let's not forget, we were on the side of a mountain.  And I'll admit, I was looking up at the apples on the trees, not at the ground so I kept stepping on apples.  It really is a miracle I didn't break a bone, but at the same time, I imagine my slips and slides were probably YouTube worthy.

View from Carter Mountain Orchard's deck

After filling our bags with apples, we made our way back down to the barn where there was plenty of delicious hot apple cider and apple cider donuts awaiting us.

apples

And now we're home.  Home, wondering what the heck are we going to do with a bushel and a half of apples?

Pecan Pie

When Harry Met Sally

I'm showing my age here, but I can not say "pecan pie" without saying it When Harry Met Sally style.

Anyway....

Earlier this month I shared a list of our family's traditional Thanksgiving deserts and I promised to share the recipes.  Last Saturday I shared a link to my chocolate pie recipe.  Today, it's Pecan Pie's turn.

pecan pie recipe

PECAN PIE

3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup corn syrup (light syrup works but dark is Much better)
1 cup sugar
2TBSP butter, softened
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 1/2 cups pecans
1 unbaked pie shell

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Meanwhile in a large bowl, stir together the first 5 ingredients until well blended.  Stir in nuts.  Pour into the pie shell and bake in at 350 degrees for 50 - 55 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.  Cool.

Enjoy!

Road Trip

Remember last month when I drove to Florida to pick up my daughter and drove back home the next day?  Well, I thought I'd document the trip.

I'd worked all weekend, got home around 6 a.m., slept a few hours, got up, washed a load of laundry (so I'd have a clean uniform when I got back,) packed my bag and hit the road around 3 p.m.  I only drove for about three hours before the combination of rain, dusk and sleep deprivation hit me.  Good grief!  I didn't even make it a full state a way.

I pulled into a Super 8 hotel, and let me tell you - there was Nothing super about the place.  By 7 p.m., I was asleep.  Around 8:30 a massive thunderstorm woke me up and I couldn't go back to sleep.  Admittedly, besides the storm thundering outside, I was also a little hungry.  I ate a giant bag of chips and tried to read myself back to sleep.  I wasn't helping that my book of choice was about a serial killer who was snatching girls off the side of the road.

Around 11 p.m., I was finally sleepy enough again to shut the Kindle off.  Around 1 a.m., there was loud banging on my door and someone shouting "It's me, Alejandros" over and over again.   Needless to say, the banging startled me awake.  Of course I didn't open the door but after a few minutes of the banging and shouting, I got up and yelled back at the guy.  I might not have yelled politely.  

The guy went away but came back two more times before 3:30 a.m.
I was definitely not polite the second and third time.  I had no luck calling the front desk because he'd go away before I could get them on the phone.  By 3:30 a.m., after being woken up by the thunderstorm (not the motel's fault, I know) and the jerk (to put it nicely) three times, I finally gave up trying to sleep and decided to get up and get an early start.  I could always sleep in a rest area if necessary.

I got out of bed to discover that the sink was so stopped up that my teeth brushing water from the night before was still in the sink.  Great.  I went to take a shower and while the water turned on, it didn't get hot and then the handle that turned the shower on fell off in my hand.  Let me just say, I will never, ever stay in a Super 8 ever, ever again.

I got back on the road, still sleep deprived, still hungry and it was still raining and near white-out foggy.  Nothing to do but stick the nose of my car to the tail end of a large truck and crank the music.

I made it to the Florida line and had a mini celebration - until I remembered, I was at the Florida state line.  I was only half way there.  Egads!

Beach closed due to riptides

I finally made it to my destination and still had time to walk on the beach. (The sun had come out.)

The Atlantic

The Atlantic Coastline

 Lifeguard surfing, despite the Red Flag warnings

And see some local wild life.

Sand flea crabs

A surf fisherman was very proud to show us his 'sand fleas' he'd caught to use as bait.  I've always called them sand crabs.  What do you call them?

Is it a lizard?

Or a baby gator??

Okay, so this is just a squirrel, but it's a Floridian squirrel.  Apparently, Florida squirrels are Much friendlier than Virginia squirrels.  Or at least this one was.  He was happy to eat out of my hand and I thought he was going to try to get in the car with us.

We drove on my all time favorite road.  And I may have sung Jimmy Buffet songs to Sarah, much to her dismay.

ocean front dining

And we watched the sun set while eating dinner on the deck at Mulligans, a wonderful ocean front restaurant.  

The next morning, we got up and started the drive back north.  Of course, we saw more sights.

Besides friendly squirrels, Florida also has strange vehicles.

You know you're in the south when every bridge and culvert pipe warrants an ice warning sign.

I thought I wanted to move to Frog Level, Virginia but Coosawhatchie sounds like it might be an even more fun place to live.

And of course, there's always the South of the Border signs to see and be entertained by.

And in case you've been on the road so long you forget you're in America...

Lumberton, NC water tower

We made it back home safely, just in time to sleep a few hours before going back to work for the last weekend of the season.

Despite the rough start and long hours spent in the car, all in all, it was a fun trip.

Three on Thursday - Chaos

Y'all know how I love to celebrate weird holidays, right?  Well, today is Chaos Never Dies Day.  The idea is that there will always be chaos in the world & instead of loosing your mind over the chaos in your own life, do some small thing to make it better. 

So, today's Three on Thursday post is a list of three things or areas that I desperately need to organize so that my life can run a little smoother.  Here goes -

1.  My closet.  Good grief, do I need to organize my closet!

2.  My craft supplies.  My closet is spotless and minimalist compared to my craft supplies area.

3.  My desk.  My desk is currently so junked up, I'm not even sure the desk is still there.  As I sit here typing this, with the keyboard in my lap because there's no room for it on the desk....  I look around and ....  Good grief!  Besides the normal junk a crafter/book lover/office supply junkie tends to collect, there are two bottles of sunscreen, 6 half-drunk bottles of water, some dog medicine, 3 different forms of human cold medicine (although I haven't had a cold in months) 3 light bulbs, an assortment of batteries, 4 phone chargers (all with different ends on them,) a jar of peanut butter and a can of soup. Good grief!

Hope your life is a little less chaotic!

Red, White and Blue

Yesterday was a red, white and blue kind of day.  

photo courtesy of thetab.com

I gave blood.

photo courtesy of thecitizen.co.tz

It rained so hard it was like a rainy white-out all day.  

photo courtesy of zazzle.com

And I voted.

Notice what's missing?  Yep, you got it.  There was no knitting or reading accomplished.  But if I had knit, I would have knit on my daughter's orange blanket.  And if I'd read, I would have read more of Abducted by T. R. Ragan.

To hear more about what others are knitting and reading, join me over at Kat's place for #Unraveled Wednesday.

Tea on the run

Although my Etsy shop is mostly knitted items, I offer fabric Tea Totes for those tea lovers on the go.  The listings tell the story of why I created the first Tea Tote and although that first one was a joke, I decided to sell them in Etsy shop and they've been surprisingly popular.

Of course they're popular!  I've mentioned my hatred of feelings towards sewing on buttons before.

buttons from Joann Fabric

But yesterday at Joann Fabric's, I found some buttons that are so cute and perfect, I might not even mind sewing them on.

I might not mind.

Maybe.

Hopefully.

Okay, okay.  Just go ahead and wish me luck and fortitude because who am I kidding?  Enjoy sewing on buttons??  Nope!  Not even for adorable tea cup and Christmas buttons.

To see what others are crafting (hopefully with more enthusiasm,) check out today's #Craftingon post at Frontier Dreams.  And don't forget to vote today!


This post contains affiliate links.

Makers' Monday

It's been a looooong time since I wrote a Makers' Monday post.  In case you've forgotten, Makers' Monday is a celebration of knitting designers, artists and creatives of all types.

Today, I thought I'd celebrate two very different creatives, both with Etsy shops, who I've purchased from recently.

Cahuenga 615 Candle

The first is Flame Noir Candle Co..  I ordered a Cahuenga 615 candle and LOVE it!  I'm always a little leery of buying anything 'smelly' off the internet.  Besides being crazy picky about what I like, certain perfumes/scents/chemicals give me horrible migraines.  But this candle, Oh! My! Gosh!   It smells SO good and I'm totally migraine free. 

I love the way Flame Noir describes their candles story-style.  Although my candle is supposed to smell like Philip Marlowe, when ever I light it, I'm instantly reminded of being about four years old and curling up in my dad's lap for a story or just hanging out with him.  Apparently Philip Marlowe and my dad both smelled of coffee and tobacco with a slight hint of gun oil and Old Spice cologne. Gosh,  this candle makes me miss my dad, but in a nice, sentimental way.

VW Bug Washi Tape

Next on my list is ilovedesign who has the cutest washi tapes.  After buying my Volkswagen back in September, I went a little bit crazy buying Volkswagen stuff.  A quick search on Etsy brought me to iluvdesign's VW washi tape.  Isn't it adorable?

I haven't always had a lot of luck with washi/decorative tapes.  First, I'm so uncoordinated that I don't ususally get along with anything sticky.  Tape tends to end up everywhere but where I want it.  But this tape is fantastic!  It's super sticky yet is easily removable and easily re positioned.  You can re position it multiple times and it stays wherever you move it.  Believe me!  I've moved a single piece many, many times trying to get it just so.  I just love this washi tape!

Both of these artistic businesses offer great giftables so make sure you check them out when you start your holiday shopping.

On the Needles

I'm down to the wire on the orange blanket  for Sarah.  Although the blanket is not a birthday present, I am determined to have it completed before her birthday, November 19th.  I'm determined!

The never ending orange blanket.

I have the awful feeling that if it's not completed by her birthday, it will go into the permanent UFO pile never to be seen again.  I've spent way too much time on it and have had way too many nightmares about the color orange to see it go into that pile. 

I have 13 days and 26 inches more to knit.  That's a minimum of two inches per day, every day.  Easily doable, right?  Right??

Please tell me I'm right.

Owen Chocolate Pie Recipe

This past Thursday's post was a list of the desserts I traditionally make for Thanksgiving.  Lots of people have since commented that pumpkin pie was missing from the list.  Although pumpkin pie is an American classic, it's not our family's favorite.  Actually, there's only one of us who really likes it and only a few of us who tolerate it, assuming it's mounded with whipped cream.

photo courtesy of tastykitchen.com

So, we don't have pumpkin pie.  We have chocolate pie instead.

This pie is so yummy and so simple to make, I thought I'd share the recipe.  And then I realized, I already have!  Here's a link to a 2014 Thanksgiving post where you'll find the recipe.  I'm proud to say that over the last few years, I've cut back on the number of desserts we take to Thanksgiving and for the last two years, not a single tear has been shed!

Hope I didn't just jinx myself.  Yikes!

Stay tuned for the other recipes mentioned in last Thursday's post.

Off The Needles - Wicked

My Halloween knitting project this year was a simple hat.

Wicked Hat

The yarn is Wicked from Morning Bright Yarn.  I first wrote about this yarn last year.  I'd planned to knit myself socks with it but....

Since snapping this photo, I finished knitting the hat.  The yarn was wonderful to knit with and I think the Wicked colorway was a perfect choice for Halloween knitting.  I guess it's because of the witches, but the Wizard of Oz always reminds me of Halloween so my ruby slippers stitch marker was the perfect accompaniment.

Now for the difficult decision - should I keep the hat or list it for sale in my Etsy shop?

Three on Thursday - Dessert

Although I'm finding it extremely difficult to believe that it's November already, I am super excited that it's Thanksgiving season.  I'm already menu planning! 

Okay, okay.  I'll be honest.  I'm thinking about the Thanksgiving desserts.  We always go to my sister's and she provides the meal and I bring the dessert.  And there's really no 'planning' involved.  It's the same three desserts every year.  But I have already started making the grocery list.

Each year, we make:

1.  Chocolate pie,
2.  Pecan pie and
3  Pumpkin roll cake or pumpkin cookies.

Okay, okay.  It's the same three out of four desserts every year.  I always plan to make the pumpkin cookies but nine times out of ten, I forget to buy the required orange juice so we make pumpkin roll cake instead.

Pumpkin Roll Cake, photo courtesy of huffingtonpost.com

Don't ask me what it says about my family that we have three tons of cream cheese and four tons of powdered sugar on hand, but no orange juice.  I'd like to say it's because we're healthy & we drank the all the juice but....  I'd be lying.

So, what about you?  What are your traditional Thanksgiving desserts?


To read others' Three on Thursday posts, join me over at Carole Knits.

Welcoming in November

How is it possible that it's November already?  Where did October go?  I never even bought a pumpkin!

What ever.  It's November, so you know that that means.  NaBloPoMo.  Otherwise known as post every day for the next 30 days.  We'll see how it goes.  Last year, I think I made it a full three days before I skipped a day.  I'm making no promises but this year should be slightly easier because....

As of yesterday, I'm officially unemployed!  Yay!  The season is over at the theme park where I work so my time is now my own.  I love my job, we had a good year, and I'll miss the people but... Phew!  Glad it's over.

I'm super excited to have more knitting and reading time.  There hasn't been much of either lately.

car knitting

I was able to knit a few rows in the car on the way home from Florida last week.

And I started Abducted by T. R. Ragan.  It was probably not the best choice for alone-in-a-slightly-sketchy-motel-on-the-side-of-I95 reading but.... I am enjoying the story.  A crazed pyscho-killer is after one of his previous victims who managed to escape his clutches.  According to my Kindle, I'm only 22% into the story, but that's far enough to give me the willies & for me to occasionally think I'm being followed.  Like I said, the book is really, really not the thing to read when you are alone in a sketchy motel room.

Well, that's enough for today.  I'll save the driving to Florida and sketchy motel stories for another day.  To hear more about what others are knitting and reading, join me over at Kat's place for #Unraveled Wednesday.