Flowers and Butterflys

It made it up to 70 degrees here in Louisville today. The sun was out and it was just an absolutely beautiful day.

This daffodil is blooming as we speak. It's the only one I could find in full bloom, but there are several more that are just about to pop.

My new favorite purple tulips are putting on a show all their own.

But what is really making me happy these days are my fairly new butterfly quilting pins and this amazing ironing spray called Best Press. I'm currently using the Cherry Blossom and Lavender scents and they are yummy.

I honestly think that the pins and the spray made putting my Farmer's Wife quilt together possible. I pinned and sprayed my way to seams that matched up. It is always a good thing to have the right tools for the job. At least that's what my Dad always told me.
Sally

Happy Monday!

The sun is out and things are really looking up around here. Remember that I mentioned that I was fighting a cold on Friday? Well, the cold won. Not only did it get the best of me, but poor Alan has been suffering too. I'm not sure that we have the same thing exactly, but what ever it is it's nasty. Needless to say I did manage to get most of the things on my to do list done except for the exercising and ironing. What can I say....

I will give you more details about these recipes and my finished projects under their tabs at the top of the Blog when I have more time to write tomorrow. I made the fudge pie in honor of the movie the HELP. We were going to have fried chicken for dinner last night too, but decided to stick with the "healthy" baked lemon chicken instead.

Finished my Farmer's Wife Quilt top and LOVE. LOVE. LOVE it! I'm trying to decide how to quilt it. Since there is so much going on with it, I might just tie it the old fashioned way.

I also finished my knitted bunny. He/she turned out pretty well. I might have enough yarn to make another one. It was fun to knit something out of yarn that I made.

Speaking of yarn that I made. I finished plying this yarn and it is my favorite to date.





I started spinning this yarn and I think it might become my new favorite. I really just love seeing all of the colors pop up. Don't ask me what I'm going to do with either of them. I have no idea.

I'm off to get ready for work. I hope my voice holds up and I can keep the coughing fits to a minimum. Did I mention that the sun is shining?

Sally

I Love Fridays

I'm trying to pretend that spring is in the air. I know some of you got a good dumping of snow last night, but honestly, once the daffodils hit the grocery store, you know that spring can't be that far away. Besides, it's Friday and that makes everything good.

Right now I'm sitting here at our messy computer desk eating my lunch. I thought that if I sat down and wrote out some of the things that I'd like to accomplish this weekend, they might actually get done.

I've been fighting a bit of a cold all week, so my motivation level has been low

Surely this "power salad" will kick me into gear and get me going. Doesn't it look good? It's my low fat/ low cal version of Asian Salad. I used broccoli slaw and added some extra veggies along with some of Trader Joe's Cranberry, Rosemary Pecans. I used the Trader Joe's Balsamic Peanut vinaigrette and let me just tell you that it's pretty yummy.

Anyway, back to my goals for the weekend. Besides the usual grocery shopping, laundry and house cleaning, I would also like to:

Finish my Farmer's Wife quilt top

(it's almost done. I just need to add one more section and then the two outside boarders)

Start spinning some new fluff

Try 3 new recipes that I got off of Pinterest
Rosemary and Onion Pork Chops

Barefoot Contessa's Lemon Chicken Breasts

Weight Watchers Corn Chowder

There is a 4th one that I'm also considering.

Finish knitting the Bunny out of my white Homespun yarn

See the Iron Lady

And last but not least... Make it to my 3 back to back exercise classes tomorrow AM

There you have it. I think it's a doable list. What are your plans for the weekend? I hope you have a good one!

Sally

Poor George

Sometimes I think my husband has lost his mind. He came home from work last night and couldn't wait to "Bread the Cat". Have you heard of this? I most certainly had not. Two students that are working with him this month told him all about it. I'm not sure how it relates to microbiology, but whatever... The first thing he did was Google Cat Breading, and what came up were some of the most ridiculous pictures of cats that I have ever seen. Here is a link to some of them just so that you don't think that I'm making this up. He actually got a piece of bread out of the freezer, thawed it and then cut a hole in it. George seemed to know that something was up. He tried to hide, but to no avail. Does he look like he's enjoying himself to you? I think not. Alan quickly emailed the pictures to David and Grace. We heard back from David right away. He was laughing so hard he couldn't talk. I guess I just don't get it. I hope it gives you a chuckle on this Wednesday morning.

Sally

The British Are Here!

What is it about British television shows? We are hooked on Downton Abbey, like so many others seem to be. I hate that the season 2 finale is on tonight. I know all good things come to an end, or have to take a break, but shouldn't a season have more than 6 episodes? There was an article in our paper this morning written by another Downton fan. I think she might be a little over the top with her affection for the show, but still I have really enjoyed watching it too. What does that make me?
Last weekend Alan and I watched the whole season of Island At War. Netflix said that we would like it because we like Downton Abbey. I really don't like that they presume to know what I will or will not like to watch. It creeps me out a bit. Anyway, we did like this show. Sadly there was only one season made. I guess the writer died and that was that.

The good news is that the fifth season of Doc Martin begins on March 5th. Finally we will get to catch up with all of our Port Wenn friends. I have missed them so. Call me crazy.

The Amazing Race also premiers tonight. Life is Good!

Sally

The Cousins Were Here!

I spent the latter half of the week attending the Kentucky Speech and Hearing Association Convention which just happened to be held here in Louisville this year. The convention was not much to write home about, but when you have to get your CEU's, you just have to go. What made the whole thing worth while, was that my one and only speech therapist cousin, Mary and her charming husband Charlie came to visit.

Mary is my Dad's youngest cousin and the reason that I became a speech pathologist. She was the most awesome person I knew back in the day and she still is.

Mary and Charlie live in Middlesboro KY, which is practically in VA. Apparently there is a lot of great hiking around those parts, so you can only imagine that we will be visiting then soon.

We had such a great visit while they were in town. We ate some yummy food and got all caught up on our kids and life in general.

I really did attend the conference and was able to learn a few things that might be helpful at work, but mostly I just had fun hanging out with Mary.

Sally

Darn Cat

I have been trying to put clean sheets on Grace's bed for over a week now. Every time I go upstairs to do it, this is what I find.

George has made himself a little nest.

I've been told that it's bad luck to disturb a sleeping cat and I am not looking for bad luck.

I think I'm going to have to wait until the middle of the night when he is out on the town to get the job done.

Sally

Oh Happy Day!

Happy Birthday Grace!

Happy Valentine's

Day everyone else!

Hope you all have sweet plans for this special day.

Look what the mailman brought me yesterday... You guessed it, more fluff for spinning. My big red ball of fluff from last week has slowly dwindled down to just a few more little puffs to spin and I was starting to get worried that I might suffer spinning withdrawal.

The Internet to the rescue!

These beautiful creatures came from the Loopy Ewe. Is that a cute name or what? I had a very difficult time choosing colors, but decided to go with something a little more springy and happy feeling.

I have no idea what these will look like once they are spun into yarn, but I sure do love what they look like and even more how they feel right now.

I wish that I didn't have so much to do today. or I'd be getting started ASAP!

I'll post the not so secret recipe for the chocolate cupcakes pictured above under "I love the taste of..." Without the chocolate frosting, sprinkles and Dove chocolate hearts, they are only 2 points on the Weight Watcher's plan.

Love them, and Love to all of you!

Sally

I Wish It Could Be Sunday Again...

Here it is, a fresh new week, and I'm thinking about yesterday. I love lazy Sunday mornings, when it's cold outside and there is absolutely nothing on our agenda.

I ask you, what could be better than a cup of coffee, a little knitting and the Sunday paper? Not much in my opinion.

Now that I've figured out how to make the Pandora thing play music through the TV, I like to listen to the station called "Sunday Morning Breakfast". It adds just the right amount of background sound to keep that easy, relaxed feeling going on and on and on.

I made a little progress on some of those projects that I mentioned in my last post. but mostly we just hung out and enjoyed being at home with nothing to do.

Now it's Monday and I really should be picking up the pace a bit. I will be attending the Kentucky Speech and Hearing Association Annual convention here in Louisville this week, and one of my most favorite cousins and her sweet husband will also be in town for the event. I'll tell you more about Mary and Charlie later in the week, but if it weren't for Mary I probably never would have become a speech pathologist. I can't imagine doing anything else, so I'm especially grateful to her. Hope you have a great start to the week.

Sally

Where to Start...

I seem to have gotten myself into a bit of Project overload. Last week I finished up my Block of the Month quilt and my Classy Slip Up socks. I guess I must have thought that that gave me permission to start on some new things. Normally I'm a one, maybe two project at a time girl. I find that I get more done that way, but at the moment I'm more like a 10 project girl and I'm having a difficult time choosing what to work on. As I've mentioned before, I also have developed a nasty time sucking obsession with Pinterest. The good news there, is that now that it's not so new I'm able to control myself a little better and am actually spending less of my precious project making time looking at pretty pictures.

I'm probably forgetting a thing or two, but as of right now this is what I'm working on:

Quilting ~ putting together my Farmer's Wife Sampler quilt ~ Two new quilt, cut and ready to go ~ project bags with fancy handles.

Knitting~ New lacy socks just casted on ~ Felted purple slippers/ 1 done 1 still to go~An adorable stuffed bunny made out of my own homespun yarn~Fingerless Mitts from the Rockin' Sock Club

Spinning~ Right now I have some red with bits of black wool on the wheel~hoping to finish spinning and plying it this weekend so that I can start on some brighter colored fluff.

I'm sure that I will elaborate on all of these projects as they become more finished, I just wanted to give you an idea of what I'm up to these days. A girl's got to stay busy.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Sally

These Shoes Were Made For Spinning

Yesterday was one of "those" days. I had a lot to do including a trip to the dentist. You might remember that about a year ago I had to have my first root canal and crown, to replace a very old (since the 4th grade) filling. It was not the most pleasant experience, but it had to be done. Apparently, it had to be done again. When I went in for my 6 month cleaning in January, my dentist was not pleased with the way the crown was fitting. Little did I know that we would be starting over from scratch. 3 hours later I left the office with a mouth full of Novocaine that lasted another 2 hours. Needless to say I was not able to eat so my weekly weigh in at Weight Watcher's went quite well.
The best part of the day though, was arriving home to find a highly anticipated box waiting on my front porch.

I saw these shoes on Pinterest a week or so ago and I knew that I had to have them. I know they are not for everyone, but they are most definitely for me. I thought about them for several days, and then just decided to go for it!

I got them from OnlineShoes and didn't have to pay any shipping.

These pictures don't really do them justice. The colors are a lot more vibrant in real life.

Just in case you need to get a pair too, they are called Sula and they are made by KEEN.

I love new shoes, what girl doesn't?

I put them on right away and wore them for the rest of the day.

I can't wait for spring to get here so that I can actually wear them out of the house.

The good news is that because the toes are closed I could even wear them to work if I wanted to....

For now they are going to be my "spinning" shoes and since I plan on doing a lot of spinning, they will be getting a lot of wear.

Sally

Valentine's Day Treats

These are just the cutest things ever. I wish I could take credit for the idea, but I can't. I found them on Pinterest here. What a great idea. I love a little salty-sweet treat and these fit the bill.

I may have gotten carried away. I made a big tin for Alan to take to work, and then I made another medium sized tin to share with my co-workers. I used 3 bags of pretzles, 3 bags of Cany Melts and 2 bags of M&M's. I bought the dark chocolate and milk chocolate. The purple ones are only in the dark chocolate bags.

don't they just look so cute all mixed up together?

I'm thinking green and white for St. Patricks Day....

Pastels for Easter....

Red, white and blue for the 4th...

You get the idea.

Sally