Handspun April

All of my hand-spun  yarn

Most recently spun yarns

left overs from other projects

Little bits and bobs

The winners!

 Grace and I have declared April hand-spun knitting only month. Our collections of hand-spun yarn have grown (hers is bigger than mine) since we took that first spinning class back in January 2012. We both have enjoyed knitting several projects with our yarn, the problem is that we spin faster than we knit. The Kentucky Fiber Festival is going to be May 18th and 19th this year, so you can see that we need to get busy and make room for more fiber.

My biggest problem with this idea was that I couldn't choose which yarns to knit. I love them all. It's a collection of sorts. I should probably start with my oldest spun yarn and work forward, but what would be the fun it that? After much debate I chose the 3 above. The little bundle on top is my sister-in-laws cotton. I will knit her a dish cloth out of that. The other two skeins will be scarf/shawls. I'm also still working on a pair of socks out of hand-spun that I started before Christmas.

Hopefully I can make a little dent in my stash or at least make a little more room in the basket for more yarn.
What will you be working on in April?
Sally

Getting Out Of Our Rut

How do you feel about pizza? We happen to love it.When the kids were little and we lived in South Carolina we ate pizza almost every Friday night. We would order our Papa John's regular and walk next door to the Blockbuster video store. David and Grace would each choose a movie and by then our pizza would be ready. Life was so easy back then. After our move to Iowa, we became regular customers at Pizza Plus, a small family run shop very close to our house. Actually, it was really the only pizza restaurant close to our house. It was very good pizza, the bread sticks were a little greasy, but we could live with that.  Then we moved to Louisville where there is a pizza place on just about every corner. We have all of the regular chains as well as MANY one of a kind specialty pizza joints. Everyone you talk to has their favorite. The options were just too many for us to choose, so... we went back to the old and familiar. Something that we could count on, Papa John's. I know it's sad, but it was cheap, fast and close to home. I guess after 3 years even "we" were ready for a change. If you know my husband, then you know that we don't consider any change lightly. As you can tell from the first two pictures, there will be an organized system as to how we go about selecting our new favorite pizza restaurant. This process will take approximately 11 weeks by the end of which, we will be very full, but hopefully very happy pizza connoisseurs
Hope you are having a great weekend,
Sally

The Finisher or Procrastinator ~ You Choose

So, this week was all about finishing things. Some of these things have been almost done for a very long time. I really try not to have too many projects going on at once. I feel like I get more done that way. Who am I kidding? None of you I'm sure. I just might be the queen of projects. I can't help myself. I'm not even going to talk about what I working on now. If I'm being honest, the Swoon quilt isn't really finished. It still needs borders and backing and to be quilted, but I'm counting it as done.

 

I finished reading this book. I really didn't enjoy it at all. Way too much unnecessary talking. I didn't like the main character and am not quite sure why I kept on reading. I guess I was hoping that it would get better. It didn't.

 

I'm almost finished with this book and I am loving it. I wish it were longer. I think if I had not become a speech pathologist I might have been a midwife. It's a messy job, but someone's got to do it.

That's about it for this week. I did fix a pretty delicious dinner Friday night. We needed to use up our asparagus and  English peas from our Greenbean box. I'll link the recipe and show you some pictures if you are interested under the "I love the taste of...." tab.

Sally

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Pink Lady

Bourbon Barrel Stout

Irish Red Ale

Just as predicted, another winter storm blew through yesterday. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it will be the last. I am officially done with winter. I'm getting out my Easter decorations this week, so it's spring alright? Thank goodness we took full advantage of the beautiful weather we had on Saturday. I mentioned that Grace had signed up for a 4K fun run downtown. None of us realized quite how much "fun" it was going to be. It was called the Green Derby Gallop, and all the participants were encouraged to wear green. Who knew that people would dress up in crazy St. Patrick's Day costumes. Grace did not get that memo. Alan and I stood around taking in the sights, while Grace mingled with other runners. Before the start they were told to look for the Leprechaun passing out gold coins, because they would need one before they could cross the finish line. Grace got her coin and finished in record time for her and then we walked a couple of blocks to the Bluegrass Brewing Company for drinks and dinner. All in all it was a very good day. 
Hope you enjoyed the weekend and are doing something fun to celebrate St. Paddy's Day.
Sally

Calm Before the Storm

Most of our daffodils look like these

I found one this morning that is just about to open

These are from Trader Joe's

We are having another one of those weird weather weekends. Today is absolutely gorgeous. Blue, blue sky and 65 degrees. Tomorrow, they say another storm is coming through. It will start as rain and end up as 2 inches of snow. My poor daffodils. I hope they survive. We plan to make the most of today. Soak up some vitamin D. Alan has already taken a bike ride, and Grace is running in a 4K later this afternoon. As for me, I "might" take the dog for a walk. Who knows...

Our second Green Bean vegetable bin was delivered to our front door yesterday. This time I added fresh eggs. Grace and I had so much fun opening up all of the brown paper bags. Not sure what I'm going to do with the beets and leeks, maybe roast them and use them on a salad with some Feta cheese. Any suggestions? I'm looking forward to the asparagus and English peas.
Hope you are having the best weekend ever.
Sally

A Long Slow Week

Thank goodness it's Friday. It's been a very slow week around here. Honestly nothing much to tell you about. The highlight of the week was probably the 75 degrees and sunny day that we had on Tuesday. It was lovely, but only lasted a day. Wednesday brought more snow and even more is expected Sunday night. Yahoo... I did get a little crazy in the kitchen and whipped up a batch of Blueberry Biscuits. I know, sounds good doesn't it? We had some blueberries that were just past the not great for snacking on stage. A little soft and squishy. I wasn't in the mood for pancakes, and muffins seemed like too much effort. The biscuits were a perfect solution. Sorry for all the pictures, but like I said it was a slow week. Maybe this weekend something exciting will happen and I'll have more to share.
Sally

Trying To Keep It Real

I forgot to tell you Happy March in my last post. It just snuck up on me like that crazy lion of a winter storm we are still dealing with. Today is the 11th school snow day so far this year for Louisville public school kids. Poor kids and teachers will be in class until the middle of June now. Very bizarre Anyway, the good news is that it's March. Spring is almost here for real. Right around the corner. Soon we will be wearing way less clothing when we venture out.

That kind of in a round about way brings me to the title of this post. Most of you know that January was a complicated month for our household. January is usually when I set a bunch of weight loss and exercise goals and buckle down, trying to embrace the whole healthy living thing. .Well none of that really happened this January, instead we waited for February, and instead of the getting serious part we decided to ease into embracing a healthy lifestyle.  Doesn't that sound lovely? Just easing into it.

 Most of you know that I've been a Weight Watcher's member on and off for about 100 years now. Well, it seems like it anyway. Right now I'm an online member, or a not taking it very seriously member some might say. I considered going back to the weekly meetings, but after a whole lot of thought I realized that I totally hate keeping track of points. I hate it. I decided to switch over to what WW calls the Simply Filling plan. Basically you only eat from a list of "Power Foods" and never have to keep track of anything. The more I investigated the "Power Foods" the more I realized that they were just "Real Food" So do you see where I'm going with this? I researched "real food" on the internet and found hundreds of sites dedicated to eating healthy foods. I signed up for meal plan suggestions at two of these sites. One is called 
100DaysofRealFood.com and the other is thefresh20.com. Like I said, we are easing into this and I won't lie and tell you that it's been easy. I try and shoot for eating "real" breakfasts, lunches and snacks and plan on 4 dinners a week. Hopefully we will make it to 7, but for right now it's a start. Oh, I also signed us up to receive a bin of organic fruits and vegetables delivered right to our front door, every other week. The program here in Louisville is called Green Bean Delivery. Our first bin arrived last Friday and just let me say that we were not disappointed.  We got a great variety and everything was was super fresh. So, there you have it. I'm sure I'll share more about this adventure as we progress. Who knows, we could be on to something that works for us, or not. I'll keep you posted.

Sally

Sugarbush

I've been battling with a cold all week, the kind that just lingers around annoying you and making you cranky. I'm sure you know the kind I'm talking about, sneezing, coughing runny/stuffy nose. Despite feeling like yuck, I woke up yesterday morning determined to go to the 23rd Annual Maple Syrup Festival in Sugarbush Indiana. I had read a rave review about it and honestly we just needed a good reason to get out of the house. Between illness and the weather we have been quite home-bond this winter and this was as good an excuse as any to drive way, way out into the country. The festival website said "to fully enjoy your experience, dress warmly and wear sturdy boots!!!" So, Alan and I laced up our hiking boots for the first time this year and off we went. I'd say it was about a 45 minute drive from home, but so very worth it. First stop was the dinning house for pancakes and sausage. We also had cups of this amazing maple tea that they make right in front of you. They fill a cup with sap/syrup in the first boiling stage and add a tea bag. It was hot and sweet and very delicious. After we ate we moseyed along the grounds checking out the outdoor craft vendors. We sampled several types of maple syrup in the Sugar House and ended up buying the Grade A Dark Amber. If I'd been feeling better, we might have participated in some tomahawk throwing and candle making. Maybe next year. Now, like many of you we are battening down the hatches and waiting to see what this next big winter storm brings. They are predicting ice and snow and to plan on power outages. Just lovely. Stay warm.
Sally