3 am FREAK OUT

HA HA I'm back!! I finished that wicked class with an ....... A  wooo hooo!! It was hard - lots to remember but I did it!!I am taking the weekend off and then starting Monday I am studying for the nursing entry test. I have about two weeks before I need to take the test so I will be working hard on that.

lots of stuff to memorize

Mo was bored with all this studying nonsense! Not sure what happened to my hair lol

I do have some things to show you - things Scott finished. First is this picture - it was the traveling pattern I won

Count Your Blessings by Shakespeare's Peddler

 This is what the frame looked like before he stained it. Then he framed The Voice of the Shepherd by Told in a Garden. I finished it in 2008 (I left the words off.) Scott had been looking for a heart frame or heart mat but decided on this frame. It looks fantastic in the study!! It was hard to get a picture of it because the glass picked up all the light.

The Voice of the Shepherd by Told in a Garden

This is the frame before he changed it for the picture!

  Our friend Joanie sent these cool old bells to us for our anniversary. Scott wanted to come up with a neat way to hang them - I think he did a great job! See the "stained glass" we bought it at Home Depot - it's a film that covers the glass - love it! It's prettier in person.

He started with a plaque and some pegs - I love the stuff he does.

This makes me laugh - he likes the frame sitting there but doesn't know what picture he wants to put there yet. Every time I walk by it I laugh - funny guy! I mentioned last week that he had some medical things done - his colonoscopy went well - no bad things to report (whew). The only scary thing was there was a terrible thunderstorm and while he was back having it done the power went off at the hospital. He doesn't remember it of course, but I was a little worried. Generator brought the lights back almost immediately but it was still scary! The hernia repair surgery also went fine. He has had a harder time recovering from it. The doctor said they would do it laparoscopically and it would be three small incisions. Well, one of the incisions is about 3 inches and looks like someone stabbed him with a butcher knife. He had this done 15 years ago with one incision and said that hurt was less than this one. They glued him together instead of sewing -looks terrible and it's so black and purple right now! My poor darling.
So, this weekend my neighbor somehow ended up with a tree on their house. The trees here are HUGE and it is the weirdest thing to drive by a house and see a tree sticking out of the second story. I thought about getting a picture to share but I feel so bad about their terrible misfortune that I haven't been able to bring myself to do it. The damage is pretty bad. I fear this every time a major storm comes through here - which is about twice a month. A few weeks ago this area lost a lot of dead and live trees because it has rained so much that the ground just lets them go!

This picture shows my two story house (last Fall) and look at the size of those trees!! Any one of them would go across the whole house if it fell. The one on the left is maybe ten feet from the house and dead.  We need to have it taken down. Last night at 3am one of its very large limbs fell - when it hit it was so loud it woke me up - and it brought about the 3 am FREAK OUT!! Honestly I know it's because I drive by my neighbors house everyday and see the devastation but I just laid there for an hour thinking about how we needed to sell this house and find one with smaller trees - haha. I also thought that if one of those things fell and crushed us while we slept - it would be days before anybody noticed - not a lot of people go by here. All cheery thoughts to have at 3 am - not. I finally went back to sleep but today I am tired. I have an iron update - I listened to everybody and decided to return it. I found my receipt,  I contacted the company and they sent me a new one. Took less than a week for them to get me a new one - not bad!! I ironed today - but first I ironed an old towel to make sure there was no oil. Seems to be in good working order! I have a date with a cup of tea and my needle. Hope everyone is enjoying the summer heat - ick! Thanks for stopping by! 

Hello Hello!!

First let me welcome my newest followers - I am almost up to 30!! Time sure does fly. I only have 6 class days left in this semester - 4 of those days I have tests. I am holding on to my A even though it is slippery. One rainy day I dropped half of my flashcards in the parking lot - luckily we had a fire drill and I got them all picked up - had to dry them in the oven

and then re-write them. Geez. Here is my new best friend.I like him because you can take him apart haha

Scott framed a few pictures for me - first is Band Sampler by Sally Hesketh - it doesn't look exactly like the pattern because I left off some of the bands.

Then he made new frames for my Shepherd's Bush sheep. I love these new frames - I think they are perfect!

I finished a project too

Blackbird Inn Little House Needleworks

I have an iron story to tell - my iron was starting to have issues like when you hit the spray button the water came out of the base instead of the sprayer and it didn't steam anymore. It still got hot so I figured it was still fine - ladies used to heat theirs on the stove - who needs steam? I had to iron a shirt at a hotel and realized how much more work my iron was so I decided to buy a new iron. They aren't that expensive and I picked out a nice Hamilton Beach Durathon for $24. The first thing I ironed was L'arbre aux Oiseaux by Jardin Prive I sprayed around the hoop circle and ironed that - worked really nicely. So I kept ironing it and just as I finished some oil or grease came out of the iron onto my stitching. Well, I didn't panic because Dawn is great at grease removal. I took it to the kitchen and put Dawn on it

before Dawn

When I came back to it the grease had spread and was as big as the spots you see with the Dawn. I have never seen that happen with Dawn - I didn't get a picture because I started to panic. It would not come out. So I figured the picture was ruined and I had nothing to lose so I got an old toothbrush and some diluted bleach and scrubbed the spots. It took a bit of scrubbing but it worked - big sigh of relief. I ended up also using a Marly (Santas and Samplers) trick of using some ink to help the white spot look more like the rest

I ironed some shirts (because I still thought Dawn could get out whatever that was) and I don't think it leaked any more. I like the iron but I am irritated that this happened and I don't think I would buy another. I have bought a few irons and never had that happen. I hope that was a one time thing or I will be returning the iron.I decided to pull out a WIP so that is what I am working on now.

Little House Needleworks Orchard Valley Quilting Bee

Scott hung some pictures in the office/study, we hadn't done any decorating in there because we didn't know what furniture we would be getting. I love the way it looks!!

1930's lamp my mom gave me!

Scott and I both have a birthday this month. To celebrate we went letterboxing in Ohio.We saw Annie Oakley's grave and stopped at Maid-Rite Sandwich shop in Greenville Ohio for lunch, look at all the gum on the wall - crazy

We went to Columbus for dinner at Melt Bar and Grilled - I think we have been to every location and we love it!! Scott baked me the Barefoot Contessa's coconut cake - oh my, so so good!! We froze half of it because it is so fattening!!

 Scott gave me patterns - I am a lucky girl!!

TWO Renalto Parolin patterns and the needlework shop!!

Well, I have messed around long enough - I have to go study. I know I wont be back for at least two weeks. I do look at everybody's blogs when I have a minute. Scott has a hernia repair surgery this Friday and I have three finals (for ONE class) next week so I am going to be busy. Hope you all have a wonderful rest of July - stay cool or dry!

tasty treats

Hello -  Happy 4th of July! Hope you are spending the weekend doing something you enjoy with someone you love. Scott and I decided to stay home - yesterday we cooked on the grill - fabulous!!

It started raining right after we took this picture! Scott made roasted veggie salsa - it is SO GOOD!! It's also fat free - woo hoo!!

I have made some fun recipes. A few posts ago I talked about making yogurt - I have made three batches now. I love it!! The first batch was grainy (still edible) because I heated the milk too fast but now I've got it! The first batch I realized the timer doesn't work like you would expect on the yogurt warmer, so when I was done I unplugged it and put it away even though the timer hadn't run out. The next batch only warmed for a few hours and it shut off.So now I know that if I over-turn the timer I have to let the time run out or I won't get the right warming time on the next batch. The yogurt is good. I bought several kinds of jelly to flavor it - even a pumpkin butter mmmm, I put cereal in it too.I saw a recipe going around the internet for zucchini chips and I had to try them  I got the recipe from Table for Two (I didn't look at the blog other than this recipe so I don't know if it's a good one or not)I used foil the first time and the parts I could unpeel were delicious but they mostly just stuck right to the foil. Yes, the recipe says to use parchment or silicone liner. I didnt have a silicone mat so I bought two at Bed Bath and  Beyond - they were 15 bucks each and of course I used a two coupons!

 So I made them again - they are good but now I need a mandolin to get the sizes even. I actually bought one AFTER I made the last batch, at Walmart for 10 bucks - haven't used it yet though - excited to try it! One more kitchen gadget!! The silicone sheet worked great and easy to clean!!

Scott found a Mexican grocery store in Indy that has a restaurant attached - we are thrilled.The meats and vegetables are cheaper and better than my local store.  The restaurant prices are good and the food is great! I just wish it wasn't so far away. I have two new obsessions - Horchata and tostadas - let me explain -  Horchata - a Mexican rice drink - surprisingly refreshing. Of course at the restaurants they make it full of fat but Skinnytaste has a recipe for it that is fantastic. A warning though - I only use 3.5 to 4 tablespoons of sugar - the first time I used the full 1/3 cup I had to make another batch and add no sugar and put them together (so sad to have to make two batches - not hahah)  so if you make it add the sugar gradually and decide for yourself.

From Skinnytaste I also made peaches and cream popsicles I used homemade almond milk - so much better than store bought and so easy to make! I found a 2 pound bag of natural almonds at Walmart for 12 bucks - I have only used a  cup - so not that expensive either. So the popsicles are very tasty but also too much sugar - so add it gradually as well. Also, on the peach chunks - either puree all the peaches or peel the skin off because the skins are weird when frozen.

almond milk

She bought her popsicle molds on Amazon but I didn't want to spend that much money so I bought these little cheapo ones from Walmart - her recipe makes 6 - mine makes 12 so I guess that means I can eat two at a time!! She also posted a scallop taco recipe that is fantastic - really!!

green scallop tacos

My second obsession - tostadas  - at the Mexican grocery store we found these baked tostada shells (Charras) - BAKED so they have hardly any fat and they are so damn good!! I put a little bit of beans and then I made a "salsa" of avocado, cucumber and jalapeno - that's it!! I have eaten a lot of these - even made Scott go get more of the tostadas!!At the store they are 2 bucks - online they are expensive!

horchata and tostadas!!

The picture shows cheese but that was just once - I like them without cheese.
Scott's birthday is coming up - July 9th. Recently he took a business trip to Iowa and while there stopped at a bakery for breakfast called The Kettle House He brought home "Salted Caramel Chocolate Roos" They are so good he thought he might not share them with me - ha!! So for his birthday I decided to get some sent here

This is a half a sheet and there are 16 little ones - well two are missing.... or 8 (in that case just one is missing haha) big ones. I called to see how much it would be and ended up jumping the gun and ordering too early - she made them and shipped them THE NEXT DAY!!! I asked her not to overnight them - that is too expensive and I still had them in two days! The caramel was stuck to the paper they were separated in but I used a butter knife and everything was fine - I was her first mail order customer but she would like to have more mail order customers. Her sweets are divine so if you need something yummy make sure to call her - mention that Jamie from Indiana sent you just so she knows that I was impressed enough to talk about it (she doesn't know I have a blog or that I posted about the shop)
I have a before and after picture. We brought two dressers from Colorado - one is more of a workshop piece than a dresser. The brown one on the right just needed cleaned up and some wood nailed in to stop the drawers from going too far in. Scott did those things and we put it in the guest room, it is a pretty little dresser. The other one he painted black and put it in the basement for cords and stuff like that.

Well I guess that's it for today. I need to do homework so I can stitch. I got a 97 on the last test and have an A now - ohhhh geeez - only 4 more weeks of class! Be safe celebrating!!  Thanks for stopping by!!