God Bless the USA

Lion Brand? Really?

Some people turn their noses up to Lion Brand and Red Heart,
But not me.
I own a bunch of Red Heart that works great for lots of things. I have made several dog sweater with it and they turn out perfect, I have never had not even one dog come back and say, "Hey, is this Red Heart, I prefer the more expensive yarns".

I have to admit though, If I had the means, I probably would be a yarn snob :0)

Anyway, I was looking at Lion Brands website and came across this Prayer Shawl Cards and Free Patterns which I thought was really cool.

"The blessing of the Prayer Shawl provides healing and comfort to the sick, the lonely and the elderly, or shares in the accomplishment of the graduate, newlywed, and newborn. Like all acts of generosity, the presentation of a Prayer Shawl enriches the giver as well as the recipient."

This site has more directions for knit and crochet shawls as well as some background on how they orginated.
Shawl Ministry

I'm counting down to vaction day, 3 more work days to go
I CAN NOT WAIT!

Remembering how to Knit

Let's see, do I remember how to knit?
I feel so bad, it's been forever since I have felt like holding those needles in my hands. I have been foundling my fiber, looking for the perfect recipe but nothing has peeked my interest enough to get me started.

Well, you know what, I'm tired of waiting and wondering what to make.
I'm going to just jump in and do SOMETHING!

Ok, I'm starting out small, I got this great yarn with a gift certificate from my kids and I'm making a scarf...check out the colors, can you tell how pretty they are?












Here's one of just the yarn, with the tag so you can see what it is. It feels really great, I love it.













And I also have a sock started (I can never have just one project at a time)
Here'a what I have so far:







And, as you can see below, the pattern is "Jaywalker" and I got it from "Grumperina"
The yarn doesn't really show off the pattern, but it's easy and beautiful when done. I saw a girl wearing a pair she had made when I was at the "WWKIP" day.





Well, I finally managed to post about knitting on my knitting blog...YIPPY!!






On another note, today was the first regular season football game and my team lost :(
I'm pretty bummed about that, but, that's ok, next game.

I am leaving next Friday for vacation, I can't believe it, vacation!! I can't remember the last time I did that.
Granted it's only California, but still, it's a week off of work and lots of visiting with family I haven't seen for years. It should be lots of fun. The only thing I'm not looking forward to is the drive, it's about 12+ hours.

Last night my daughter in law made her first No Knead Bread, I just supervised :)
It came out wonderful!!














Well, I think I have gone on and on enough for now.
TTFN
Thanks for stopping by

Bottled Water

I have thinking a lot about my October pledge to cut back on spending and because of that I have been reading a lot more (it's a win – win)

I came across this on one my favorite new blogs "Food Wishes" which lead me to "Take Back The Tap"

The bottled water industry is a total rip off, it's crazy.
Penn and Teller really bust the myths surrounding the reasons people have for buying bottled water rather than drinking tap water.
The video is very informative, here is the link:

Penn and Teller on Bottled Water
Warning: Offensive Language

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfPAjUvvnIc


Here are some of the main points to know from "Think outside the bottle"

Bottled water corporations are changing the very way people think about water. Corporations like Coke, Nestlé and Pepsi are manufacturing demand for an essential resource that flows directly from our taps. What's more many bottled water brands actually come from the same source as public tap water though these brands are sold back to the public at thousands of times the cost.
Plastic bottles also require massive amounts of fossil fuels to manufacture and transport. Billions of these bottles wind up in landfills every year.
And when bottled water marketing convinces one in five people that the only place to get drinking water is from a bottle, it threatens the political will to adequately fund our public water systems.
There is a lot of information there and a "Pledge" form.
Please, even if you are not into saving money, read more about this rip off industry and stop contributing to it.

Thanks!

No Knead Bread

Ok, if you have not tried No Knead Bread, you must!

Here is a site that has an instructional video Breadtopia

And here "Chef John" shares his version YUMMY!!

I have made 3 loaves so far and everyone has been soooo good!
I only took pictures of the last one for some reason, I will be better about that going forward.
Here is my last loaf, it was a sourdough version:



The basic recipe is this:

3 Cups all-purpose or bread flour (more for dusting)
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed (optional)

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.
3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

That's it! It's so easy and honestly, the best bread ever!!
I made one with cinnamon and raisin and it was great.

Simple September - errrr October

So, I read about this on another blog here and it seemed to fit in with what I continually try to do anyway.
So, I took the picture that originallly said September on it and changed it to October so that I can have time to read what it's all about. More Info

Since joining the ranks of Dave Ramsey about a year ago, I have completely changed my mind set as far as money goes, and as far a "stuff" goes.
I just don't really care as much as I used to about having all the lastest technology, I'd rather have a dollar then a gadget.

So, in the month of October I will take it a step further and buy nothing that is not absolutely necessary.
"Must I spend money for this? Can I live without it? Is there a cheaper option?"
It won't be easy to find places to save since I feel like I do a pretty good job already, but I'm still going to try and see what happens.

So, October it is!



30 days of nothing

~Phantom~

I went to "The Phantom of the Opera" last night and it was AWESOME!!!