Snow Day # 39..

more snow today. Based on dire forecasts from yesterday, my boss & I made the executive decision to remain closed today. Of course when I cracked my eyes open at 7:15 this morning, it hadn't even started snowing yet.  Minor pang of guilt, beaten out of me by a little dog crawling all over my stomach wanting scratchies and a tinkle walk.

Here's my Toil & Trouble progress:

I'm hoping to at least finish that tallest tree today; I have bills to pay and the dreaded taxes to finish (I've been avoiding!! and procrastinating!!!) and Em need a new cell phone, so I have to waste countless hours on the phone figuring out how to do that (major logistics problem too boring to tell)and then my farrier is coming out this afternoon at 4:00.

I think I might be starting a new head cold- no heat Monday at the office again- it was 39 degrees at 8:00. My boss strolls in around 9:30 after his gym workout and gets the heat back on. It doesn't hit 66 degrees until almost 1:00. I had a little space heater but it only seems to warm the body part right in front of it. So my hips down to my calves were roasty, but my hands and feet were ice cubes. I knew I was too chilled for too long when I got home and went riding because I thought I felt warm. It was 15 degrees at the barn. ........Yeah riiiiiiggght!

Here's my home-dyed linen that's too small for "Garden Grew":

It's the fabric on the left- it started as a 40ct piece of "Bisque" linen. I dyed it twice in a bath of Pomegranate Pizzazz herbal tea. The other piece is a 40ct piece of "Ivory" linen for contrast. I like how it came out, but alas, it's about 4" too short to use. I ordered a new larger piece of already dyed fabric that hopefully I shall have soon. Glenna already started her sampler. I can't wait to start!

British Comedy Rules

How they do dat?

Insert adjective here_____

So I bought a piece of linen upon which to stitch "And a Garden Grew". Why I can't do simple addition is beyond me. I knew for 32 ct I'd need 24" SQ.  by adding 6" to the 18"  SQ. design size. Somehow I got that I'd need 18"Sq. for 40 ct. fabric- design size of  14-1/2" SQ. And after I spent the better part of yesterday dying my 18" x 27" "Bisque" linen to a beautifully muted mauve, I measured and it shrunk to 17" before pressing. It won't be big enough girls! Damn! I wanted to start this weekend!

Ms.Axe's ankle is looking fabulous. Now I need to start riding her again. Except it's too darn cold.

Bob is feeling better (did I mention he was back in the hospital all last week?) They seemed to have dislodged the mucous blockage by literally pounding on his back, plus 8 days of progressively stronger IV antibiotics  to knock down the pneumonia infection for good (we hope)

I have one of the last trees on Toil filled in; you'll just have to use your imagination until I'm not too lazy to pull the camera out.

Yippee!

Thanks to Glenna, I found my missing JCS 2007 Ornament issue. She bought Rosewood Manor's "And A Garden Grew" so I commented that I'd stitch along with her when she starts, so I went looking to see if I bought fabric, and there was the magazine! Yay me!

Axe's ankle is getting better, finally.

here it is last Wednesday:

It's her right rear (which is on the left in the photo)

Here it is tonight before walking & ice:

 

and after walking & ice:

Sorry for the strange sepia color- these are cell phone photos.

LOST starts tonight at 8:00!!! I have to go wash dishes & make my lunch

TTFN

If at First You Don't Succeed,

GO shopping!

My electricity went out minutes before my alarm. Until it came back on, I had no water either (well pump), so no shower. Or light under which to shovel my driveway. So I curled back up under the covers.

Lights came back on about an hour later; I went out to see how much (more) snow we got last night. Another 6" or so (we got about 6" yesterday too), but the plows got the end of my driveway good. So an hour and a half later (and lots of cursing that I live on the right side of the road off the main street so I get ALL the snow dumped in the end of my driveway every storm), I'm able to hop in the shower. I drive up to work, very late at this point (10:00), but I figure I've given the plow guys at the office time to do their job. I slow down on my boss's street, and there's a 24" high by 4 or 5 foot deep plow wash blocking the driveway, and the driveway itself hasn't been touched. So no plow guys on MLK day I guess. No way I'm going to try to breach that snow bank in a Corolla. So I drive past and head to IKEA for the last day of their winter sale. Look:

All kinds of Xmas ornaments, plus 2 of those large black & white storage boxes, PLUS 6 rolls of silver/gold generic wrapping paper for less than $27!

Then I got my tax software and some paper at Staples and came home. I had my obligatory IKEA cinnamon bun with my coffee at home so I could share with Chickie.

Here's my snowy world:

I'll probably be cooped up doing tax returns, FAFSA & CSSProfile applications for financial aid (last ones for me, hopefully!), so I might not be blogging much until those are done.

Stay warm!

Wouldn't you like to be at one of these "things"?

Keep it Going....

More T&T progress:

I think all I have left is infilling those 4 trees. I substituted WDW Turkish red on that midlish one.

Also- here's some stash I picked up a while ago- between Thanksgiving & Christmas:

"I'm good with that."

I'm Telling you:

You have to keep up with me people!!!

A timely health alert from our favorite cocktail-swizzling mom:

Happy Meals & Happy Hour

And these cakes are just wrong, but anatomically correct:

Cakewrecks

Oh and progress picture on Toil & Trouble:

(I heard those sighs of "finally"!)

So Close!

I'm closing in on the end of Toil & Trouble- if I just sat down & actually stitched on it.

No heat at work this morning- 50 deg's at 8:00, dropping to 49. No propane. Delivery "before the end of business today". He gives me the word to go home (Yay! I can stitch!), just as I go down the stairs to leave, the propane truck shows up. Damn!

Now it's up to a balmy 52. It's supposed to be snowing at home, too. Perfect day to go home early on his dime.

Axe has a puffy back ankle. I think she strained it in the paddock.

She's walking on it, but it's warm and swollen. So no riding, as if I'd do that in zero degree weather!

Back to my shivering. It's hard to type in gloves.

Wrap Up

So the tree came down yesterday, and the snow house went back into it's tub. I took a few pix of some of my Xmas things:

My Hallmark Collectible Santa & sleigh. I bought this piece by piece when Em was small, so over 15 years ago. One of the sets of reindeers was hard to get, but I prevailed.

About 6 years ago I got these in an after Xmas sale at one of those temporary stores at the mall:

They're "Kringles" from Dept. 56. Sorry the lower on is blurry. These rank in my list of favorite ornaments.

Linda from stitching made this as a gift for us all. Love it! Thanks Linda!

Tonight, well actually it cooked all day in the crock pot, I made this:

"To Die For Crock Pot Roast" from Recipezaar.

To save you a click:

I used a 4-lb chuck pot roast,  one package  (1-1/4 oz.) of Knorr brown gravy mix, one package (1 oz.) dried Italian salad dressing mix, and one half of a package (1-1/4 oz.) ranch dressing mix, dry.

1. Put meat in crock pot
2. Mix dry mixes together in a bowl & sprinkle over meat.
3. Pour 1/2 cup of water around roast
4. Cook on low for 7-9 hours

And it WAS to die for! It would have been even better if I had used one of those handy dandy crock pot liner bags I had sitting up in my cupboard that Jeanne from stitching recommended.

I must admit I was very skeptical that this wouldn't be too spicy/dry-mix-y; but it wasn't- it was juicy and flavorful, but not like it had been cooked in salad dressing at all. I will definitely do this again as is.

Chickie's assessment of how well I shared was indicated by how hard she nipped my fingers when I fed her some meat.

Go Gators!

Filling the blanks...

First we have a “Mostess” cupcake: chocolate cake with vanilla marshmallow filling and a bittersweet ganache frosting. The little squiggles are white chocolate butter cream.

Then we have a “Spring Fling” cupcake: vanilla cake with a strawberry marshmallow filling and a white chocolate butter cream frosting.

The inside:

Lastly, we have a “Good Time” cupcake: chocolate cake with peanut butter filling and Ghiradelli chocolate frosting. I also created a vanilla cake version.

We all ended up gabbing instead of stitching, except for Jane, and maybe Joanne?

Now I'm full.

Thank you and good night.

What's the Antidote for Sugar High???!!!

before I get to the FOOD portion of our program, let me give you a long-awaited stitching update on Toil & Trouble:

That partially-infilled brown tree represents 5- 2 ply, 18" lengths of floss and about 38 minutes of stitching at lunch today. I worked on the text & grass  Monday.

Now for the good stuff!

A Seemingly innocent chocolate cupcake.

Let's look a little closer, shall we?

OOOOOOO!!!

It's hiding the culinary equivalent to Victoria's Secret lingerie!

CREAM FILLING!

I'm calling these "Mostess cupcakes"! I've made 2 other filled cupcakes for tomorrow night. I'll post pictures then. This is just a tease in case any of those bitches read my blog before then!

Starting the New Year with a Drip

instead of a bang. Heart palpatations from the boiler- the drain valve started dripping yesterday.
Luckily Bob has a friend who does heating and he came up & looked at my beast. He was able to successfully tighten the valve (I didn't want to touch it for fear the corrosion would cause it to snap completely), and he determined a few problems that need to be addressed in the spring. I just need to keep a vigilant eye on it thru the rest of the winter.
I went to ride yesterday, and the indoor seemed to be locked. ? I'm about to go up after this post to make another attempt. Jodi's usually good with warnings about anything, so maybe I didn't jiggle the knob enough, or it was an accidental lock-out.
Em's off to Southern Californiafor a few days. The pleasures of young adult-hood. She has a good friend at MIT who just sold a video game of his own invention, for a very large sum of money. Large enough to take 10 friends (I think that's how many are going) to CA and pay their airfare & hotel for the trip.
Me, I get to stay home and run down cellar with a flashlight 10 times a day.
Bob finally is able to get around & about. He's not 100%, but he's bored with staying home. He & his doctors are still trying to get his breathing on an even keel. Every visit to the hospital in Wareham really screws him up with their non-sensical procedures and prescription practices.
Instead of stitching, I have to confess, I've been reading. I just can't do both. I really, really, want to do some work on Toil & Trouble.
I'm going to attempt filled cupcakes for stitching Thursday night. I have 3 flavor combos planned.
Big secret for now.
Well, I need to get changed to ride.
TTFN