Category: Love

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Things To Love

I suppose it’s no secret that I’ve turned into a puzzle freak these days. The thing is that I listen to TONS of talks, books on tapes and webinars and I absolutely MUST do something while I listen. If I have a non complicated crochet project, then that’s my busy-hands-project-of-choice. But if not–it’s a puzzle baby!

Sweet little Lyla, taking a much needed nap. Babies coming any day now. Hee hee!!

Did I mention my thing with puzzles? Yeah, I’m not kidding. This one felt good to work on while it was snowing outside.

This pretty little pattern was the forest-y colored request from mama for Linky’s baby blanket. It was soooo soft and stretchy.  I have to pretend that the blanket is actually a hug from Grammy.

Can’t have much of a post about things to love without our crazy man Hobbes being in it. I don’t think he has slept in the same position twice in his life! Haha. We love him so much. He’s such a gooood boy.

This might not look like much to you–but this is a BIG, ENORMOUS deal! When I bought this funny old house, I was stumped that the thermostat was in the bedroom. Weird, right? I mean, in order for the family room to be even slightly warm or cold the bedroom had to be a furnace or icebox. No happy medium what-so-ever.

Well, I’ve fussed about it for years now and thought, ‘why on earth isn’t that thermostat on the front room wall instead of the bedroom wall?’

One day, my sweet son-in-law came to my house and announced that he was moving the thermostat to the right wall. Just like that! And that is exactly what he did!! If you hear squealing from somewhere it’s probably me!

Thank you SO much Josh!!! My house is finally even tempered. Haha. Love you!! 

For a million years now, I’ve had broken, dilapidated photo albums and boxes and stacks of photos. Well not any more! HA! I’ve taken them all and sorted the pictures and put them in nicely labeled tubs. Now, I know all the historians out there won’t like how I’m storing them–for posterities sake. But I promise you, this is better than how it was. Plus, it makes me really happy. We call that a win/win.

Annnnnd again with the puzzles. I can’t help it. It’s a serious problem….

that I love.

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The Granny Ripple Afghan

I’ve been working on a new afghan for my Dane and sweet Kortney. They’ve been married for a million years and are ready to have their third baby any day now so, it’s about time I made them their very own, personalized blanket. They likely won’t need it much–for warmth anyway–because these two very naughty kids moved away to Texas. WHAAAAT?!! Sheesh.

ANYway, Kortney loves purple and black and I’ve loved this pattern for many moons. It’s really, really fun to work.

It’s called The 6-Day Baby Blanket although I increased everything to make it more of a Million Day Grown-Up Blanket because…you know, they’re grownups.

Long, long ago–I began making a different afghan for them . It was called the Stained Glass Afghan. Yes, yes, it was very long ago. The sad news is that I never finished that one, because while it was beautiful on one side–it was positively hideous on the other side. Now I don’t know how you feel about that–but me? Nope.  I’m not having it. So that project was abandoned.

This one has been much more fun because it’s one of those work on it while you’re watching TV or listening to a podcast type project. And get this…

I’m nearly finished with it!! I’m telling the truth!!

You’ll see.

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Measuring Stick

We have a funny little patio roof outside the window that perfectly measures the level of snow that falls out back at any given time–without me having to open the door. How’s that for brilliant? 

It’s positively the best measuring stick for those snowy, snuggly days that are best spent indoors with a pretend YouTube fireplace, soft music and a mug of hot chocolate. 

That about 4 inches right there. 

Yessiree. We’re happily staying put. 

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Candy Turkey Legs

Ok, guys–are these the cutest little turkey drumsticks that you’ve ever, EVER seen?! You KNOW they are!

And  no lie, they taste so good, you’ll be lucky if somebody doesn’t eat them all in one sitting. Ahem.

First, you’ll need three simple things:

1 bag of Braided Pretzel Sticks

1 bag Kraft Caramels

Dipping chocolate– we used 2 large Symphony bars

Here’s how you make them. 

Snap one end off the pretzels or they will be too long and look funny.  You can see that we didn’t break too much off. Just enough to make them the right size.

Next you’ll want to warm up the caramels. You can do this a few different ways. You can soften them up with a few seconds in the microwave–if you have one. We don’t, so we put them in a Ziploc bag and set them in a bowl of hot water. It worked just fine.

We’re not trying to melt the caramels–just make them soft enough to mold, kind of like clay.

Next, wrap the caramel around the broken end of the pretzel. Mold and shape it like a turkey leg–a blob at one end, tapering down towards the middle of the pretzel.

You’ll have a sweet little plate of naked drumsticks when you’re finished. While they sit there in all their skinned, raw, vulnerable glory you’ll need to melt the chocolate. We just put it in a small pan and warmed it on the stove on low.

Once it’s completely melted, dip the little things in the chocolate and let them rest on wax paper. You might want to be smarter than I was and put the wax paper on a pan first. That way you can pop them in the fridge to help them set faster.

I don’t know about you, but I simple LOVE giving someone a surprise that makes them say, “OH, MY GOSH!! How adorable!”

Then they laugh–

which is, of course my all time favorite reaction.

Luckily, I made a million of these.

Guess I’m just a needy little soul.

Ha.

 

 

PS- This recipe was first spotted on Taste of Home Recipes. I only did one minor tweak–using one caramel instead of two and breaking the pretzels.

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A Blue Heeler Pup

 

If you have little people around, even sometimes, it’s quite likely that you’re familiar with this little cartoon creature.

Her name is…

Bluey.

In fact, this little Blue Healer puppy is so popular that my little granddaughter–Miss Fluttershy– tries to talk like her, and play games like her and…. ummmm…wag her….ummm…tail like her. She even had a Bluey birthday party with all the trimmings.

So, when I found this pattern online at Monoxa Crochet Toys I was really excited to try it. I changed a few things–just because I wanted to–but it turned out just like I hoped it would.

I believe it was a hit. I can just see our girl smiling and…

wagging her tail.

Hee hee.