Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Well, Hmm. . .

Today we had an air conditioner installed. They also did some duct work and found that the heater was not connected to the master bedroom. We've only lived here a couple of months so it hasn't been an issue yet, but it is good to find out before we are freezing our you-know-whats off. If we could freeze that little (ha!) pooch in front off that might be another story, but I digress.
Anyway, my daughter called me into her room to see the curtains she had just hung there and I noticed that there was a little frayed rope hanging down from the duct in the craft room as I was passing through. Well, I figured they would take care of that before they left.
Later, while they were still working, I was working on the computer which is in the craft room and my son came in to ask me something. As he was leaving, my husband yells "Just stop. Don't step on that." I thought some insulation had fallen on the floor, so I told my son to come back to me while dad swept it up.
What he swept up was a rat (?) skeleton. That rope I had seen hanging from the duct was it's spine and when they moved the duct to adjust things the skull that was holding it in place came loose.
I wonder what else is up there? Well, at least there is one less rat skeleton.
Home, sweet home.

That Pink Stuff

This recipe recently came my way courtesy of a fruit recipe swap on swap-bot. I made it yesterday and it is yummy.

That Pink Stuff
1 small container cool whip
1 small can sweetened condensed milk
1 large can drained crushed pineapple
1 can cherry pie filling
1 cup chopped pecans
Dump it all in a large bowl and stir until well combined.
Chill at least 7 hours.

I only had chunk pineapple at home, so when I went to the store to get some of the other ingredients I did not have on hand, I knew I wanted to get crushed pineapple. I even saw the crushed pineapple on the shelf. I reached for the crushed pineapple. By the time I unpacked my groceries, it had metamorphosed into chunk pineapple. How does this happen? And it isn't the first time. Oh, maybe with pineapple it is the first time, but how does the cream of mushroom soup I reached for become vegetable beef (also a lovely soup, but not so good in tuna casserole) or the pistachio pudding become butterscotch. How?
Some may say that I am the common denominator and that when it comes to shopping I do not have good eye-hand coordination, but no, I believe it is some sort of early teleportation experiment being conducted by scientists in area 51 trying to reverse-engineer some alien device they have acquired.
I sure hope they work out the bugs soon. This is getting annoying.
Anyway, if you have been subjected to their experiments, just cut up the chunks into smaller pieces.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Maybe Aliens Look Like Cows

Have you seen this lamp? It is so clever.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Giddiness

I just got a thrill when I peeked in at Whip Up. They have a post about granny squares complete with pictures of granny squares to inspire you and one of the pictures is of my granny spirals (form this pattern on Crochet Me)!
I am reminded of the line in "The Jerk" when Steve Martin's character (a.k.a. the jerk) gets a copy of the new phone book and finds his name list there: "This is the kind of spontaneous publicity that makes people." O.K. maybe it isn't quite that kind of publicity, but still. . . I am tickled.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

New Kitchen Rug

A new kitchen needs a new kitchen rug and this is ours:
New Kitchen Rug
The best part is that I used a lot of yarn up. It is mostly double strands of worsted weight yarn, thought there is some rug yarn and even a sport weight in there, too. It is so comfortable to stand on.
I just chained a length that seemed right to me and did each row in single crochet. The beginning and ending tails of yarn were left hanging and tied together in three row groups. Trim the ends to make a short fringe.Easy-peasy.

Monday, June 15, 2009

zentangle quilt


zentangle quilt
Originally uploaded by jdphoenix
Look at what my daughter did with my zentangle sampler. She colored it and gave it to me for my birthday. Yes, that was back in February, but she only just posted it now. I think it is beautiful. If you click on the picture it will take you to where she posted it on Flickr. You should be able to hit the "all sizes" button above the picture and get a larger image to see the detail.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Needlebook Swap

There was a swap on Swapbot to send a needlebook to one partner. My partner said in her profile that she was getting married soon and that she is using pink and white and cherry blossoms in her wedding to this is the needlebook I came up with for her:
Pink and White Needlecase Plus

The battery on my camera gave out as I was taking pictures and since we moved recently, it took some time to find the recharger. Sigh. The inside pages have white flower trim appliqued on them. Very cute, but no pictures. The inside pages are a darker shade of pink.
I am also in a bottlecap pincushion swap so since that was on my mind, too, and I already had the felt out, my partner got one of those, too. Then, while looking for something to tie the package up with, I came across some pink cotton yarn. So, of course, she got a dishcloth, too. I think it is a sweet little package for a soon-to-be bride and she was happy with it, too. That is what counts.
Here is another picture of the pincushion:
Pink and White Bottlecap Pincushion
I really like how that picture came out.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Rosa's Tuna Salad

Shortly after I began my current job (about 4 years ago) one of my co-workers, Rosa, came in the break room and made the most wonderful tuna salad.
Rosa's Tuna Salad
There is no hard and fast recipe for it but this is the basic formula:
  • 1 can of tuna, drained and broken up
  • juice of half a lemon or 1 lime -- sprinkle on the tuna and mix
You will have to decide the amounts/proportions of the following vegetables based on your own tastes and on what you have on hand:
  • tomato
  • cucumber (I like to partially peel in and to seed it)
  • bell pepper (any color)
  • onion (red, white, yellow, or like this time green)
  • avocado
  • jalapeno pepper (try to add at least a bit, it adds a sparkle)
Chop up the veggies and toss them in.
Salt and pepper to taste.

This is very healthy and is delicious on crackers or just at is.