I’ve been fussed at by numerous people for not updating recently. Okay, fine, you care about my life. Blah, blah, blah. J/K! Love y’all!

Aaaaaanyway… let’s see… what’s new? Right this moment? I’m tipsy on soynog and whiskey. Cool, huh?

My daughter has strep. Desperately trying to keep the boys from catching it.

The only knitting I’ve done in the last month is my travelling scarf.

I participated in an ornament swap in LSG on Ravelry.

I showed Flat Stanley a good time.

Went to the Ren Fest with one of my BFFs.

Haven’t done any holiday shopping, yet.

Heard Ann Coulter got her jaw wired shut (fuck yeah!)!!!!

Did I mention I’m drinking  whiskey right now? Yeah, I did.

Oh, I just listened to Alice’s Restaurant! Cuz you know it’s not a real American Thanksgiving without some Arlo in the mix.

Oooh, Hubby’s smoking a turkey for the big day! Yum!

Can’t think of anything else right now. Maybe I can ramble more later? Yeah, later.

Until next time,

Back home. All is well. Pretty damned tired.

Until next time,

I’ve packed my yarn and my kids and I’m bugging out. Cross your collective fingers that I have a home to come back to.

Until next time,

The Ravelympics aren’t over yet and I’ve got start-itis. Shit.

Until next time,

We has us a new pet mouse! It was living in our piano. It came out. A cat caught it. Then I caught it. We named it Mozart. He iz cute.

Okay, that’s the short version. We found a mouse living in the piano. I didn’t have the heart to do anything about it. So I just decided to let it be. Tuesday it came out and one of the kitties got a hold of it and injured it pretty badly. My youngest son came and got me and told me that the pianomouse was in the kitchen. I went in there to see, and found the mouse nose-to-nose snifing my Sarah kitty. Total cartoon moment. I walked over and just picked it right up. It didn’t freak out, or try to run, or try to bite me. Weird, I know. I plopped it into an old fish tank with some of the old rat toys. It had blood all over it’s face and left front paw. I warned the kids that it might not survive. If it had internal injuries, there was nothing we could do. I told them that the best we could do for the little fellow was to give him a clean, safe place to tend his owns wounds.

Well, he’s doing much better. His left eye is looking good. I have no idea if he can see out of it or not, but it looks like the right one (a little black bead). He still holds his left front paw up when he walks, but he can climb and run with no problem, so I think that’s a good sign. He’s eating and drinking, and peeing and pooping. All good signs, I think. I think he’s going to make it. I hope to only keep him for 2 or 3 weeks and then let him go in the woods behind the house.  (And pray he doesn’t end up in my attic this winter.)

Mouse rehabbing. Whodathunkit?

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There has been Knitting! I made a baby sweater for a friend. A little Kimono top for a baby girl born on July 4th.

Also there’s been yet another Utopia hat. But it looks much better on the recipient than the plain old picture I have of it. If/when I get her permission I’ll post that pic.

I think that’s all for now.

Until next time,

My daughter has been schooled in the ways of making the red beans and rice. Hooray for family traditions! We gathered all of our ingredients and began our lesson.

Of course, there’s the actual red beans, then there’s onion, garlic, bell pepper, celery, salt and pepper, and sausage. Later there’s rice (we prefer brown). I did the major prep of the veggies and let Miss Sadie do the “chopping into little bits” part. She needs some practice with her knife skills, but she’s getting there. And before you ask, my recipe is roughly this:

1 pound red kidney beans

1 medium onion, diced

1 medium bell pepper, diced

1 or 2 tablespoons chopped garlic

a few stalks of celery

some salt

some pepper

8 or so cups or water

some spicy stuff if you feel like it

1 or 2 pounds smoked sausage

Rice (eventually)

Put everything but the sausage and rice in a pressure cooker and cook for one hour after the jiggly thing starts jiggling. Hush up Alton Brown! It can work this way and you know it! After one hour, turn off the heat and let sit for awhile. When depressurized, open the pot. Add sliced sausage and a few more cups of water. Can you tell that I don’t really measure much of anything? Let simmer for as long as it takes to reach the thickness you like. My hubby and I like the red beans to be fairly thick. Meanwhile, cook your rice.

Serve with some cornbread, or buttered bread. Yummy stuff. Eat every Monday…I command you!

Ok, that’s it. Until next time,

Kiddo #3 took his turn at the stove on Monday. At about 3 in the afternoon he asked if we could cook red beans and rice. Nope. Sorry. Too late in the day to start that. So I sent him into the pantry to dig around for something else he might like to have for dinner. I like the way he thinks! Not only did he come up with a yummy dinner, he used up the leftover grilled chicken from Friday night! Talent, pure talent.

We had Soy Ginger Noodles with Stir Fried Veggies and Grilled Chicken Breast, plus Egg Rolls.

Looks good, right? It was. Mr. 10 year-old did a beautiful job, handled everything like a pro, and could not have impressed me more. He made me promise that next week we’d tackle the red beans and rice, though. I don’t think it’ll be a problem!

Until next time,

So the eldest child has decided that he wants to cook a meal, too. He can’t decide what he wants to cook, though. I’ve planted the bug in his ear that since tomorrow (well, later today, if you want to be technical) is Monday he should learn how to cook red beans and rice. Because it’s Monday. And that’s a Monday dish. He said he’d take it under consideration. Bah! Under consideration? WTF? Cheeky little bugger. We’ll see…

Until next time,

Stolen from Stellify…

The Rules:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

My Result:

1. Van Dyke: Allison, after Picasso, 2. A platter full of cheese!, 3. Andrew Jackson, 4. The green hair club meeting, 5. Scarlett Johansson by heryl Nields, 6. Amazing Circles: Diet Coke Cans, 7. Eilean Donan Castle Scotland HDR, 8. Pumpkin Pie, 9. accept, 10. The KNOT of a Marriage, 11. timid, 12. Rat Scarf As Bondage Aid

I like it.

Until next time,

What with the youngest monkey successfully pulling off a meal last night, kidlet #2 spazzed out and wanted to cook dinner tonight. OK. What did she want to cook for dinner, I asked. Grilled chicken breasts (not gonna happen), peas (do-able), and mashed potatoes (also do-able). We decided that Daddy should do the chicken grilling since he’s got way more experience with the grill than she does. She did, however, choose the seasonings that went on them. And besides, there are bugs out there. That left the peas and potatoes. She needed a little help with the manual can opener, but microwaved those peas like a champ. And let’s just say that instant potato flakes are no match for my girl. She whipped their fluffy little butts!

Now, to get the eldest child cooking and then teach all 3 of them how to run the washer and dryer. Yee haw, this is turning out to be a pretty darn productive summer after all!

Until next time,