Sunny Monday

It is a very sunny Monday.  I'm not usually a fan of Mondays, but today is an exception.  On Friday evening Rod bought some Danish at Costco, and although I'm not supposed to eat them, I really pigged out on them on Saturday.  I got the sampler quilt blocks ironed and ready to square up on Saturday, but that was it.  Mary and the kids came to spend the afternoon.  With Mary student teaching, she goes to work at 7:30 am and many days it is 5:30 pm by the time she leaves the school.  She goes home, helps the kids with homework, cooks dinner, and then settles in to do lesson plans.  She has come up with some very innovative projects to supplement the lessons, and I'm so proud of her.  So spending the afternoon with her and the kids was a real treat.  But as the day progressed, I started to feel not-so-good.  The Danish were catching up with me.  Will I never learn!!!

Sunday started off much the same.  I decided to up my dosage of Victoza since on Saturday I wanted to eat everything in sight.  I don't know if it was the increased dosage or the Saturday binge, but I felt lousy.  I did venture out to Krissy's softball game at 4:00, and the twins and Mary's family came here after the game for a steak dinner.  And they cooked it!!!  I don't know if it was windburn or a fever, but I was really warm after they left, and debated about calling Kris about my taking Monday off.  But last night I slept really well.

And this morning, the sun came up and so did I.  I feel great today.  I have this mouth full of sweet teeth, not just a sweet tooth like most people.  So my plan for this week is to look through my back issues of Diabetic Living and my Hungry Girl cookbooks to find some sweet treats that are "legal" for me.

I did want to show you the photo of the mug buckets that I made for Mary to use for gifts for Teacher Appreciation Day.  One is on the mug and has some of my things in it (for photo only) and you can see the others around it.  One of the great things about this project is that they were all done with fabric, seam binding and ric-rac that I had already.  I didn't have to buy anything.  I can't really call this a "stash buster", but maybe it can be considered a "stash denter".

Hope your week is sew sunny. 

This and That

Another Friday, the last one in April in fact.  Time just seems to be flying by.  I just figured that I would use today to catch up on this and that.  For those of you who have inquired, "Vic" and I are still going strong.  My numbers are great, and I'm feeling better.  Tomorrow I go for blood work.  I know that my A1C will still be high, since it measures your number for the previous three months.  But I know that the next one will be better.  Yesterday, I finished the six mug buckets that I was making for Mary,(will post photos when I find the camera) and now to finish the Saddle Up quilts.  Hopefully, next week I will have some quilt photos to post.

Exactly 5 months from today we leave for Disney.  We are so excited to be there for the Food and Wine Festival, and the anniversary of EPCOT.   Pam and I continue to plan our trip   We have made our touring plan and all of our Advance Dining Reservations. Our airline tickets are paid for.  I have purchased some pins for trading at the parks.  And the trip is about half paid for.  But I still need to find the money for the other half of the trip, tips, and spending money.  Not to mention the rental car.  We had gone through AutoSlash last year and got a really great price.  But this year, the companies we like to use are no longer available through AutoSlash, so we made reservations through AAA.  In an attempt to find extra money, we are tightening our belts.

The price of almost everything seems to be going up, our electric budget has jumped $30/month.  Food costs are enough to give you a heart attack (without eating bad stuff).  And gasoline - let's not even discuss that.  Rod drives 100 miles each day to and from work.  And we have a car that gets 27 miles/gallon.  Still he's spending between $60 and $90/week in gasoline.  I don't understand how people with SUV's and large trucks are making ends meet.  In the past, I've lived in what I call "lay-off mode".  So many of the years in the '80s, Rod was laid off, and I had little tricks I used to make ends meet.  One of my best was to look at the grocery ads and plan my menus around what was on sale.  I'm back in "lay-off" mode to try and save a little money.  Do you Pinterest?  Boy I do.  I love finding some of the cool things that are posted by others, especially recipes!

This week one of our neighbors brought a gift of 8 pounds of butter, and 3 huge heads of cabbage.  It was so thoughtful.  The other night, I made fried cabbage and noodles.  That used 1 head.  I had found this recipe for a stuffed cabbage casserole on Pinterest, and made it before.  The family loved it.  Since our local grocery store has tomato sauce on sale, it is a perfect meal for next week.  Tonight Rod will stop at Costco on his way home from work (since it's on his way home, it saves gas to not have to drive there after he comes home).  He's going to bring one of their rotisserie chickens home for dinner.  Since it will just be the two of us tonight, there will be leftovers.  I found this recipe for chicken crescent roll ups on Pinterest and they look so good.  I have 4 oz. of onion/chive cream cheese left over from a recipe that I made last night, and I think I could substitute it for the onion and garlic in this recipe.  And  crescent rolls are on sale this week.  I have a large package of corn tortillas that I bought at Sam's Club two weeks ago, and need something to do with them.  Back to my Pinterest recipes, and I found this recipe for shredded beef tacos.  I always have beef roasts in the freezer, and I have a bag of taco seasoning that I made.  Don't they look good?

I have been buying 100 calorie snacks for the kids and I.  But this pay, we decided to buy store-brand sandwich cookies and cheez-it's and package them in sandwich zippie bags ourselves.  I keep a "snack basket" where I put the snacks that the kids know they are allowed to have.  I think this will make them just as happy and save me some money, maybe more so since the bags will be see through.

I'm off to find more money - have a great weekend.

 

Thank You

A hearty thank you to whomever apologized to Mother Nature.  It must have done the trick, the winter weather advisory has been canceled, the rain seems to have ended and we didn't get a flake of snow.  The temperatures never went below freezing, so hopefully the strawberries and blueberries will be ok.  We really dodged the spring snow bullet.

Please Apologize

Will the individual or individuals who made Mother Nature angry please apologize??!!!  Friday was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the temperature was 80 degrees.  And then, someone angered Mother Nature.  Saturday was cold and rainy, and today they are calling for 4-6 inches of snow.  People, it's April 23!!  Heavy snowfall amounts don't belong on this date.

Much to everyone's surprise, I went grocery shopping on Saturday morning.  I know, it's a shock.  I just needed to go, and Rod has been getting groceries for weeks now.  And so, I put on my big girl panties and ventured out in the cold rain.  Probably shouldn't have, because $340 later I returned home with bags and bags of groceries that needed to be put away.  And unlike Mother Hubbard's, my cupboards weren't quite bare, so finding room for everything was a challenge.  As much as I love seeing the freezer and the cupboards bulging with food, it makes my life so much more difficult.  There are so many meal choices, and I have a terrible time deciding what to make.  You know that I'm a list-maker, and true to fashion, I keep a list of meal possibilities on my phone.  And to avoid losing recipes that I think look good, I pin them on Pinterest.  How did I ever get along without this phone???  Today is cold, rainy, and very gloomy so I've put aside my list and elected to make French Onion Soup. I bought a huge bag of shredded mozzarella cheese and some Vidalia onions, so French Onion Soup seems like a great choice.  I make my Onion Soup with chicken broth rather then with beef broth.  It's milder and the recipe is so simple.  Diced onions (I prefer them to sliced) sauteed in butter.  Flour added to make a roux and then the chicken broth and a couple of splashes of Worcestershire sauce.  And I have some old bread that will make wonderful croutons.  Mmmm, my tummy feels warmer just thinking about it.

Stay warm.

To Ears Or Not to Ears???

 I love hats.  No really, I love hats.  When I needed a hat on our 2010 Disney trip, I bought this hat.  And it was one of my favorites.  However, when we were late arriving at the airport last year, Rod accidentally left it on the baggage counter when he was checking our bags.  And he felt terrible about it.

I had purchased this hat to take with us and it was smashed  neatly packed in one of the suitcases.  I really loved this hat, it was one of the hats that was a sun blocker hat.  It was soft and it was comfortable.  But after getting caught in a cloudburst at Animal Kingdom, it had lost it's shape, and certainly was no longer comfortable.

And so I bought this hat.  It was comfortable, but certainly not one of my most flattering choices.  And believe it or not, it was a very warm hat.  I thought being made of straw mesh, it would be cooler than some others, but I was mistaken.  So this year I will certainly need a new hat.  I think I will try to find one similar to the hat from 2010.

So now here is my dilemma.  Although I was a big Mickey Mouse Club fan in my younger years and had a set of Mouse Club ears, in adulthood I have not had a set of ears.  So, should I buy a pair of ears this year?  If so, should they be simple ears, ears with bows, glittery ears,  or maybe a hat with ears like Bubby had last year?  This would combine a new hat with ears, and I really loved this hat.  And so my question is "To ear or not to ear" .

Good News

"They" say that everyone deserves a second chance, or maybe a third.  And so, I decided to give "Vic" another chance.  And boy am I glad that I did!!!  I had been thinking that when we were at Disney, I had no side effects.  I know that Disney is "magical", but I didn't believe that it affected my medications.  Each morning I would get up, take my shot, get dressed, and then travel to breakfast.  So, this time when I took up with "Vic" again, I have been taking my shot at 6AM, and then going back to sleep until 7.  And then I eat around 8.  The good news is that I have had no evil side effects and my numbers are great.  Morning numbers hover between 111 and 125, such a big improvement over 185 to 246.  And I feel great.  I take fewer naps during the day.  I no longer wake up with a headache, and my happy-happy has returned.  AND, I'm sewing again.

I've been trying to get away from playing so many games on Facebook.  But I need to keep busy so that I don't eat from boredom.  I've been downloading free books to my Kindle from Pixel of Ink. And I've been reading again.  And I didn't realize how much I missed it.  So I guess you could say that I have truly made a new beginning  - finally.  Hope I can stick with it.  Have a great rest of the week.

Let Me Hear a Big Wahoo

And celebrate with me!!!  I have had two doses of the Victoza and so far have no unpleasant side effects.  My numbers this morning were 30 points lower than yesterday, and this is the first morning in a long time that I haven't wakened up with a headache.

But enough about the medical stuff.  Remember I posted about the mug buckets I made for my girls. . ?  Well, Mary loved them so much that she has asked me to make 6 of them as gifts for teachers for Teacher's Appreciation Day.  It's May 8, so I should have time.  I finished all the blocks for the Saddle Up sampler quilt, and have to finish those quilts for Memorial Day weekend.  Shouldn't be a problem.

 When I do my hand stitching during the day, I keep my "stuff" in a plastic zippy bag.  I know, it's so chic.  And I'm always afraid that someone will step on the bag and get a needle in their foot.  So I've been checking out needle books and other cool sewing aids on Pinterest.  Check out these cool pincushions complete with thread.  I downloaded the directions and am going to make one.  My thread spools are bigger than these, so I will try to adjust it to fit my thread.

  I won this metal lunchbox from Bee in My Bonnet, and think it will make an excellent sewing kit.  Then I decided I needed to make a needle book to hold my needles.  So now I'm trying to decide  what sort of needle book I want to make.  I have 2 multicolor  packs of felt, so I will have lots of colors to choose from.

I found this needle case and loved it.  I downloaded the directions and hope to get it made this weekend.  You can find the tutorial here:



Now I'm off to read a few blogs.  It's so great to feel positive and happy again.

Cheerful on a Gloomy Day

Over the weekend, I decided that I would make Crunchy Asian Noodle Salad to have for my lunch this week.  (Recipe on the recipe page)  The recipe calls for a coleslaw mix, but when Rod did the shopping, he didn't find any.  Instead he bought a broccoli slaw mix.  I had heard of them, but had never eaten broccoli slaw.  I went ahead and made the salad with some changes.  I only made 1/2 of the dressing recipe, and used only 1 package of the Ramen noodles.  I didn't have any mandarin oranges, but I did have some "cuties".  I peeled two of them, sliced them and put them in the salad.  When I went to eat the salad, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it.  The broccoli stays crunchier than the cabbage did, and has a great flavor.

This morning I started back on the Victoza, after getting my Dr.'s approval.  I took my shot at 6:00 am, and then went back to sleep at 7:00.  I drank my coffee at 7 and then waited to eat.  And I experienced no nausea.  I'm drinking more water, and hopefully that will eliminate the leg cramps.  I've started to keep a journal of how I feel, what my glucose levels are, and what I've eaten.  I figure it will help me to determine what foods aren't agreeing with me or my levels.  And, strangely enough, even though the day is really gloomy and the highs are only in the 40's, I'm feeling pretty cheery.  Hope your day is a good one.

The Earth Is Not Flat. . .

and therefore, I have not fallen off the face of it!   I have been busy working on blocks for a sampler quilt for the Saddle Up.  I'm on the last of 12, and once the top has been put together, I will post a picture.  I hand piece the blocks, and then put the top together by machine.  Have you seen the pattern for "mug buckets"?  I thought they were the cutest things.  And this morning I finished four of them.  I wanted to make them for my four girls for Easter.  I have a box of mugs that belonged to my sister (who passed away in 1991) and I thought this would make the gift even more special.  If you haven't seen any of her "bucket" patterns, check out her site.  I may need to try a couple more of her patterns.

Rod doesn't work tomorrow - his company feels that Good Friday should be a holiday, God Bless Them.  It has become a family tradition for us to dye Easter eggs on Good Friday.  It started with our kids, and now we carry on with the grand kids.  This will be Jake's first time dying eggs with us.  He dyed eggs with his family over the last weekend, and Kristin said he found it was easier to use his hands.  By the time they finished, Jake was beginning to resemble The Incredible Hulk.  Have a safe and blessed Easter.