January 27, 2009

Wow! Three posts in one day! Don't you feel special? No?? That's what I thought, but a girl can dream, can't she?! Anyway, I hope you enjoy all my jabbering...

Where was my brain when I was writing yesterday's post?! I forgot to tell you about my first foray into designing!!

I was sitting in my chair Sunday night, chatting with Debi and Frishawn on IM's and going over, in my head, projects I had in which I could use the "Old Maid of Liberty" silk floss Kathy Y RAK'd me with. A vision of a design popped in my head. So...I took my trusty graph paper pad to dialysis with me and spent my time trying to sketch out a chart. I ended up with three similar designs and I think I'm going to stitch at least one of them after the cover of A Stitcher's Companion is completed. I am very eager to see what I did!!

I received another award today! This one is from Jackie and it's the "Fabulous Blog" Award. As part of the award I am supposed to list five of my addictions and then name five bloggers who I think are "Fabby".

Here are five of my addictions:

1. Reading romance novels, even if it's just five minutes, before turning out the light to go to sleep.

2. Needlework, especially needlepoint and cross stitch.

3. NCIS & The Unit. I have a DVR so I haven't missed an episode of either one in over four years.

4. Horses! I am not allowed ride any more so I stay away from them in person, but they're a life-long passion. Talk about poetry in motion!

5. Civil War History. I love going to battlefields, seeing historic movies, and reading about the Civil War Era. My father was a re-enactor when I was little so I got hooked at an early age!

How's that for diverse interests? I tried to name some things that you may not know from just reading my blog.

My nominees for Fabulous Blogs are:

Wawanna
Mylene
Shellie
Kathy K
Lori

As you can see from my previous post, it snowed today for the first time this year. Kasey had a wonderful time when we went out in it! I think her favorite thing to do was to scoop up snow in her mouth as she was running around. Every time she stopped running she'd get another mouthful, too. She loves eating fresh snow. I love seeing her this active. The snow seems to invigorate her.

After I took her out this morning I had errands to take care of. I stopped by the bank to deposit a check I received for some of my trade stash, went to Hallmark to get a birthday card for my step-father, stopped at the post office to mail four trades and Dad's card, and continued on to the library to get a fresh supply of the afore-mentioned romance novels.

Maggie also told me about a really good Sandra Brown novel, called Envy, so I wanted to track that down.

Rant Ahead Alert!!

I went to the computer and looked up Sandra Brown's Envy. It said it was in "Paperback Fiction." So I go back to the paperbacks and look in romances where I find several more of Sandra Brown's books. No Envy. The computer said there was a copy in this branch. So I go one aisle over and find more Sandra Brown books. Still no Envy.

Then I ask one of the librarians who is in the same section putting away some books. She can't find it either. She goes to the desk and has me give them the title and author. I do and the lady at the Information Desk looks it up on her computer. Adventure/Suspense. There is a third place where Sandra Brown paperbacks are kept! WTF?!?!

Why can't they put the stupid, friggin' paperback books in alphabetical order by author, like NORMAL people?! Instead, they have them sorted by genre! Apparently Sandra Brown's books fall under all kinds of categories! Envy was in Adventure/Suspense, while others were in Mystery and yet others were in Romance. Envy was suggested to me as a good romance/mystery! UGH!!! (Sorry, I'm an ex library geek! I even belonged to the A/V club.)

Anyway, I got Envy and went to check out just in time. When I walked in I noticed a sign announcing that the library was closing at noon due to inclement weather (DUH!). It was 11:25 when I arrived. I was home at noon and working on getting my corned beef brisket on the stove for a late lunch. I stopped on my way up the driveway because I saw a bright red cardinal eating out of the nursery school's bird feeder. I rolled down my window and took this picture:

If you like it but haven't made a corned beef brisket yourself, I highly reccommend it. All you do is take the brisket out of the packaging, pour in the included pickling spice, and cover it with water. Bring it to a boil, reduce the heat to simmer for 50 minutes per pound of brisket, and...Voila! That's all there is to it! It falls apart with a fork.

Just a warning, though: I get a 2.5 pound brisket and it's only enough for one meal for Uncle Wes and I, with a little left for a light lunch for me the next day. Some of that weight (about 1/4) is probably fat. I'd estimate a pound per person when you're choosing your brisket, just to be safe.

After the brisket was finished I started the mashed potatoes. I'm now addicted to the pre-packaged frozen mashed potatoes. I bought an off-brand last time and had no complaints. As a matter of fact, I got 8oz more for over $1 less than the Bob Evans. I'll still buy Bob's when they're on sale 2/$5, though. They're delicious.

I enjoyed my first meal of the day around 3pm. Mmm mmm! If I let myself, I'd eat the whole brisket in one sitting. I love corned beef fresh off the stove!

Done drooling? Good, cuz I don't want you getting anything on my stitching. Here's 'A Stitcher's Companion' as of midnight. I *still* haven't finished my initials on the spine! I can't believe they are taking so long, but I had alot of distractions today.

Speaking of distractions, when Kasey and I went out this afternoon for our second round of playing in the snow, I took some pictures in the side yard. I noticed last week that the neighbor's holly tree is full of berries. It looks great in the snow! (click pictures to enlarge)

Then I turned and snapped this view of Weems Creek. Yes, it's a creek! I know it looks like a river, but this flows into the Severn River less than a mile away. Luckily Kasey doesn't go down there often because most of the sand has eroded away, leaving only thick black mud on the shore. We're up on top of a big hill overlooking the creek.

Ready for more drooling? There was a knock on the door around 4pm. It was Casey from next door. She brought me a plate of warm-from-the-oven oatmeal cookies as a thank-you for catching Daisy yesterday and putting her in her crate in their house. The aroma brought Uncle Wes upstairs so I shared ONE of my cookies with him. I ate one and forced myself to wrap them back up and put them in the kitchen. I knew I'd get sick if I ate them all.

This was very thoughtful of Catherine, because I knew they were made especially for me. How? There were no chocolate chips or raisins in them! I like plain ol' oatmeal cookies and she knows it! They were soooo soft, they were more like cake because there was no crust on the bottom to hold them together and keep them from crumbling. Absolutely delicious! Thank you, Catherine, Rich, and Casey!