Slowly but Surely...

I now have the front and back of dd's sweater finished and will start on the sleeves today. I sure hope I can do a good job on seaming. If anyone has a trick to making sure the sweater is seamed evenly, I am all for it. I am thinking about getting some plastic clothes pins, doll clothes pins, if I can find them and putting the seams together so I don't get them off kilter. Anyway, here is the front and back finished.

I never did get out and walk yesterday. I did a very few minutes of weights but that is it. By the time I got going it had gotten fairly late and I cannot walk later in the morning. My body just does not want to do it. I am going to have to get out in just a few and get it done today.

Another lowfat recipe to try:

Red Lobster's Cheddar Bay Biscuits, lowfat style (WW pts 2 per biscuit)

3/4 c Heart Smart Biscuick

2 tablespoon margarine (make sure it is cold)

1/2 c fat free cheddar cheese grated

3/8 c skim milk

1/8 tsp garlic powder

topping on biscuits: when they come out of the oven and are hot, spray I Can't Believe it's not Butter spray on each and shake a little garlic powder over the top alternate method, melt tablespoon lowfat margarine and sprinkle 1/4 tsp garlic powder than brush on top of biscuits

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

mix butter and biscuick together so that it looks like peas or chunky cornmeal, add cheese, milk and garlic powder mixing gently. Don't mix too well.

drop by 1/4 cup of mix onto ungreased cookie sheet (an ice cream scoop is perfect for this) and bake 15-17 minutes until the tops are light brown. Don't bake too long.

When removed, follow the rest of the directions for topping biscuits and serve hot.

Tonight is Fish and lowfat mac and cheese night with the biscuits. Jack hates fish so I try and get at least one serving in every other week for him. He will eat shrimp and salmon and that is it. I found these salmon pieces by Gortons that are lemon pepper and he likes then so I make one of those. I don't care much for salmon except made as patties so I am having an individual can of tuna mixed into my mac and cheese for dinner.

I have started my sweater and I love the color. I am fair skinned and my hair is turning white now and since I have quit coloring it to see if it will be all white, the color will look really good on me. I have a great pair of white sail cloth pants that I am hoping my behind will fit into before vacation so I can wear this sweater with it.

Other than that, my world is rather boring. Have a good Tuesday to you all!

Anxiously waiting for my tax refund to be in the bank... Donna

I have a blogging friend who is a superior artist and I promised her a surprise. I felt it appropriate to honor her drawing "Violin" with my own rendition. I call it "Clare in Net."


This, Mardi, is the extent of my artistic talent!!! I hope I made you laugh!

I am finishing up the armhole decreases than can start the sleeves of dd's sweater. I have also started my sleeveless top, but just barely. Did you all watch any of the Knitty Gritty knit-in last night? No, I suppose not as everyone seemed to be glued to the tv watching THE game.


Congratulations to our Indianapolis Colts and to Payton Manning. Way to go, honey, you showed 'em you could do it! I only watched a few minutes while knitting then went upstairs and watched the knit-in. I only watched a couple episodes then switched it off, but saw a cute halter top that I would love to make for dd and dil. I am not sure I would want the sushi bathroom decor though!




Boy am I late getting started today. I should be out walking and almost done by now. Ahh well, all I have is time I suppose. I cleaned the downstairs yesterday so have the vacuuming and dusting upstairs to do today and the bathrooms tomorrow then the house is done again for the week.




Oh and congratulations to my husband Jack for losing 5 lbs on his first week on WW! I am so glad he likes the program that the sting of the little lb loss is way gone by now.




My dd called last night and wanted to know if we wanted to go to Thomas's Blue and Gold banquet. For those not in the know or those who only have girls, the Blue and Gold banquet is for Cub Scouts. He is going to get his Tiger Cub badge. So of course, we won't miss it. As usual, he will have a cheering throng as my sil's parents will go as well as his sister and Jack and I. We will take lots of pictures to send to Uncle Jay and Aunt Alicia since they won't be here. I can't believe he is growing up so fast. I was talking to him about his piano lessons and he said he is now playing two page music. That's my boy! He does say he prefers violin over piano though and Jack says violin is more difficult. Jack took violin in school. I bet he never told Thomas that.



I have got to get out and get to Unfortunately, I can't let my feet go out alone, they would get into trouble for sure!




We have 119 days to
Donna

Hallelujah, it is Finished!!!

We ended up picking up Thomas at his other grandma's around 8:45 and then took him to Walmart's as it was pretty much the only thing open. We let him pick a video game, then we got gas and headed downtown to Jillian's. I figured it opened at 10 but when we got there it didn't open until 11 so we got some Starbucks and sat and waited for a few minutes than walked down out the mall and down the street to Big Foot Lodge. We had a nice time at lunch culminating with making smores at the table, which is always fun. Our little guy tears up when he laughs, everytime and he got a piece of melted marshmallow string down his chip and a larger piece on his upper lip that he kept trying to drag off with his teeth and tongue. The harder he tried the worse it got and mostly because we got to laughing about it. He finally stuck his finger up there and pulled it off etc, but by that time his little eyes were streaming from laughing so hard. We then went back to Jillians and they played games and I had taken my bag of knitting so I started knitting and finished my blanket except for binding off. Thomas and Granddad had a grand time and I accomplished getting the blanket finished. We came home around 2:30 and played games until his mom and dad picked him up at 4. I had bought Scrabble Junior and we played that and he may be smart as a whip, but he is a typical 6 year old acting silly about words. We did another laughing/crying thing when he was acting silly and ask us if E-P made a word and I told him it was the word for going to the bathroom backwards, EEE-PEE instead of PEE PEE. Oh my gosh, the child laughed and laughed. It was a wonderful time and the only thing that marred it was this. His mom sent $30 along to use for him. Everytime we would go to buy something he would ask it if was his money and we would tell him no that it was Granddad's money we were spending. I told him we would save his money to play video games, which seemed ok with him. When we got to Jillians and we were going to use his money to buy a game card, he started to cry so I told Jack just to pay for it and I told him that we would just save his money. When they got finished, Granddad told him, "Put the two game cards in your pocket with your money and next time you come down here with your mom and dad you have money on them to play and just keep your money with it." Well, we were going to tell his mom that he had game card time left on both his and Granddad's card and the money he "had left" in his coat pocket, but when they were getting ready to leave, he pulled it out. She looked at me and I said he had cried when we wanted to use it and she got mad and said, "Uh-uh, that isn't your money, give it to Nonny. I gave it to Nana to give to her." Of course, he started crying that it was his and she said no it wasn't it was hers and took it away from him. He kept saying it was his that she had given it to him and she was saying no that she gave it to Nana to give to me, etc, etc. I cannot stand to see him cry and I got upset but she told me to "Stop it." Anyway, it became a big issue, and she still gave the money to me, which of course, I didn't want. I adore that baby so much and it kills me to see him cry. I do understand that she thinks he uses tears to get what he wants, but anytime I see him cry, it is because it really is that he is upset about whatever the situation is. He had a tender heart and things easily upset him, bless his heart. I am not mad at my dd as she did what she thought was best, but I am still upset this all made him cry when I didn't want the money back. I do think that because he is so incredibly intelligent that she forgets she is dealing with the way a 6 year old thinks. He is an adorable child and extremely well behaved, but he is still a 6 year old little boy with 6 year old antics.

I have no clue as to why I am up at 1 in the morning. I went to bed around 9 or so last night as I had been up since three yesterday morning. I woke up around 12:30 went to the bathroom and was awake so decided to come downstairs for a bit. I don't want to sleep in because I missed exercise on Friday with WW and then on Saturday because we were supposed to have T at around 7 but that got goofed up and instead of dropping him off, we ended up having to go and get him later because he had stayed all night at his other grandparents. So, with the junk we had yesterday and the fact I didn't walk for two days, I need to get out and get a good walk in this morning before I start cleaning house and such. We are going to tackle those upstairs carpets and Jack does that, but he needs help moving the furniture in the bedroom. Anyway, I don't want to be sleeping at 9 o'clock so I can't stay up very long and hope I can go back to sleep.

I guess I should go back to bed and try to go back to only I think my dream would be

I will have to talk to you ladies sometime about how you knit a blanket on circs and make the pattern come out ok since using the garter stitch makes a stockinette stitch on circs and I guess I can't get my mind around how you knit on circs and have a flat blanket instead of a tube.

Donna

All's Well that End's Well...

The snow went as quickly as it came. It was melted and gone by midmorning and the streets were dry. We didn't have anymore precipitation so everything dried out and is back to just being chilly.

My WW weigh in wasn't spectacular, just a lb, but I am trying to get my program tweaked to be the best for me, so it will get better I am sure. I am not sure how long I am going to keep up the meetings, though. It is stuff I have heard over and over and stuff I have communicated to others about losing weight so there hasn't been anything new for me to take in. I guess I could change leaders, but it isn't that I don't like her, it is just stuff like, you have to exercise to make your program work for you and what you should be doing with exercise, yesterday was about not eating comfort foods just because it is winter, which I never do anyway. I am going to give it about 6-8 weeks and if I find they aren't being a big help, I will just go to weigh in. I always lose weight the first month, quickly, so this was a disappointment to me to tell you the truth. It will all come out ok in the end, though.

Today we have Thomas all day so who knows what the eating will be like. I am going to encourage him to go see a movie and then to Jillians to play video games after lunch, but he may want to go back to Chuck E Cheese. I kind of hate that place. I think it is a huge rip off in money, there aren't nearly enough games for kids to play and they overbook parties so much that they are in and out, in and out all day long.

I have the border then I am done with the blanket and you can see the finished product. I will be so glad when the thing is done. I am about halfway done with the front of dd's sweater too so maybe by the end of next week I can get to knitting stuff for vacation for me.

Have a good weekend everyone and stay safe and warm out there!

Donna

I Spoke too Soon....

Looks like we got a couple inches of snow last night. I am going to have to get shoes on and go out and test the waters so to speak to see if I can walk around ok without slipping. Since I dislocated my knee several years ago, I have to be really careful of slipping because it will pop out and then I have a real mess. If it is just snow and not ice, I should be ok and it is supposed to warm up later in the day so maybe by my weigh in time the snow will have melted anyway and it will be just wet. I really don't want to miss weigh in today.

I have gone into my last skein of yarn for the blanket and am not going to buy more so I only have a half and one more full pattern than the seed stitch border and I am finished. Maybe by the first of the week. I doubt I get anything done tomorrow with Thomas being here all day and we will be away from the house most of the day with him.

Jack liked the Fiesta Steak, me, not so much. It was ok with salsa and lowfat sour cream on it though. It had too much lime taste and none of the spices came out in it at all. I make tweak the recipe if I fix it again and tone down the lime and up the cumin and cayenne a bit. You didn't notice the tequila at all. Tonight is Hungarian Goulash with no yolk noodles for dinner. Jack is on a beef kick lately, but sooner or late he is going to have to eat the chicken, turkey breast and fish that is in the freezer!

I have about 4 inches done on the front of my dd's sweater. I don't know what I did wrong as I went back over the pattern a zillion times, but in the picture it shows the faux buttonhole band as on her right side, but knitted up the pattern makes it come out on the left side. No biggy as it doesn't change any of the pattern results, but it is weird. I checked my garter stitch bottom and it is right number of rows, then the pattern with the buttonband starts the next row, which is the right side and it starts with a knit row. I also checked to make sure I wasn't supposed to put the band at the beginning of the row, but it says to knit to last 6 stitches, place marker then knit to the end so??????? I have still got a long way to go on it. I have the rest of the front, then both sleeves to knit, the sewing up and then picking up and knitting the neckline then sewing on the buttons.

Well, I should be able to buy my airline tickets for our vacation by next week this time. We always feel our vacation is truly on its way when we have the airline tickets. Since we fly first class, I have to wait for the tax refund to buy the tickets. I cleaned out our savings when Jack was on medical leave with his heart operation and have to start over with that. I am just glad the money was there to pay the bills and our living expenses for 3 months while he went without pay. Anyway, we are excited about getting out air tickets. I have to wait until the end of April to buy the show tickets. We are going to go see the Beatles' inspired Cirque du Soleil show, Love and then the terrific impersonator, Danny Ganns. I would like to go to a concert, but there is no one I want to see going to be in town. I could care less about Celine Dion, Manilow's tickets are too expensive as are Elton John's if he is still there. We talked about going and seeing Phantom, which has a new theater at the Venetian built especially for it, but I don't know that we will. Lots to squeeze into one week and we go about 3-4 days longer than most people do.

I am off to finish up morning chores than knit until Jack gets up for work.

Ahh, the weekend......Donna

Take This Snow and Shovel it....

Well, that isn't exactly true, it is more like sleet here and there, but it is still icky weather. I waited for Jack to get to work and call me and tell me how the streets and such are so I could either go out and walk or do the treadmill. WooHoo! He said the streets were a little wet but not slippery or icy so I should be ok. Unless it gets bad tonight, I have weigh in tomorrow, which I am excited about. Back in a few.... Ok, I got back from my walk and it isn't bad out at all. A little wet, but no slippery or icy spots that I could see. This town sure does panic when there is a threat of any cold precipitation. They had all the possible school closing boxes up last night talking about how school would probably be closed and businesses etc. Sheesh! I walk past a group of junior high kids pretty much every morning and we always say hi to each other. This morning I said to them, "Well, I guess you didn't get to get out of school today, huh? Weather not bad enough." They are nice kids not ugly acting.

I have the back of my dd's sweater finally finished. I think it came out ok.

I have started on front and am about at the end of a skein so I went ahead and rolled it and about 3 feet from where my stitch was is a big area about 4-5 inches long where the yarn didn't spin correctly and it is just lumps of fuzz. Luckily, I was able to finish a row then cut and tie back on again. I would like to get it finished so I can work on my vacation tops. I only got 4 rows done yesterday on the blanket so have to make up for it today. I worked a lot on the sweater to finish the back side. I think I am going to be putting 13 patterns on the blanket to finish. I say that because I counted the horizontal hearts and there are 9 so I am going to go 1 1/2 for the vertical hearts. I really want this more as a crib blanket not one to wrap him in as it is pretty heavy.

We are having Fiesta Steak tonight. I have never made this so we shall see. It has garlic, cumin, cayenne, lime juice and TEQUILA in the marinade...... I will let you know how it tastes! I am going to make some spanish rice to go with it. We should have had fish or chicken tonight, but Jack didn't want either so beef it is.

I had these women at the WW site all ragging on me because I have made myself a lbs goal. I want to lose 60 lbs by the time we go on vacation the end of August. That is only 2 lbs a week plus a smidge more. That is not unreasonable or way out there but they said you shouldn't make weight loss goals just work day to day and I say bologna!!! If you don't make a goal, you won't work hard enough to reach it is my way of thinking. I definitely am not going to post at that thread anymore. Phooey on them!

When you wish upon a star.....you should get all the Malabrigo you want!

Donna (sorry about it all being run together. I can't get it to paragraph again.)

Great Way to Begin the Day...

With a joke or cartoon so here is your laugh for the day:
I love this one!

For those of you who peek in and like to cook, you have to make this recipe. It is really delicious. You can serve it over noodles or rice or even mashed potatoes. It is low in fat and calories and super yummy. I am planning on putting a can of chinese vegetables in it next time and making chop suey. It tastes just like the beef gravy in the canned chop suey mix from Chun King.

Braised Sirloin Tips (I used sirloin kabobs, but if you can't find either, a cut up sirloin steak would work just as well)

1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp meat tenderizer
2 lbs beef tips, lean
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 c finely chopped onion
1 1/4 c beef broth (I use low sodium canned)
1/3 red wine (I used burgundy and I imagine this could be omitted if you prefer)
1 TBL light soy sauce
2 TBL cornstarch
1/4 c water

Using a skillet with a lid, prepare pan by spraying with Pam over medium high heat. sprinkle meat with tenderizer and pepper (I just put the meat in a ziploc bag and sprinkled stuff over it and mixed it that way,) brown in pan than add garlic and onions and cook until onions are transparent, mix beef broth, wine, and soy sauce together than pour over meat. Bring up to boil, reduce to simmer and cook 1 1/2 hours or until meat is fork tender. Mix cornstarch with water, stir into sauce and thicken. Serve over rice. Serves 8
177 calories, 5 g fat, no fiber 4 WW pts per 4 oz serving

Tonight is a treat for us even if it is lower fat. I am making sloppy joes and hash browns. It fits fine into our points and is something a little out of the ordinary dinner fare I guess.

Jack did what he called his "half week weigh in" and has lost 4 lbs so he is all jazzed about it. I am glad he lost as he will stay on it that way. I told him not to stress if he didn't lose as it happens sometimes. He has his cardiology appt the end of February and so I hope he is about 8 lbs or so down, which will make the cardiologist happy. He doesn't say a word to Jack about his weight (Jack is about 30 lbs overweight and carries it all in his belly area) but he probably would if Jack got to be much heavier. I will let my weight loss be a surprise. Check in on Saturday as my weigh in is on Friday.

We get to have Thomas the WHOLE day on Saturday. I am so excited. They are dropping him off at around 7:30 and picking him up around 4 PM. We rarely get him at all let alone the whole day. I hope this can continue because I love it and we have a lot of fun. I think I am going out and buying a kid's Scrabble game for us to play here at the house. He is such a smart little boy and he loves to play board games. I have checkers, dominoes and such here at the house, but not too many board games to play. Jack likes scrabble so he would participate in it too I think.

It is cold again this morning so I think I will stick to my regular walking route. It is tough to hit the hill right off the bat, but then I go downhill for a city block so it makes up for it. I get too cold to walk the mile when the weather is like this and end up having to go pee before I get home so for now I am going to keep at the .8 routine.

I am finally at the arm decreases for my dd's sweater. In all the things I have made, I have never done a ssk and boy is that tricky for me. I imagine it is for a lot of knitters since they basically are knitting with the opposite hand, but I have to do some crazy stuff to do it properly. Glad no one sees!!! I am still on track with the blanket. I did my 6 rows yesterday though the last row last night was tough. I have arthritis in my hands and it flared up in my left pinky (my yarn holding hand) and when it does, my pinky doesn't want to bend so keeping the yarn around it is tough.

I guess I better get the ole New Balance on, hat, gloves and my Glenn Miller CD and get out and get the walk in.

Go out and make this a great day!

Donna