Books I Read/Movies I Saw

I read these books in the last week. "Foul Play" is a typical romance novel. It was kinda entertaining. I like Stephanie Plum novels much better.


"The Other Queen" is the latest in a string of Henry the VIII and family stories. It is about Mary, Queen of Scots. The story takes place during her imprisonment by Elizabeth I. I enjoyed it but not as much as the Boleyn novels.

I borrowed these movies from the library. I am so glad that I did not pay to rent these. "Zohan" was somewhat entertaining. The usual fare from Adam Sandler.
"Burn After Reading" was a typical movie from the Coen brothers. I hated the ending. I did not like George Clooney's part. What was up with the sex machine he built? Gross! Brad Pitt was hilarious. This movie did not compare with the brilliance of "Blood Simple".

SNOW

This is what we woke up to this morning. About 4 1/2 inches of snow, topped by sleet, then freezing rain! But at least the temperature is not in the single digits! Yahoo!

I feel like baking! Yesterday I made homemade vegetable beef barley soup! Yummmy! I have a couple of bananas that are very ripe. I think I will maybe make a snackin' cake. Anyone remember those from the '70's?

Dump Cake

The other day I made a dump cake. I wanted to use some items from the pantry AND Iwanted something sweet. We were also celebrating the 100th day of school for Little P.

It was so easy. I used a can of apple pie filling and dumped it into a 8" by 11" pan. Then we added some frozen blueberries. Then I had a pineapple flavored cake mix and dumped it on top. I took a stick of butter and cubed and we added that to the top of the cake mix.

Threw it into the oven for about 35 minutes at 350F.

VERY EASY - VERY GOOD.. THe King had 3 helpings in a row!

Knitting and Crocheting

I am almost finished making a sweater for Little P. It's using Bernat Camouflage Yarn. It is very nice to crochet with! The photo on the left is from the front of the pattern which is free from Bernat.com.

2 weekends ago, I started knitting a shawl for myself using Noro yarn. I had bought the yarn in April of 2008! I always make things for others as gifts so I wanted something for myself. The yarn I used was Noro Silk Garden Lite. I finished knitting the body of the shawl. I realized I had not bought yarn for the ruffle. I bought Lang Silkdream. Both yarns are very nice!! And the shawl is warm. I wonder what it will be like in warmer weather.

NO High Fructose Corn Syrup!

I have tried to eliminate HFCS from our diet. But there are some things you "need" that contain it like syrup and soda. I am down to ONE Dr. Pepper a day. Some days I don't even have one. But Little P loves pancakes. What to do about syrup? Robin over at "A Little Greener Every Day" is in the same predicament. Check out her post http://robinshreeves.blogspot.com/2008/11/almost-giving-up-green.html

I got a great idea, well it is Nigella Lawson's idea!

I put 5 or 6 frozen strawberries in a bowl and nuke them to soften them up a little. Then I add some powdered sugar, about 1-2 tablespoons, depending on the sweetness of the berries.

Then I take my immersion blender* (you can use a regular blender) and grind it up!

Voila, strawberry sauce.

*I always wanted an immersion blender but they were too expensive. Then last year some time I was looking on KitchenAid .com for a price on a pasta maker to attach to my mixer. I looked at the clearance section. There was one for $15. Baby, I snatched that right up! 2 weeks ago i got a cooks catalog in the mail and they listed the same blender for $150. Outrageous!

"Lovely" Weather

Well, guess what the weather is today? You got guess it! It's raining again! But at least it is in the 50's. Over the weekend it was cold and windy (no sun) and in the 20's.

Last week right after one of our storms blew by we had this beautiful sight!

I could not get the rainbow in the whole shot!

But check this out!

A double shot!

Christmas Shopping

How is your Christmas shopping going? I am almost done. I have a few small things to get and that's it. It will be a small haul this year.

I knitted this scarf for one of my nieces. She likes pirate stuff. The skull and crossbone pattern I got out of the first Stitch 'N Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook book by Debbie Stoller.
http://www.amazon.com/Stitch-N-Bitch-Knitters-Handbook/dp/0761128182

The designer put this design on the sleeves of a sweater (which I made for P#1 a few years ago).
I hope she likes it!
I have to make a crocheted bag for Little P for Christmas PLUS I did not get her dress finished yet. I must do that tomorrow.