W.I.P. Wednesday

 

I am slowly coming along with my cross stitch.  I am using 18-count AIDA and in the past, I generally preferred 14-count.  

1 admit that 18 count is a little harder on these old eyes.  I am enjoying making it though - it is pretty easy since only one color is involved.

The original pattern used a ORANGE color but I am using this bright teal blue color....You will see why when I am finished.

Can you tell what it is going to be?

Thatcher

It has been 17 years now, since he has been gone...but it never gets easier.  He was so special and I miss him every single solitary day.  

 

 

Donny & Marie Funny

 

W.I.P. Wednesday - Cross Stitch

After knitting and crocheting prayer shawls and hats for the homeless, I have decided to take a little yarn break and instead, do a little cross stitch.  I used to love to cross stitch but I haven't done it in a while for a couple of reasons

1) Where to hang it?  Most completed cross stitch projects are meant to be hung on the walls and displayed, but I don't really have anywhere to hang a project and if I made a cross stitch gift, I wonder where the recipient will hang it.  I really don't want lots of cross stitch projects taking up all the walls.

2) In the words of Phoebe Buffay from "FRIENDS" - My eyes!! My eyes!!  You see, my vision is not quite as sharp as it used to be...I have cataracts and I sure don't have 20/20 vision so it can be challenging to see all those tiny little squares.

Anyway...I found this pretty simple, one color pattern and it isn't too big so I decided to give it a go...Any guesses as to what it could be ?  Tune in for updates

Hats for the Homeless

 

I mentioned last month that I took a little break from making prayer shawls so I could concentrate on crocheting prayer hats.

My goals was to make 20 hats.  Of course the holidays were among us and I had visitors for 3 weeks so I didn't get them completed as quickly as I would have liked, but I just finished them...and just in time too since it has turned rather cold here and we actually had a bit of snow over the weekend (the first we've had in 4 years)

The stray cat I took in (or should I say that forced her way in) about 2 years ago, and we have estimated her age at about 3 1/2 along with one of her babies, who is now is about 1 1/2  have never seen snow before...so they were pretty curious as to what this white stuff was that was falling out of the sky.

It was fun watching them, watch the snow

 

 

 

 

Since it was a cold & snowy day yesterday (and what would have been my dad's  88th birthday), I just stayed home, watched the Veronica Mars movie and 4th season (made years after the original series) and crocheted - so I was able to make the remaining 5 hats.

This is a great pattern and I can make a hat in about an hour (that is, unless a kitty cat jumps up in my lap and requires some cuddling - - which I don't mind putting my yarn aside for that).

The pattern is called Boy Beanie by Laura Killoran and can be found in the book "Stitch 'n Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker" (I'm not crazy about the title, but it is a great book)

 

 

 

While I made each hat, I said a prayer for the person that is going to receive it - that they will come to know the Lord and have a close and personal relationship with Him and that they will be able to fight the battles they face so they can stop living on the streets.

 

I hope they help in keeping 20 people a little bit warmer than they would have been.

 

 

 

 

Keto Recipe - Pizza Soup

 I am a big fan of Kristie Sullivan and her recipes and cookbooks.  Every recipe I have tried of hers is delicious!!

I am not quite back on the Keto bus yet, but I am back to doing low-carb.

This month, Kristie challenged everyone to try 2 new recipes a week so I decided go through her books and find "Pizza Soup" in her cookbook "Growing Up Keto".  I have had this cookbook since it was released but I had not yet tried a recipe out of it until now.

As expected, it was so good !!!

 

As you can see - I used HOT Italian Sausage - which made it a bit spicy but it was literally the ONLY pack of Italian sausage I could find since there seems to be a shortage of Italian and Breakfast sausage where ever I go.

It did involve a tiny bit of prepping by chopping a bell pepper, some mushrooms and some pepperoni, but that didn't take too long.

Plus...since I am also a crafty person, I always have some googly eyes on hand, which makes chopping a bell pepper kind of fun.

 While it was simmering, my house smelled SO GOOD !!

I will be making this again !!  I can't wait to have the leftovers!

 

Instant Pot Recipe - Cheese Ground Beef

 

I haven't used my Instant Pot much in the past 6 months so I browsed Pinterest and found this recipe for Instant Pot Cheesy Ground Beef.  I had company in town last week so decided to give this a try.

It was pretty good.  I might try it with riced Cauliflower to make it lower in carbs.  

Also, if I make this again, I would leave out the corn...you can't really taste it and I don't think it adds anything to the dish.

 

Instant Pot Cheesy Ground Beef & Rice

• 1 teaspoon butter or oil
• 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
• 1 (14-ounce) can chicken broth
• 1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce  (next time I would use a full 14 oz can)
  
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste (next time I would omit)
  
• 1 3/4 cups milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
• 1 cup canned or frozen and defrosted corn, drained (next time I would omit)
  
• 2 cups long grain rice, uncooked
• 2 cups Cheddar cheese or a cheddar/monterey jack mixture 

• Turn Instant Pot to "saute" mode. When hot, add the butter or oil and coat the bottom. Add the ground beef and cook and crumble it until no pink remains. Turn Instant Pot off. 
• While ground beef cooks, mix together the chicken broth, tomato sauce, tomato paste, milk, heavy cream, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder in a medium bowl. 
• Pour chicken broth mixture into the Instant Pot and add the corn. Stir to mix and be sure there is nothing stuck to the bottom of the Instant Pot. 
• Add rice. Do NOT stir. Use a spoon to make sure all the rice is submerged in the liquid. 
• Cover and set to "Manual" for 8 minutes (High Pressure). Be sure valve is in sealing position. 
• Do a quick pressure release and then remove the lid. Add cheese, stir it in. Replace the lid for a few minutes to melt the cheese. 

  

  
   

Happy New Year - Welcome 2022

 

Wow! That sounds so weird to say 2022 !!  I remember when I was little how futuristic the year 2025 sounded and now that is only 3 years away!

Like everyone, I am about tired of COVID-19.  Every time things seem to get a little better, then it starts getting worse again.

In our office, we had a record number of COVID-19 cases in December 2021 - 47 people! So far, my department had avoided it but unfortunely someone in my department contracted it on 12/30/2021. 

Also, I had a cousin and a friend both contract the virus...my cousin (who believes the conspiracy theorist) was not vaccinated and had a pretty bad case, although luckily, wasn't hospitalized.  My friend, who had vaccines and boosters, had a very mild case.  

The Indigo Girls show that I was going to for New Year's Eve 2021 was postponed until New Year's Eve 2022 - oh well...I think it was for the best and at least I already have plans for New Year's Eve 2022!

As with the beginning of each year...I don't set "resolutions" per se, but I do set goals and make plans for the year.

 Some goals for this year are

1) Daily Bible Reading and Prayer.  I would REALLY love to read the entire Bible this year.  I set this goal almost every year and tend to slack off once the busy season comes at work...but I am really going to make a stronger effort this time around.

2) Lose weight/eat healthier/exercise.  That is also usually a goal I set each year.  I didn't really exercise much at all last year but I did okay with my eating habits "most" days.  I want to get back to the gym this month - I miss working out - I feel so much better when I do.  Plus, I would love to go back to Las Vegas (probably not in 2022 but in 2023, and want to have more endurance when I go so I can do more walking/exploring)

3) Watercolor.  I painted my first watercolor in 2021 and enjoyed it.  A goal for 2022 is to do at least 6 watercolor paintings.  Of course I would like to do more - maybe one a month at least but I don't want to stretch myself since I am a beginner so I am setting a goal for 6 paintings.

4) Crochet/Knit.  I am glad that my mojo for crochet and knitting returned in 2021 and in 2022, my goals are simple.  I want to make at least 6 prayer shawls for church (like the paintings, I would love to make at least 1 a month but I don't want to put pressure on myself so I am setting a goal for 1 every other month).  I also want to complete my Around the World Afghan (even though I fear I may run out of the yarn that is no longer manufactured) and I want to finish making hats for the homeless by January 15th of 2022.  I could have finished them before the end of the year but I had company and that slowed things down a bit.  I also have a kit that I bought from Mary Maxim that I would like to make. 

Last year I didn't participate in the dishcloth exchange on Raverly for various reasons but I would love to do that again this year, so hopefully I can do so.   

5) Personal Journaling.  I used to journal, a LOT, but it got a big difficult because of carpal tunnel syndrome.  It is easier to type but at the same time, I don't always feel like dragging the computer out and typing, especially when I have been on the computer all day at work.  I think I will start writing again in a journal and see how it goes - if the carpal tunnel problem makes it difficult, I will go back to typing - not sure if I will journal daily, but at least 4-5 times a week, even though daily is preferred.

I am grouping blogging in here too - I plan to blog a little more in 2022 then I did in 2021.  More new recipes to try, more crochet/knitting projects to share, etc.

6) House projects - there are LOTS of projects I want to do around the house but I have 2 primary projects.  One is to clean out a spare room so I can set it up as an office/craft room and the other is to clean out the garage...there is just too much stuff stored in there.  There are lots of other things but I am just setting those as goals for this year.

7) Scrapbooking and Project Life - I kept up with Project Life in 2021 - whoo hoo!  I plan to continue doing Project Life/Project 365 using the PL App in 2022.  I just can't decide what kit to use this year.

 

8) Genealogy - I don't have a lot of goals this year for genealogy research simply because I have other things (see above) that I plan to give priority.  However, I would like to find a way to perhaps organize in some kind of binder - at least for my mom and her direct ancestors - nothing especially fancy, just something that she can hold, look at and share. But I plan to make this a bigger project in 2023 - hopefully I will be retired then (at least that is the plan)

So there it is...lots of goals and a bit ambitious this year but I feel it is important to have some specific goals for the year.

I hope those reading this has a HAPPY NEW YEAR and that 2022 is the year that COVID-19 goes away and you and your family have a fabulous year!!