Blogger's Block

I'm suffering from that right now.  There is so much that I want to blog about, but every time I open this up, whatever it is I want to write about becomes a jumble of words in my mind and I can't seen to get them to come together.  So instead of just sitting here staring at a blank 'page' and trying to force my brain to form cohesive thoughts that will flow together nicely, I'm just going to toss together a short synopsis of what I've been wanting to blog.  Short and sweet...like my sisters!

Chili Feed
Back in February, Dad and I attended the annual chili feed put on by the POW*MIA Elko Awareness Association.  This year it was held at the convention center, as the number of attendees has grown so much that they outgrew the former location.  We were treated to a wonderfully delicious variety of chili served by the amazing Nevada East Roller Girls, on skates! There was also some heated auction action and we got to see our State Assemblyman, John Ellison, model a leopard print Snuggie!   Before we ate, we all gathered in the auditorium for the presenting of the colors and a demonstration from the Association's Drill Team.  We were introduced to dignitaries from the National League of POW*MIA Families, J-PAC (the nations largest forensic science lab, they are responsible for the identification of remains, they bring a lot of families closure).

Confessions from a Former Picky Eater
Hey Momma, I eat asparagus now!  And spinach!  And brussel sprouts!  Ok, I lied, I still won't eat brussel sprouts...And I don't eat my burgers with just ketchup anymore, now I like 'em with cheese, and mustard, and garlic, and tomato, and lettuce, and sometimes I'll use baby spinach instead of lettuce!

The Bakery
I've blogged a couple of times about helping out at Trinity and Michael's bakery, Let Them Eat Cake.  Well, Trinity got an opportunity to take a job at a  fancy-schmancy restaurant in New Orleans, so they passed the torch of the bakery on to their friend Shawn.  Trinity is in NOLA and Michael is here packing up the house and getting ready to meet her there next month.  I will miss them ALOT!  I have a lot of fond memories, like this one from St. Patrick's Day.  Things got a little crazy while we were making corned beef and cabbage...

I'm going to miss the cranberry oatmeal cookies that Trinity makes, I'm going to miss the Irish Car Bomb cupcakes, I'm going to miss bickering with Michael while Trinity rolls her eyes at us, I'm going to miss the true owners of the bakery, Scooter and Vespa, the faithful Corgis.  I'm going to miss Trinity and Michael and Samantha!  One thing I won't miss about the bakery is the deadly strawberry slicer utensil...

Knit One, Purl What?
I finally got the two scarf projects I was working on done last night.  Trinity's Mardi Gras scarf is on the left and the one on the right is the crazy scarf I made for my friend, Sarah.  I'll be delivering Sarah's to her today, but Trinity said I can't UPS hers to her, I must deliver it in person.  The money in my coin jar are now earmarked for a trip to Louisiana to see Trin in New Orleans and my sister, Stephanie in Baton Rouge.

This morning I started working on another scarf and it's really frustrating me.  I've cast-on three times, followed the pattern precisely and still am ended up with one extra stickin' stitch!  Arghhh!!!

Homemade Bread
I made bread not too long ago and it tasted and looked great!  I shared pictures of it on Facebook.  What I didn't share were the pictures of the shattered Pyrex casserole dish.
The baking directions called for a pan of water being placed on oven rack below the Bread.  This doofus grabbed the first pan in sight without thinking of what would happen when she poured the hot water into the hot glass dish in the hot oven.
Um, yah.  It was loud, really loud...and scary, really scary.  After making sure that I wasn't bleeding all over the kitchen ( luckily, I wasn't hit with any flying Pyrex shrapnel) and quadruple checking the bread for glass (it was all good!), we cleaned the glass out of the oven while the bread rested on the counter.

I was s-m-a-r-t on the next go-round and used metal.

The bread came out moist with just the right amount of chewy-ness and without being peppered with glass shards.


Thanks for visiting!

Knit One, Purl What?

I think I mentioned in the first Knit One post that I had decided to knit most of my Christmas gifts this year. Well, I overcame my procrastination (just a little) and persevered!

Katie, my 13 yr old niece, got a soft, fuzzy scarf in purple and black.
I think she likes it, judging from the pictures!

The 16 year old, Kristen, was gifted this scarf and hat (the first one I made) in chunky greens, blues and purples. She declined to model it, but harassed me all Christmas Day to teach her to knit.

I'm going to start teaching both of my nieces to knit in the near future....

stay tuned, as I'm sure the experience will be humorous!

See the cute little munchkin in the photo below?

This is Zackary.

He's the son of my friends, Sunshine & Brandon.

He has an affinity for beanies.

He will steal them off of his father's noggin.

Now he has his own.

The pattern called for a pom pom at the top,

but I switched it out for a big tassel.

Several folk got dishcloths, too. Plus, I'm still working on dishcloths since I ran out of time.

No! I didn't procrastinate! I swear upon my knitting needles!

I'll keep posting pictures as I finish.

And wish me luck teaching the nieces...I'll need it!

Let Them Eat Cake...Bakery

I met Trinity a couple years ago when she came to me at work to order business cards and make some gift certificates for her baking business. She'd been renting kitchen space from a restaurant in town until about a year and a half ago when she and her husband Michael got a line on a small location that could be converted into a small bakery...The shop is cute and cozy and always smells good. Trinity started filling the case with a few different cupcakes and cookies, brownies, dog treats (gotta give the puppies a treat too!) and people could special ordercakes, pies and cheesecakes.

Doesn't that all look yummy?!
Come on, you know you want to call and order your holiday treats!!

Then her friend Shawn began baking and selling bread.
Her Challah is to die for and makes really tasty French Toast.

Then they decided to start doing healthy dinners 4 nights a week and call it What's For Dinner! Every Monday morning they post the menu on Facebook and through an email blast. People can call or email in their order before a certain time and then pick it up after 5.
The dinners are really yummy and priced reasonably.
It's been quite the success.

The holidays are coming.
You're gonna be busy with activities,
you're going to be too tired to cook.
You'll want a nice, healthy dinner to serve your family.
You'll need some cookies.
You'll need a pie...or two.
How about a festive pumpkin cheesecake?
Call Trinity!!!

Their hours are:

Mon thru Thurs 9:30 to 5:30
Friday 9:30 to 4:30
Saturday 11 to 2

1069 Idaho Street
775-401-6640

Stop in and say Hi to Trinity.
And you might just see her cousins Tandy & Bree,
who come down and help her out during the day.
And you can usually find me there on Saturdays.

Knit One, Purl What?

Back in 2005 my Momma gave me a knitting kit for Christmas. I perused the book, grabbed the needles and yarn and started knitting a scarf.

The knit stitch is as far as I got. The purl stitch was eluding me. I looked on YouTube, knitting websites and Roomie Jeff's mom tried to show me. But it was still eluding me. I couldn't wrap my brain (& fingers) around it. So after garter stitched scarf was done, I put the knitting away.

Until this past May, when I decided to quit smoking. It would give me something to do with my hands. I picked up another knitting book, some yarn, some needles and casted on.



I loved the thick chunky yarns I chose....What a nice, warm scarf they would make. This would be my crazy sampler scarf, trying new stitches, changing between yarns. But the purling was still giving my brain & fingers trouble. Grrr!!!

Then Momma came to visit me at the end of June. She showed me how to Purl. I got it! I really really got it!

While Momma was here, we went to check out the local yarn store...Hook, Yarn & Needles, a small shop owned by the wonderful Eva (a.k.a. Crochet Queen). She has the most amazing yarns. I want them all. Eva told us about a really neat knit/crochet online community -- Ravelry. They have tons of patterns and useful info. I've gotten a bunch of projects saved to my favorites already.

I've been back to Hook, Yarn & Needles a few times since then. One of the things I love about the shop & Eva is that she gets just as exited as I do about me mastering a new stitch or technique, no matter how simple. (as a former smoker, she's also given me some of her tips for quitting, too...double bonus)

This Christmas I decided to make people handmade gifts since money would probably be tight. And people love getting gifts made with love. I found a bunch of simple and fast, yet good-looking dishcloth patterns on Ravelry, bought some cotton yarn and started knitting away.

I'd wanted to try my hand at a hat, but most of the patterns I found used double pointed needles and I was hesitant to try them. So I found one that didn't use them...


I just added the tassels to both but haven't taken a picture yet....

One day I will use double pointed needles and make lots of socks in a rainbow of colors.

One day I will make a sweater out of a luxurious skein of Malabrigo yarn.

A Morning with the Bovines

Last week as I was driving out to Dad's, I saw that our family friends, the Rose's, had some of their cows and calves down in a pasture close to their house and got the idea that I wanted to take some pictures of them for my sister Stephanie. Dad mentioned it to Ranae, who said "Heck ya, come and take 'em!"

Well, I didn't make it over before they moved back up in the higher hills.

Yesterday morning at Dad's I noticed that the hillside behind his place was dotted with cattle.
I really wanted to go and take pictures but I was headed out the door to work.

When I got back to Dad's that evening, he told me that a couple of them showed up in his yard. Dad's neighborhood is surrounded on two sides by open range, so it's not an uncommon thing to see cows that close to the houses.

This morning I was determined to get out on the quad and hunt them down.
Since they were up high on the hill and I don't have alot of experience on the quad,
I was a little apprehensive about heading up a muddy dirt trail.

Yep, the top of this hill...

What if I fell off and they mistook me for a giant salt lick?

Have you ever seen a cow tongue? Gross! Bleech!!

But I had a mission.
Dammit, I was gonna get cow pictures for my Otis!
And get them I did!

Aren't they cute?
This is a "pair". A cow and her calf.
This I learned from Pioneer Woman.

"Hay Lady, what're you lookin' at?"

"Com'on Ladies, let's get outta here!"

Then it was time to head back down the muddy trail.

These Lucies are for you Stephanotis!
I risked life and limb and the threat of
cow tongues to get them for you!
But I love you more than all the cows in the world!
So it was, like, totally worth it!


**And speaking of Dad...He went to Salt Lake on the 7th and came back on the 16th but his gallbladder decided to stay there. His recovery is going great!!!!!!

Dad's Gall Bladder

Dad went to the VA hospital in SLC on Wednesday for a consult with the surgeons regarding his gall bladder. On Thursday the GI folks decided to do another ERCP (see previous post) to check for any more stones and possibly take out the stint that they put in back in February. Well, there were some more stones and some "sludge" in his bile duct. I talked to him shortly after the procedure and he said that this one didn't go as smoothly as the first. He was hoarse and a little incoherent from the anesthesia and intubation. Apparently he ended up with an infection after that and his temp was spiking to 104 degrees, so they had him on high grade antibiotics and hadn't transferred him back to the VA (they did the procedure at Univ of Utah Medical Center). I spoke with him on Friday, and the docs told him there was a possibility of them taking the gall bladder that day. Nope. The didn't. Also they put in a PICC line to administer the antiobiotics he's on...Cipro...Remember that stuff? It's what they gave to folks that were infected with the Anthrax virus a few years ago. So you know that's some potent crap. But he's in good spirits and I could hear him joking with the nurses while I was on the phone with him. Talked to him briefly yesterday as his cell was losing it's charge and his charger was at the VA while he was still at the U. He said they told him "maybe today". Nope!

I think he's back at the VA today as he told me he had his charger now. (I forgot to ask where he was) They want to keep him through this next week to keep an eye on him and get the infection totally cleared so they can go in and do the surgery.

I did a little research on gallstones and the causes. I don't feel like transposing it into my own words and since I am against plagiarism here's an informative link I found on the subject:

http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec10/ch140/ch140b.html

My mom had her gall bladder out when I was little. Apparently it's common to get gallstones during pregnancy. Momma, sorry for giving you gallstones! I thought we only gave you gray hairs!!!

I will continue to update as I get more info. Please keep Dad in your thoughts and prayers :)

Update on Dad, Part 2

Well, I'm back in Elko. Dad is still in Salt Lake. Here's an update from the information we got on Monday morning:

The doctors came by on their rounds that morning. All very optimistic about stuff. The gallbladder does need to come out. But before they can do that, they need to make sure that the infection is all gone. So the plan is to preform another Endoscopy either Tuesday or Wednesday to check for infection and if the infection is all gone, they will remove the stint they put in on Sunday. From there, they will schedule the gallbladderectomy (ok, I didn't check WebMD for the proper term). There was also talk of doing an MRI either yesterday or Tuesday, but they need to inject contrast for the procedure and one of the effects of contrast is that it sometimes messes with the kidneys and Dad's kidney function is all screwed up from the gallbladder stuff. So they're hestitant to do that at this time. (Update on the kidney function: when I talked to Dad last night, he said that his urine was clear, of course, those of you who know our father know that those aren't the words he used!)

While I was still there, they needed to replace his iv. That was a very humorous half hour! It took 3 nurses to try and find a vein they could use! It came down to a nurse from the ICE unit who rocks at finding hard-to-find veins who had to bring in a portable doppler unit to find one. They were all getting frustrated by it and Dad was the calming presence to all of them! "Don't worry, take your time and do what ya gotta do." Success was finally achieved! Yeah Nurse Jason!!

He's in very good spirits and is very appreciative of all the well-wishes and thoughts and prayers that are being sent his way!! And he's got his cell phone with him, so if you'd like to give him a call, I'm sure he'd love to hear from those who have his number!

I'll keep posting update as I get them from him!