Four Hundred

Welcome to my 400th blog post!

I apologize for the delay; I was unable to publish for a few days as my computer was recovering from a minor keyboard flood. I've managed to pull back into action an old keyboard I found packed away in a box. I am ecstatic to be able to type spaces again, but I'm finding it a bit tough to get used to the feel of this configuration. It's an old Dell keyboard from the late 1990s and every time I press a key, it clicks. Oddly unnerving.

To celebrate the bits of spring that are starting to appear outside, I designed this navy and pink crocheted purse. I call it "Hints of Pink." In honor of my 400th post, I have decided to give it away to one lucky reader. I am opening this contest to everyone, regardless of location, so those of you who live outside the US may enter as well. Click on any photos to view a larger image.

The purse is worked in the honeycomb stitch, so bits of the crocheted pink lining (right) show though the fabric on the outside. Note: Photos of the whole purse (left and above) were taken with the purse full.

The button is crocheted (far left) from the same pink yarn and can fit in any of three button holes (left). The purse measures approximately 7" high and 8" long, flat. The strap is about 25" from end to end, but will stretch out nearly as far as 36".

How to Enter

Tell me your favorite springtime memory or tradition. You can simply leave a comment on this post for a single entry, however, if you'd prefer to write a post on your own blog and link to this page, you can do that, too, and earn an extra entry for your trouble. Just leave me a second comment with a link to your post. The deadline for entries is this coming Thursday, March 26th at 10:00 PM, CDT.

Children's Books

I added a couple more books from the Ramona series that I've been reading aloud to my daughter to my 2009 Reading List.

          

My daughter has really been enjoying reading the books, even though I'm pretty sure she doesn't quite understand a lot of things. She keeps asking to read more, so I can't complain. She has even started "reading" to me by finding a picture or opening to a random page and making up the story.

Breakfast or Breakfast for Dinner

I don't remember ever eating breakfast casseroles when I was a kid. I first had this one a couple of years ago. It was so delicious I asked my friend for the recipe. Since then, I've discovered it's a very versatile dish. This version is my stand-by, though, since we nearly always have the ingredients around.

2 slices of bread, any variety
½ lb bulk sausage
1 small onion
1 c spinach, well packed
5 eggs
1 c milk
1 small potato
½ c shredded or crumbled cheese

• Cut bread into ½” cubes.
• Brown sausage and drain well, reserving 1t grease.
• Dice onion. Cook in reserved grease over medium-high heat until translucent, adding spinach for the last 2-3 minutes.
• Beat together eggs and milk.
• Shred potato into bottom of 8 x 8 baking dish.
• Layer half the spinach, onions, bacon, and bread. Repeat with remaining half.
• Pour egg mixture over layers. Press bread cubes into egg mixture until fully soaked.
• Spread cheese over top of casserole.
• Bake uncovered at 350° 50-55 minutes, until center is set and edges are browned.

Have I Told You Lately ...

... that I love my library? I've started figuring out their online reserve system here (it only took me five months) and it's great. I find a book I want and I can add it to my list. If I want a book right away, I can place a hold on it and the library system will send it from wherever it started out to my local branch, usually within a day or two.

Ooh, and then there are the DVDs. How much more can you ask for than unlimited free DVDs? We have had one or two (or four) that have had some scratches, but for the most part they've played as well as those you would rent from a national chain at nearly $5 a pop--and we get them for a whole week!

I also have free online access to hundreds of audio books, language-learning programs, classic films, children's videos, and research databases. Some of them even allow me to download material and burn it to CD.

Sigh. How did I ever manage for so many years without a library card?

I Completely Forgot

I never told you all how date night went, did I? I decided to take myself a little bloggy vacation and left my poor readers hanging, just wondering what we saw and how we liked it. Sorry.

After extensive searching, I discovered we have four movie theaters in town. Two show first-run films (pretty much the same first run films), one shows second or third run films (as in, by the time they get to the $3.00 theater, they've already been released on DVD), and the other is an IMAX theater that's part of the science museum.

Since the movie I really wanted to see at the $3.00 show had no showtimes after 5:00, I decided we'd go to the cheaper of the two first-run theaters and see the only movie I was remotely interested in there: Paul Blart: Mall Cop.

Eh, it was pretty good. As good as I had expected from a movie called Paul Blart: Mall Cop and starring Kevin James. The story was kind of cute and it made me laugh. Adam felt that the running jokes about being overweight lasted entirely too long into the movie. I thought they did a disservice to people who actually have hypoglycemia (they show him continually eating sugary snacks). There was a bit of a plot twist toward the end and we disagreed whether it was a planned execution or simply an act of opportunism. It's not a film I'd pay to see money again, but if a friend was showing it for movie night, I might go.

Our original plan had been to have dinner after the movie, but the timing didn't work out very well. We'd had a late lunch, so we just went for coffee before the movie and shared a big bucket of popcorn for supper. Healthy? Well, no. Tasty? Oh, yeah!

We definitely need to do this again. Date night should not be only a twice-a-year experience!

Wanna Win a Free Tee?

Michelle over at Psalm 104:24 is hosting a giveaway to celebrate her 100th post! Michelle designs two different T-shirt lines: Little Earth Angels, celebrating natural family living, and Hippie Love Child, where she encourages "labeling" our children in positive ways.

She's offering an entry for a free custom tie-dye from either site to anyone who comments on this post.

Good luck!

WFMW: Cinderella's Closet

We all like free stuff, right? How about free clothes? My aunt came up with this fabulous idea several years ago and she named it Cinderella's Closet.

Basically, it's just a big clothing swap. Gather your friends (it helps if you all wear a similar size, but this can work even if you don't, so long as you have enough people) and tell them to dig through their closets. You can include clothes, shoes, even accessories, if you'd like. For each item you bring, you may take one item home. If you have a big group, you may want to pass out tags as people arrive so everyone remembers how many things they brought.

Let everybody browse through the clothes and choose some items they'd like to bring home. Make sure you have a private changing area available. Once everyone is satisfied with their trades, all the leftover items can be donated to Goodwill or the charity of your choice.

I've done this two or three times. While I always take fewer items home than I've brought with me, I have found it's a great way to clear out my closet. How often do you find something good for you, good for your friends, and good for the less fortunate? Cinderella's Closet works for me!

See more tips and techniques at the new home of Works for Me Wednesday, We Are THAT Family.

Here with the Wind

Now that winter is almost gone, I'm finally getting some pictures of the thermal gear I made for my family this winter. Here is the set I made for Adam. It uses the honeycomb stitch (I've also heard it called the "thermal stitch") which produces a double-layered fabric for extra insulation. This also provides better protection against the wind than standard knit or crochet. Have I mentioned how strong the wind gets here? I'll have to tell that story in a minute. The embellishment is double crochet through the front and back posts with a second layer of single crochet on the inside to keep the thermal and wind-blocking properties. The back of the muff is a double layer of single crochet through the back loop only, stitched in a circle around the edge of the front panel.

As for my South Dakota wind story: One afternoon, shortly after we moved here, we were coming out of Panera after lunch. The wind was blowing so hard, I actually had to press into it to walk. Adam was walking a few paces in front of me and our daughter was between us. Each time she picked her foot up to take another step I worried that the wind would just pick her up and blow her away like the queue of potential nannies in the movie version of Mary Poppins. I called out to Adam (several times before he heard me) to please take her hand and hold tightly. He turned his head slightly to take her hand and the wind whipped his glasses from his face. Like the iconic scene of a man chasing his hat, reaching down to retrieve it only to have the wind send it a few feet farther on, he had to follow his glasses across the parking lot, daughter in tow, before he was able to reclaim them. He set them back on the bridge of his nose and quipped, "And they call Chicago the Windy City!"

Phones and Graphs and Other Linguistic Miscellany

While I was on blogging hiatus, I missed National Grammar Day. I'm aghast. However could I let this happen? I must post about grammar today to make up for it.

Two of my favoritest* things in the construction of languages are homophones and homographs. In case you don't remember your elementary grammar, homophones are words that are spelled differently but pronounced in the same way, while homographs are words that are spelled identically but pronounced differently. "Here" and "hear" are homophones. "Bass" (the fish) and "bass" (the instrument) are homographs.

I had a friend in college who was an ESL teacher. Actually, through the years, I've had several friends who taught ESL, but this one teacher was telling me how difficult it was for her to clarify some things about English to her students. She told me they'd spent one entire class session in a spontaneous discussion of animals and phrases which use animal terms. Consider trying to explain the differences, for example, among the idioms "bullheaded," "bully," "hung like a bull," "bullish," "a load of bull," and "like a bull in a china shop"? That discussion alone could cover a whole period!

While we're at it, if you're into grammar, let me recommend the book Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss. I got the book from my father who'd been given multiple copies by various colleagues. Clearly, being a grammar snob runs in the family.

Happy Belated National Grammar Day, everyone!

*Yes, I know "favoritest" is a grammatically impossible term. I'm going for irony here, folks. Bare with me (hee hee hee).

A Timely Post

Did everybody remember to set their clocks ahead? Doesn't it seem like summer is just headed for us at a crazy fast speed this year?

I remember my dad explaining this theory to me once that the reason time seems to move faster as you get older is because each moment, day, year represents a smaller piece of your whole life.

I think he's wrong.

The reason five minutes was so long when I was a kid is because my parents would tell me, "Just a minute," then spend fifteen on whatever it was they wanted to finish.

Or maybe that's just me ...

A Short Break

I think I need a week off. Adam's on vacation this week and I think I'm going to declare one of my own.

No archived posts this time, just taking some time off. Feel free to wander through on your own, though. There's some good stuff buried back amongst the rubbish.

I think I need to clear out my brain so I can fit some more good thoughts up there.

Hasta luego.

In 24 Hours

Actually, in 23 hours and fifty six minutes, to be exact, Adam and I are dropping our daughter off at my brother's house and we're having a real live date! Woohoo!!

I don't even remember the last time we had an evening all to ourselves. I am so excited. And, we have a coupon to a local steak place--$10 off for dinner.

Depending on what's playing ... we may even see a movie! I'm not up on the latest releases, though, so when I'm done here, I'll be heading over to one of the film sites and watch some trailers.

Until next time ...