Seeing Red in the Kitchen

I've been seeing a lot of red in my kitchen lately. Red as in tomato sauce in my food. I've tried a three new recipes in the last two weeks and each of them was tomato-based.

First up was Pizza Supreme Soup from Elle's New England Kitchen. I accompanied it with Pizza Dough Breadsticks. Both were a big hit with the family.

I didn't take any photos, but I tried Slow Cooker Meat Sauce from A Fridge Full of Food. The recipe was easy and super delicious. The only drawback was I had to get up in the middle of the night and turnoff the crock pot because the yummy smell of the sauce was permeating my dreams and making me very hungry.

This past Tuesday I tried Homemade Spaghettios from the Big Red Kitchen. This recipe was easy to make and Mr. E loved the results.

There was plenty fill up nine more dishes for future lunches.

What's on the menu for tonight? Nothing with tomato sauce! Probably Espresso Burgers with Sweet Potato Fries.

Oh yeah, we are also getting ready for our first winter storm, in October! It snowed a little last night and Mr. E told me this morning, "It was snowmening at daddy's house!" Silly boy!

Have a great weekend!

Sweet P

Birthday Shopping

I wasn't going to spend my birthday money, but a good sale and a discount card changed my mind.

First up, Joann's is having a sale on Kona Cottons. I'm low on solid colors so I stocked up on a few choices. Most of them are one yard cuts, a couple are one yard, plus the remnant piece.
My next stop was at my LYS, Spinning Yarns. I needed to buy yarn for a swap package and decided since I had a fully stamped discount card that gave me 20% off my purchase I would use the rest of my birthday money and treat myself to some fancy yarn. I bought two balls of Ritratto yarn by Stacy Charles. It is a mohair and rayon blend. It's super squishy and a lace weight. In the clearance bin was eight hanks of yellow Berocco Pure Pima. I figure it will make a nice tank top or shell for next summer.

I finished Mr. E's dinosaur sweater this morning. It will be part of his Halloween costume.

Aren't the buttons cute?

I'm working at another store for a few weeks. Because it is an hour drive one way to get there, I get a four day work week with three days off. I just finished my third day off and it was nice to have that much time off. I cleaned our bedroom closet, cleaned off my dresser, did the laundry and still have lots of time to play with fiber and threads and with Mr. E.

What are up to this fall?
Sweet P

Amazing Color Update

September was a slow month for progress on Amazing Color. In fact, there was no progress on it in September. I stitched squares C2 - C4 (the bottom row) at the end of August. I started B5 in August and didn't finish it until yesterday. This morning I finished C5.

Here's the project so far.

The project continues to be fun. I average about 90-120 minutes per square. I'm always amazed at how a black and white stitch guide comes alive when the square is finished.

What long term projects are you working on these days?

Sweet P

What Would You Do?

On Saturday I celebrate my 50th birthday. Yup, that's right. The big 5-0. And I am ready. On Saturday I am going with Mr. E to his music lessons and then an afternoon with family. Dinner is not planned yet. On Sunday I am having a Craft and Swap Open House with a few of my friends and football on TV. I'm off on Monday and Tuesday too and plan to rest on those days.

Anyway, while daydreaming about possible birthday gifts I came up with a game for myself.

What would I do if someone gifted me $1,000? I tried to think of three different ways to spend the money:
The Practical Option: a new pair of eyeglasses and sunglasses with leftover money being used to fill my pantry.
The Somewhat Practical Option: I would turn our bed into a "hotel bed" with crisp sheets and wonderful duvet. Leftover money would pay the carpenter to build out our closet.
The Luxury Option: Since I am out of vacation time until February, I would take two weeks off from work and spend the time creating and playing all day long. I admit to missing the summer I had off from work three years ago and would love to be able to spend more time at home again.

I suppose you're wondering why I wouldn't buy any fabric, yarn or threads. Well, with my latest studio reorganizing I have found enough supplies and refreshed my memory with enough projects that I could stay busy for quite awhile before I need to go shopping.

What would you do with $1,000?

Sweet P

Baking With Mr. E

It's been awhile since Mr E and I have had a baking morning. With the cooler temps I decided it was time to make pumpkin muffins.

Mr. E is now tall enough to stand on his chair and help me make the dough. We counted each egg and each cupful or spoonful of ingredient as we made the dough. Then he stirred . . .

And stirred . . .

And taste tested the dough (after the muffin tins were filled)

And then taste tested a finished muffin.
Actually he is tall enough to get a muffin off the counter and has snuck two of them while I'm typing this.

Earlier he heard me taking a photo and ran into the room, said "cheese" and posed for me.

Then he came running to me, holding his Lego creation to his eyes saying, "cheese". He made himself a camera! Silly, smart boy!I hope you're having a wonderful week. It has been rainy here for the last several days. The leaves are starting turn and the cool temps have definitely arrived.

Sweet P