America's Independence Day

Happy Birthday America


















While many of us had family time, picnics and cook outs, let's not forget what the true meaning of this special day is. I was applaud when I viewed a u-tube video posted on facebook with a dozen or so beach lovers being interviewed who were pathetically clueless about the meaning of the day. Didn't know we fought a war, The Revolution, didn't know whom we gained our Independence from, England. It took blood and much sacrifice on the part of ancestors. Take time and tell you children the true meaning of the day.

We had the company of most of our family in our gathering, good food was served, games were played. We proudly wore our red, white and blue and flew our Flags. DD and nephew Jeff couldn't be with us, though we wish they could have. Special memory of Mom, who always loved the 4th of July and I know her spirit was with us all yesterday.

Menu:
Italian marinated grilled chicken
Lemon pepper pork chops (HUGE hit)
Pork chops with salt and pepper (ordinary)
Grilled veggies (olive oil and seasonings)
baked beans
deviled eggs
salad
potato salad
beer, wine, water, pop
Flag cake

Hubby did a fabulous job at the grill, he always does! PLEASE, see my special post regarding Veterans CLICK HERE

LOVE Girl Time with DARLING DAUGHTER

After picking up DD at the airport and dropping off bags at home, we heading out for brunch at First Watch. Sorry, no pictures there, but it was yummy. We chatted and enjoyed ourselves, then walked over to get our pretty toes and fingers taken care of. We both LOVE a good pedicure. We even went for the deluxe, was only 4 dollars more then the regular, so hey....why not. Our skin colors are so very different. We always laugh when we get pedicures...I always go for coral toes and she goes for the deeper colors. We rarely do a manicure, but this time we did! I just did clear and she did a light color. Here we are, all tangled up trying to get a picture as we were laughing.















I'm totally clueless about Indian food, but DD is adventurous in her eating and loves it. So after our massages the 2nd day, we headed to lunch with an area Indian Buffet. It was a bit spicy for me, though she thought it a bit bland compared to where she normally eats. She eats Indian enough at a favorite spot in St. Louis they know her name. I can't even tell you what we ate, she was going to write it down for me and forgot so I could tell you. lol The rice was good, much lighter then what I'm used to. The things that look like french fries are veggies of some sort. The yellowish stuff on the left is potatoes and cauliflower, and to it's right a spinach something. Probably not something I would do again, certainly not on my own. She said it was ok, but not as good as what she normally has.




No visit here at home is complete without a trip to The Half Price Book Store. She loves to read, she consumes books and they don't have Half Price Book Stores in St. Louis. We both found some good deals. The Debbie Macomber and Knitters Bible are mine, and the other books got packed up for her return trip to St. Louis.





Always interested in saving money, getting good deals, so wanted to pass along this tip. Are you up to speed about when Restaurant Week is in your area? If not, do yourself a favor and find out about it. Most of the good restaurants participate and you can save yourself some money. It's a great way to go someplace new too. AND...on that same note. Are you registered with Groupon? If not, why not? It's free, it changes daily. Sign up is easy, free, and worthwhile. You can get deals for going out, food, movies, concerts, clothes, even groceries. Fill out your profile. You don't have a minimum so if you get a deal in your email that doesn't appeal to you, simply delete it and see what comes through the following day. You can also do this from your smart phone if you have one. ( I don't, but hubby does.) Anyway...I highly recommend it. Click HERE to check it out. I just purchased my 3rd since joining about a week ago. Purchased a tour of historic homes, 50% at an Italian Restaurant, and Beer Tasting at a Pub (hubby will love that last one).

**edited to add this: Thanks! DD you're the best.
Christine (The DD) said...Yellow/Cauliflower dish = Aloo Gobi

Spinach dish = Saag Paneer

Orange & rice = Chicken Tikka Masala

'French fries' = Vegetable Pakoras

Bread = Naan

It was by no means my favorite Indian place, too mild, not enough spices to really be like my buddies at Rasoi. Oh well, you try something new every once and again!

Work in Progress Wednesday Post HERE

Wedding Ghan, opinions needed Please and Thanks

Work in Progress, Wed.

I have two strips for the wedding ghan currently done and am working on the 3rd (of 5 ?). My question for you all is this (click to enlarge)

How do I want to put this together? That is whip stitch vs crocheting an edge around each strip and then either crocheting together or whip stitching it together. If I had done all the separate squares, I would have edge them all in one color and joined them in the same color, probably whip stitch, which would have looked window pane like. However, by doing the strips I've eliminating the extra time for casting on and binding off over and over and over. The edges are a bit curled, but not badly as often happens with knitting vs crocheting. The pattern you now can see is the traditionally diagonal. So, crocheting an edge will flatten the curled edge which is good, but then does it detract from the diagonal pattern? Whip stitching the strips together and blocking will also take care of the slight curl. Or at least I think it should. Adding a crocheted edge increasing the size, but then which color? And that probably means I need to go buy more yarn (which would be the 3rd time I've purchased yarn for this ghan...the disadvantage of not going with a "real" pattern and guesstimating how much yarn is needed.

Then again, I might have enough yarn to make 6 strips if after doing 5 it looks like it needs to be larger? Sometimes when ghans are too large they're awkward, so I'm really thinking.

Would love some thoughts on over all design regarding edging or not. Please weight in. Thanks!

Groupon a work in progress also. lol, seriously I just purchased my 2nd groupon a short while ago and am therefore still learning how to do things on the webpage etc. Looking forward to saving more money, and trying out new places. My first groupon is for a historical homes tour which I'm really excited about. The 2nd one is for an Italian Restaurant nearby, that I didn't even know existed for 50% off! How cool is that? Do you Groupon? Give it a try by clicking here
**it's not just for young cool hip folks, old farts like me can have fun and save money with it too!

Finished Object Friday, sorta?

A completed strip for the wedding...probably a bit of a cheat; but it's all I've got to show you as a finished object...it is an object, not a project...soooooooo. I'm posting it and counting it. lol Since photographing this strip, I've been working on the 2nd strip which is coming along nicely and a bit faster then this first one did. I'm on the 5th color block of the 2nd strip. YIPPEE.

This is knitted and is the item I've been referring to as The Wedding Ghan. The light tan is the Double Eyelet pattern. I'm happy with it, and was a bit nervous when I started it, as it's my first eyelet pattern, and the first time I've done a pattern with psso in it. I had to get on line to figure out what it is (pass the slip stitch over). The medium tan is called Little Blocks and is the easiest of the 3 patterns to do...I really like this stitch and can see me using it often in other projects. The dark brown block is called Arrow Heads and is the most tedious for me with the counting; but provides lots of texture which I like, though believe it will look better once blocked. I think it's odd it doesn't have an edge of 2 or 3 garter stitches to keep it flat; but the book was trying hard I think to have all the blocks be the same size.

Click to enlarge the picture so you can see the 3 patterns and textures better. Girl time will officially start in about 2 hours...I'm sooooooooooooooooo excited.

Pink Poddle Ghan

Been awhile since I posted an update to show you progress on this diagonal striped afghan. It reminds me of back in the day, poodle skirts for those of ya as old as me. Thus it's name. When I started this ghan I had several charities in mind, one of which was my very own Bridge and Beyond for the gals at Nancy Place through Faith Mission. Then I heard about the need in Joplin, Missouri and believe if I can get it done anytime in the near future; that's where it's headed. Those folks lost so much, perhaps some young girl will enjoy curling up with this and find some comfort. Perhaps too, someone as old as me who remembers poodle skirts? I've laid this aside though for awhile in order to work on The Wedding Ghan, the wedding is after all Aug 13th...

I find when I'm tired I work on the poodle ghan, as I don't have to count or do different stitches, like I do for the wedding ghan. Don't like working on it when I'm tired, I've already frogged and made changes/corrections too many times.

Normally I have lots of projects going, but for now am just working back and forth between these 2. I do have plenty of other wip (work in progress) pieces, but I've put them all away for the time being.

Girl Time Soon

Looking forward to a weekend with my DD soon and girl time. We only get to have girl time once every couple of years it seems, but we always enjoy it when we do. I can't say I ever had "girl time" in the same way with my own Mother when she was living. Things were different then. Parents worked, life was harder, household chores certainly took more time; leaving little time for frivolous things. Since Mom and I always lived in the same city, it wasn't like we had to travel to visit each other; but we didn't plan time together. She was busy with work before she retired, as was I. Then she and Dad were busy spending time together, as were my husband and I (plus I still was, and am employed). We talked on the phone alot, had dinner as a family, but I can't really think of time when just she and I went to lunch or dinner. We just didn't do that. Our interests too were vastly different. I do remember when I turned 30 (a very long time ago), a shopping venture; but it was just for the afternoon.

So what do my DD and I do when we have girl time? We always get a massage, and often a pedicure. I don't believe my Mother ever had either. One didn't spend money and time on things like that. As I said, different time, different interests. I've got appointments lined up for us both to have a pedicure and a manicure the day she flies in. Then I think we'll paint pottery, that's something we've done together the last couple of times we've had "girl time". She's quite good at it, and well...........I try. Though perhaps it's silly to have a manicure if we're going to be painting...hum... We'll do lunch, or brunch here at home before the pedicures or eat in the shopping center where the salon. If weather permits (and that's a big if given how lousy it's been now for some time), we might opt for Shakespeare in the park that evening. We both really enjoy that, and it's free! The Scarlet Pimpernel is playing, and it's one I've not seen before.

We have massages scheduled for Sat morning, so we'll most probably do lunch afterwards, and then hit a yarn store or two...yeah, she's like me, she loves looking at yarn. She also knits and crochets, just doesn't have much time for it. Then I have a feeling she'll want to hit the used book store. They don't have Half Price Books in St. Louis, and she LOVES books, she doesn't read them, she consumes them. lol

We've done our "girl times" previously in Baltimore (when she lived there), in St. Louis where she currently lives, and in Breckenridge when we were vacationing. This is the first time we've actually done it here..at home. Looking forward to it, though it will be brief; she's only here for 2 nights.

Do you do "Girl Time" with your Daughters? Did you do "Girl Time" with your Mother, or do you still?