pentatonic wonders

I've seen this video several times before, but it is SO worth sharing. Particulary in our current mindset of budget cuts which directly affect the arts in most cases.

perigee moon

picture from nasa of the moon rising above the Lincoln Memorial I use this because my own picture isn't that good and it was later and not nearly as large.

Tonight our great friends came for dinner... Manicotti (or canneloni) with homemade crepe shells some with vodka sauce, others with puttanesca sauce and some with cheese and spinach filling with alfredo sauce. For dessert just see the pics below. To say I'm stuffed is an understatement.

alfajores











ricotta pie






tiramisu

After it was all said and done and everyone (well almost everyone) had gone to bed, the middle child and I spent some time writing notes to each other. Then we spent another hour talking. I wonder how long he'll put up with doing that with his old fart mother.

This is my pathetic shot of the moon last night...



A local photographer Hub Willson has a WONDERFUL photo that he took last night with a 900mm lens... breathtaking

why i do what i do...

let's do the twist

I started a pair of socks for me... then realized I hadn't read the pattern completely so ripped them out last night.. I'll start them again. Knitty's Twisted but I'm wondering if I do 3k and the twisted purl if I can then turn them inside out to make them. they are reversible after all. I asked the designer and she said no one had tried it that she knew of.. and that the toe and heel shaping is very specific. although twisting the purl stitch can be a pain because you hvae to grab it from behind to twist it.. so it might not be worth it.

Anyway state testing begins tmrw and I have to proctor for close to 4 hours a day. The rest of the day I sit with my homeroom... doing who knows what so I'll be taking knitting along!

a walk about

town on Monday with the hub....
My school was cancelled due to 'inclement weather' but at home it was cold windy but sunny and beautiful so our kids had school. After dropping them and returning home for breakfast with the hub we decided to take the time to go for a walk since he is on spring break from the college. We walked about 3 miles or so and then stopped for coffee at one of my favorite places in town that isn't my house!

Along the way I took these photos. I could live in any one of these houses I think ;-)



I love how the sun crosses in front of these gorgeous wooden garage doors. The garage that owns these doors belongs to this house. This is the side view of the house.. there is a gorgeous enclosed sunroom on the north side of the house and an open covered porch on the south side.

Down the street near the library is this cute brick house and the single brethren house of the Moravian Church. Both of these are historical buildings.






But my favorite picture is this which met me on Sunday afternoon. It says Mom and Dad I love you bye Pablo. He was so angry with my hub cuz he asked him how to spell by and hub thought he meant as in goodbye which he didn't.... but it's still too cute!

fastnacht socks?

here they are... a long overdue Christmas gift for the love of my life.

Pattern: Manly Socks by Hannah Six
Yarn: Noro Kureyon Sock
Colorway: 149
Needle: US2 (my new sox stix by lantern moon :-) )
Recipient: the hubby!


He requested them to be longer than the last 2 pairs. I had very little yarn left. I think it's going to be kept in a safe place for the inevitable darning. I was calling them fasnacht socks because all day they only had the end of the toe left to do... I teased him that I was going to leave them that way like a donut!

I'm not really crazy about this yarn. I didn't rewind the skein and maybe that would have helped but it was really sticky in pulling it out and I spend LOTS of time undoing little knots.

Now I need to cast on something for next week at school when I'll be proctoring exams and watching my homeroom for hours.... Something mindless because Lord knows I'll be interrupted enough!

american girl knitting

long overdue

Pattern: Julie's Jeans by Cathy Bird
Yarn: ? 2 different yarns
Color: medium blue and light blue
Needle: US7
Recipient DD

I found this pattern on ravelry. I won't link it but you can do a search to find it there as well

Pattern: Ernestine Doll Hat by Wendy Poush
Yarn: Berroco Cotton Twist Solids
Colorway: 8359 Inchworm
Needle: US 8
Ribbon: From stash bought at Joanns
Recipient: DD



Pattern: Shoes from 18" doll summer fun ensemble by Caroline Dlugy-Hegwer
Yarn: Scraps
Colorway: Dark Teal
Needle: US8
Recipient: DD

There is still a skirt and sweater to post but that will be a while yet I'm afraid. DD loves her AG clothing... I'll make her more after I finish the man's socks... working on the foot of the 2nd. I get about 7 minutes a day to knit if I'm lucky!


just to mention that I couldn't post in firefox today. Had to open the safari to get this in... a little frustrating

best.day.ever.

according to my 6 YO son.

Wake up... Donuts with Dad at his school
come home
Batting Cage with Dad and his older brother
grab pizza
come home
Train meet in Allentown with mom
happy meal at McD
come home
dinner (did I mention he likes to eat?)
Family movie - Free Willy 4 (he's got this thing for whales right now)

As for me....I want to get out of my slump.

the jellicle moon was shining bright

and jellicles came to the jellicle ball.
We all went to see CATS last night at the State Theatre in Easton. All 5 of us... not an inexpensive adventure, but worth it. The boys were entranced. Although DS2 said that there were moments he didn't like, but his favorite was McCavity. And admittedly, the whole meaning was well over the kids heads, but I'm determined more than ever to take them to as many live performances of quality as possible.

Last week DD and I went to see ASOs condensed version of Carmen. DH directed the chorus so the only cost for us was the babysitter for the boys. She loved it.

After looking at the page for the company that put on the show I noticed that they were at the Flynn theatre on Valentine's Day. I had a friend from HS that used to do stage managing at the Flynn (among other art venues in CT and VT) who just passed away last month. As I was at the show last night I imagined him running it, without knowing that were he still alive he WOULD have run it just a week before. I believe he's running some bigger shows right now. I also felt this presence of a former colleague of mine giving me props for taking the kids to the theater. She was quite a classy lady whose son is a dancer on Broadway. So Mike and Rho... thanks for the visits last night. I know you were smiling at me.

Day off today and we had a little bit of snow... and I have a headache for the I can't tell you how many day in a row... I remember mom having headaches a lot... now I'm feeling your pain....

sticky

so I wanted to make a breakfast food for DD and her friends that were staying over.
There is a local philly pretzel company that has this cinnamon butter. (YUM x 3000) and i was thinking it would be great in a cinnamon bun......

So I had thought on going to buy some of the dip but didn't get to it before the store closed. I forgot about it... DD didn't

This morning I asked what they wanted for breakfast and she said those buns you were going to make...I hadn't made the dough.... ugh

What to do??? (cue light bulb going off)


1. Preheat oven to 350° F

2. Make cinnamon butter... found a recipe on the web... doubled it... next time I tweak it it will be a little less butter...like this maybe

3/8 pound of room temp butter
1/2 c brown sugar packed
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Cream all ingredients together whipping until light and fluffy

3. Mix topping
3/4 c brown sugar
4 T melted butter
1 Tbsp maple syrup
3 Tbsp honey (I used buckwheat)

Mix together until well blended and pour into a 9" square baking pan.

4. With two packages of refrigerated crescent rolls. (you can buy it without the perforations...I didn't have this on hand tho) I split the dough in half (if you buy the crescent roll for the rolls it comes out in 2 pieces kind of)

push all the perforations together to make a larger piece (i did half the package at a time)

spread cinnamon butter on the dough and roll the dough short end to short end. CUt the 'log' into four equal pieces. Lay pieces on side in the pan containing the topping mix. Repeat with other half of dough and other package.

5. Bake in 350 oven for about 28 minutes.

6. Let cool some before turning out of pan!


7. Eat and enjoy......

the parade of doll clothes

DD's AG Elizabeth will be busy modelling over the next few days. Now that I've found the card reader for the camera, I can take some shots other than with my phone.
This one is from the phone though.


Summer Fun Ensemble by Caroline Dlugy-Hegwer
Yarn: Top and pants Paton's Grace shoes-some remnant
Color: Sky teal
Needle: US3 US8
Recipient: Daughter
I didn't do the ribbon on the pants and I put my own belt from yarn in until I could go out and find ribbon to fit through the loops. I'll replace it though I'm sure.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the slippers... handfulled them in the kitchen sink... but they are so darn cute!

There are more clothes to come!

We went to Mama Nina's for her birthday dinner yesterday... I was stuffed and brought enough home for 2 more meals...

I can't believe she's 11. I really like the young woman she is becoming. So proud of her!! I love you sweetie

swinging to the right

ok so he can't pronounce da Vinci... but if this guy believes it... I may be in for a change



I have stuff to show you... but maybe tmrw or later...

do i need any more reason

to teach the national anthem at school?


So this doesn't happen from any of MY students! COme on... at least learn the words. It's a 2 minute song and you're on national TV.... how pathetic!

great vw commercial!

ice

two more days off from school. Can't do a thing but bake, eat, knit, watch movies.


so tired of winter.... glad Phil saw no shadow... the hope for spring grows by the day.

Yesterday i made a pair of pants for DDs American Girl Doll.. wish I had bound them off differently, but they still work. CO 4 times for them. Here's a picture... details will follow when I finish the outfit

It all started with the retro cardi... that still needs buttons... Also made a flouncy lacy skirt... that needs elastic... maybe I should do all that today so I can update this blog.

she decided she wants to do her room a la 70s hippie.... found these sheets at Garnet Hill. She opted for the white with the matching comforter cover. Since she has a full comforter on a twin bed, I bought a new duvet in twin size also.... from overstock.com. That came today.

Shoveled out heavy icy slush... did the neighbor too. will be a nice surprise for them when they get home. He helped me out last Thursday by lending his muscle when I needed to get to work.

Off to make the kids lunch.. they came to play while I was out working... although DD did help shovel a bit.

snow......

i've had enough... i love the beauty of it, but really.. I'd rather enjoy the long summer days without kids pining to be OUT of school.....

So.. this week, we went to school late Monday because of cold. It was -5° F in the town I teach 2 hours after school was supposed to begin... brrrrrrr
Tuesday was a normal school day.
Wednesday we got out 2 hours early because of impending snow, which came to my home, but not to the town where I work. At my house 3".
Thursday, 2 hour delay. At home there was an additional 9.5", which meant my car didn't clear the snow in the unplowed alley. In the town I teach, maybe 3". So I left the house at 7:20 am, after shovelling, and by 8:10 was on the street in front of my house (just trying to get out of the alley).... got to work by 9:00 to start teaching at 9:30. It's usually a 35 minute commute.
Friday another normal day.

It's killing my instrumental lessons... kids forget their instruments, lessons are shorter than they should be. My 7th grade class has been shortchanged by about 30% of class time.

And my own children are crazy. My son informed me that he hasn't had a full week of school in 7 weeks. It's flurrying as I write this post.. and there's a storm predicted for mid-week.

I'd post pictures, but I've misplaced the card reader for the olympus... guess I should start searching for it!


Sorry, but I'm ready for spring.......

another year older

I am thankful for being able to celebrate yet another birthday... a few days before mine came a old high school friend passed. I'm still having a hard time digesting it. So when my birthday came, I said a little prayer of thanks that I was here celebrating it with my family. And another prayer of thanks that I had the day off even if it was because of snow.

DH has come through his knee surgery with flying colors. He went today to have the stitches removed and got the news that he is SO good, he doesn't even need PT.... Even more reason to give thanks!

Tonight a colleague invited me to go to a concert with her. PMEA district 10 chorus.. It was really wonderful. I so enjoyed it and for that I'm thankful.

Ok... I know it sounds a little like Thanksgiving... but I realize that I am sometimes a bit whiney... and need to be more grateful...

Find something in your life to be grateful for. You'll be surprised how happy you become!

thrifty

I needed to take the clarinet to get worked on and between here and the shop is a VIA thrift store so the car headed that way on the return trip, even though it was snowing.

No fibery finds but....

a beautiful mug for 99¢ love the shape and color. There were 2 more, but they weren't in such pristine condition.

glow sticks for next Halloween (yes I was thinking ahead.. hope that doesn't make me a hoarder) 300 10" with connectors for $5.97 They were a HUGE hit this year and I paid about $1 for 20 sticks

But the best find of the day by far, a 1.5 qt Calphalon infused sauce pan for 2.99

DH was happy with the last find. He'd like a set of cookware like that as would I without paying the original price tag. Guess I need to keep my eyes peeled. It gives me a reason to thrift.

Came home and took the kids sledding so that DH could get some quiet rest. He's recuperating from orthoscopic surgery on the knee.

DD and I made manicotti Friday for dinner... with crepes as the shells ....really yummmo. The recipe may become a staple!

1-1-11

Happy New Year.

WE spent the start with my best cousins. I love them so much and we all get along so well. I am such a lucky girl. The kids all play great together and we all just enjoy each others company like crazy! How fun!

I started a beanie for DS1 this afternoon... then we went to the movies. DD and I opted for Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader we were NOT disappointed... I loved the movie. The boys went to see TRON. The young boys loved it... the older one, not as much. Of course he took a nap during the movie, so he really has no right judging it!

Anyway, much to my surprise, I finished the beanie this evening. It was 2 color work and looks like this:

Pattern: the skull beanie
Yarn: 100purewool single ply
still working on knitting down the stash
Colors: negro, crudo
Needle: US9
Recipient: DS1

Hope he likes it. He's sleeping now and I just finished it about 20 minutes ago.

now back to the regularly scheduled socks for DH with the Noro sock yarn (which I don't like at all) on my lantern moon ebony sox stix (which I love so much)

Have a healthy new year! I'm hoping my broken toe mends really fast. I can't believe how much the darn thing still bothers me.

preparing

my big fat Greek dinner party

Hors d'oeuvres:
garlic hummus & red pepper hummus (χούμους)
with warm pita triangles (πίτα)
olive tapinade (ελιάς)
dolmadas (ντολμάδες)
mozzarella cheese balls for the kids

crudité (λαχανικά)

Entrée
Caesar Salad (Σαλάτα Caeser)
Lentil Soup (φακές σούπα)
Spanokopita (σπανακόπιτα)

Dessert:
Greek butter cookies (μπισκότα βουτύρου)
Greek lemon cake (κέικ λεμονιού)- yes in the bundt pan have to pay tribute to the flick somehow.... now how to fix the hole????



it's the family of an old student of DH that we've grown accustomed to/fond of


Hope Santa was good to you.. I'm still recovering!