Fresh Flowers, Crochet Tins and Roasted Soup

Until this morning, I had a bunch of dead daffodils staring at me from the mantel - no worries, I didn't not photograph that.  Usually that means I haven't been grocery shopping - and yep, we were out of just about EVERYTHING... I do the bulk of my shopping at Trader Joe's and each time I'm there, I freshen the flowers around my space.

What did I get today?

Something called WAX flowers.  They are tall and have greenery that looks something like fresh rosemary.  At their tippy tops are little purple flowers.  They don't look SUPER like spring - they look like the perfect flower for a winter that just won't end and so are perfect for my house right now (yes, we had another snow day two days ago).

Each week, I also stuff some tulips (2 colors if I dare to afford them both) and some unbloomed daffodils - I like to buy them all tight and closed and watch them open day by day until they reach their full bloom.  The daffodils usually come from England or Ireland - so thanks to all my UK friends for sending your lovely yellow flowers to brighten my day.

Last week I got a few potted bulbs.  One is a light purple hyacinth which I can smell as soon as I walk in the front door.  It's trying very hard to droop over so I've tied it to a chop stick.  I also got some really tiny daffodils in a pot which haven't yet reared their pretty heads.  I put the potted plants each into a crab meat tin I had saved some months ago.  AND... earlier this week I crocheted some bright and happy little tin covers for them.  All the color on the mantle is helping to counter the drab colors and constant white blanket of snow covering any such green on the ground.

I took down the very dried roses but I thought they still looked pretty.

I hopped up and grabbed some yarn to make the tin covers after perusing the blog Color & Cream.  I love the colors she puts together - some people just have such a knack for colors and their color schemes seem to really define them and they utilize their particular colors so well - all the time.  I seem to be a scatterbrain with color - I can't decide what my scheme is.  I apparently have a bunch of different things I like in the color world.  But, putting colors together myself is not a skill I possess... I really have a defunct color building skill. Therefore, I copy color a lot.  Ah well - you can't be good in all areas, I'll have to settle for being a copy cat.  I didn't use any patterns to make the tins, just kind of dreamed them up as I went.

Tonight I'm teaching crochet class #2 of 8.  I teach one class each Wednesday night.  This class is the perfect size with 9 students.  The class is taught to beginners and intermediates alike.  Three of the students have taken my class before but 6 of them are learning to crochet for the first time.  The first session I taught of crochet there were 12 people - all beginners... a bit tough at that size.  The next time there were SEVENTEEN!!! I had panic attacks before every class.  The third time there were 6 students and that was a bit small.  I think 8-12 is a good number especially when it's folks at different skill levels.  I teach the class Montessouri style so that crocheters may progress at their own speed.  But generally, I'm teaching a pretty big group the same skills at the same time so it works.

Raw veggies, squished on tray with olive oil, salt and peper

Veggies about 30 mins later, roasted at 400F

Roasted Veggies cut small to add to soup

I head out the door for class before 6:30pm which makes dinner tight.  So... I planned to have some vegetable soup tongiht - to get full flavor in my soup I'm trying to make the soup with pre-roasted veggies.  I never use recipes - esp. not for soup - so in my usual flair - I'm winging this.  Here are the veggies I'm roasting in the over to prepare for the soup - what do you think? will it work? have you made soup this way before?  Well, I guess we will see.

Success!  It tastes GOOD! And, I tried the juice of one lemon squeezed in - man that did the trick.

Valentine Trimmings

Above the fireplace, I decorated the mantel to be more in line with Valentine's Day.  Hubby hates it when the Christmas decorations leave the house looking bare and longs for some festive décor.  For me, it makes a fabulous excuse for filling the house with crochet and flowers~

Makes me want to run upstairs and crochet more stuff with hearts!

Paper Rose Frames, Snow Soup & Lilyhammer

Crafty Update:

I'm not the only one in the family who makes stuff!  For Christmas, my daughter made three frames for me. Her card said, "Crafty Frames for you Crafty Room."  I knew right away I wanted photos of all four of my kids in these frames.  So a few days ago, I designed some 5X7 photos using my Panstoria Artisan software.

I uploaded the photos to Walmart (because I wanted them fast!!!) and an hour later, picked them up.  Interestingly, I ordered 5X7 flat full photo cards because they cost 68cents each and included an envelope whereas a 5X7 photo (same paper, same finish) cost $1.49 each minus the envelopes.

Here are the 3 photos I designed for the frames:

Here are the frames my daughter made by rolling and twisting fabric (the green roses) and newspaper into paper roses (maybe a pinterest find)?

AND... my son gets into the design action too.  He works for a company that designs and sells apparel and other items using the Maryland state flag.  He designed these earrings.  I got the prototype as a gift from him.  Aren't they cute?

I figure heart earrings and rose flowers are both great craft projects for February aka LOVE MONTH!

And by the way - "It's Always sunny SNOWY in Philadelphia!"  Here's what we got yesterday to the tune of another 6+ inches of very heavy snow and another day of NO SCHOOL for the kiddos!  Fun.  Hubby worked from home and I of course spent time shoveling.

The snow was so heavy that the bushes started leaning towards the sidewalk!

When I came inside from all the snow clearing work, I had a bowl of this MOST delicious soup I made: potato, cannelloni beans and kale.  Super yum.  If you want to know how I made it just ask.  I never use recipes but I think I can remember how!

And - if you are snowed in where you live, or even just looking for something to watch on the tele while you crochet... check out THIS series.  I found it on my netflix instant streaming account.  I've watched the whole first season and I'm on to the second.  Pretty funny.  I was feeling right at home watching the Norway snow.

 ta ta for today - Sher

50 for my Fiftieth!

So it happened!  I turned 50 (fifty) aka the big FIVE OH!  I didn't mind.  In honor of that rather biggish number, I will offer a tribute of 50 little things somewhat related to the birthday.  I also give fair warning - only a few of these things are crochet and craft related so beware, if you don't want to learn 50 random things about me and my weekend - STOP READING NOW!  If so, read on, comment, share and enjoy, my bloggy friends.

Here goes:

1.  January 31st.  The actual day.  It started not so well with a visit from the peri-menopause mess I've been dealing with for the past 18 months.  If you've had a rocky route with your process, I just want you to know that I feel your pain.  Anyway, the Thursday before my birthday and the Friday of my birthday - and STILL today!!! this un-welcome visit has been the bane of what would otherwise have been all really good stuff.  Enough on that.

2.  The morning of 1/31 brought a birthday breakfast with my friend whom I haven't seen in a while at THIS PLACE.  I had a yummy breakfast sandwich on house made sour dough and a nice cuppa coffee.



3.  If REGENCY CAFE (#2) looks familiar to you (see this photo) , it's because one of the scenes from a recent movie was shot there - right in front of the restaurant.



4.  The movie (#3) is Silver Linings Playbook.  Did you see it - funny quirky movie - I liked it!

5.  The movie also had a scene inside of another little diner, namely, the Llanerch Diner.  The Llanerch diner is a few blocks from my house and we remember when they shut down several blocks in the neighborhood to film there.  A little tidbit about the diner?  The original owners of the diner lived in MY HOUSE!  I know - fame is so close.   I don't go there much anymore.  Since the new owners, the prices are OVER the top and the food is just so so.


6.  After breakfast I came home and treated myself to a crochet scarf.  I've been wanting to make an infinity scarf so I gave it a shot.  Mine was based off of THIS PATTERN.  I liked the stitch she used and will use it again.  I changed up the pattern.  I crocheted it in rows of either 10 or 12 (can't remember) and then slip stitched the end to the beginning to make it infinity, rather than crochet it in the round.  Mainly because I had only one skein to use and I didn't think I'd make it round and round enough times.

7.  My neck is too long and I don't wear scarves well.  I love them but I feel like they always look awful on me.  I'm always looking at how other people wear scarves so well.  UGH.  The first attempt infinity scarf I tried (#6) was not right for me.  I need something shorter and wider.  Any favorite infinity crochet patterns out there? 

8.  After the scarf was done, I got ready for dinner.  Hubby and I were going to a yummy seafood restaurant (see my post about that here) OR SO I THOUGHT!

9.  We did go to that restaurant.  Hubby told me when we arrived that we were just sampling some oysters but that he'd chosen another place for our dinner.  I was a bit bummed.  The restaurant was overly packed and not inviting and I suggested I didn't want to bother with it if we were eating somewhere else.

10.  We went next door for a drink.  We went to this place.  It was a good find.  It was a bar, it had food, it was happy hour, the beers were cheap and the HUGE bowl of mussels we ordered were $5!  Win Win.  I drank two Stellas in an icy cold glass.  NICE.

11.  Brief shout out to STELLA!  I love STELLA...



12.  Then we raced across town to another restaurant and strangely one we'd been to many times.  I was surprised that this was hubby's choice for a 50th birthday dinner as we usually like to try something new during Restaurant Weeks.

13.  When we got to the parking lot, I heard a familiar voice.  It turned out to be my daughter and two of my 3 sons.  Hubby had arranged a surprise for me and they were joining us for dinner.

14.  WHY was this such a surprise?  Well, for one, daughter and one son live in Baltimore - 1.5hours+ drive away from Philly and they drove up just to surprise me at dinner!

Youngest son, back seat of the car, on way to surprise mom!

15.  Next surprise?  My other son was supposed to be at a swim meet but they had arranged with the coach that he could be picked up early to join us for dinner.

16.  Another surprise?  Hubby had bought me FIFTY ROSES!!! and my son carried them in to the restaurant to adorn our table!

17.  We ate at THIS PLACE called Spasso's.  It's a family favorite and we went here for my daughter's 21st birthday dinner.



18.  Dinner included many courses for $30per person.  Mine ended with my favorite dessert CREME BRULEE!!!! and Spassos does an awesome and wonderful crème brulee.  It came with a candle which in the photo looks like one giant flaming bowl.

19.  After dinner, my kids returned to Baltimore (my middle son is at college in Pittsburgh and 5 hours one way drive is a bit too far to join us for dinner).  We dropped the little guy over to his girlfriend's house and in response to a facebook message from a friend, headed out again.

20.  We ended up at THIS BAR.  It's a little hole in the wall that's been around for quite a few many years.  We knew two of the bands playing there.  Both had musicians who were also husbands of some of my friends.  We stayed for a few hours and finished the birthday night there with a few beers and some good fun tunes. 

21.  Here are a few more photos from dinner:

22. Woke up Saturday with NO HANG OVER!  Yay.  Spent the day organizing and editing photos for my youngest son's Swim/Dive team senior night celebration that's coming up this week.  I designed two posters for the event.  I use THIS software for my Photo Organizing.  I use THIS software for my photo design.  I love these software packages.  I do a lot of client training on these packages for my "real job."

23. At 5pm it was time for us to go see a musical performance that one of hubby's friends was performing with.  It was an a cappella group.  They performed at a local church hall.  They were really good.  12 people; 6 men 6 women and a lot of harmonies!  They also provided beer, wine, and really yummy noshy snacks.  It was great!



24.  After the performance, we had planned to visit this fairly new craft brew bar a mile or so away.  I'd heard about it and lots of people raved about the sandwiches so we decided to have a meal there.  Unfortunately, it was very very crowded.  We put our name in for a table and were told 30-40 mins to wait.  We had some drinks at the bar and waiting. 1.5hours later they said - YAY your table is ready but OOPS we've run out of food and bread and cannot make you anything.  ARE YOU KIDDING?  We stood there watching all the food go out for over an hour and then we cannot eat - we were very hungry by then. 

  

We said forget it.  They halved our bar bill and we paid and left.

NOTE: I drank this: Screeching Loud Thrashing Death Metal Offensive Song: Blended Old Ale. 10.5% A blend of 9 month old Flemish Red (25%), fresh Barleywine (65%), and rye whiskey barrel fermented Barleywine (10%). A meditative reminder that all things in life are cyclical. Turn up the volume and exercise caution!



25.  We ended up HERE at one of our local watering holes.  I had some more Stellas and we shared a table full of appetizers and called it a night.

YOURE HALFWAY THRU!!!

26.  We arrived home to notice that there was some sort of blockage at the end of our driveway.



day time view



night time view

27.  Then we noticed a lot of paper stringing down from the trees in our yard.

28.  Then there was the tell-tale red balloon indicating that our SENIOR SWIM/DIVE son was being spirited this night.  It's all in good fun and it's our third kid being spirited.

29.  Woke up this morning (Sunday) to decently warm temperatures.  The weather looks like this:

30.  It's been a really, really cold and snowy winter.  My philosophy on that is HEY it's winter! Rather than the below freezing temps of the past few weeks.  And guess what?  We are expecting a small snow storm tomorrow - we are supposed to get another 4-6 inches!

31.  I made some coffee in my new French press (xmas gift from #1 son).  Do you French press?  I love the way the coffee tastes this way.



32.  Then I turned to some blogs.  I joined THIS BLOGGY BOOK GROUP.



33.  I read about it HERE.

34.  I'm excited to add THIS BOOK to my reading list.

35.  I just finished reading THIS FOR MY FIRST EVER BOOK CLUB.  I'll write up a little review on this book in another post and tell my book club story.

36. Today I had one of my crochet designs featured HERE ON CRAFT GOSSIP!

37.  I also REALLY want to finish another little Valentines bunting to share with you.

38.  I LOVE THIS HEART BUNTING PATTERN.



39.  This blog was one of my new discoveries this weekend and I've added it to my daily blog roll of reading.  Always so exciting to find new blogs.

40.  I also added this blog which is new to me.

LAST TEN THINGS!

41.  Today is Groundhog Day in the USA.  It's a funny day.  It's a funny concept.  I like it.  One of my facebook friends posted this photo.  So funny.




42.  Every year on Groundhog Day Hubby and I watch the movie Groundhog Day.  Do you know it?  The humorous thing for us is that the first time I saw the movie, I fell asleep before the end and Hubby said, well, wait til next year and watch it again.  So the next year we put it on and guess what?  I fell asleep again.  Seriously.  This happened for at least 6 years.  I fell asleep and had never seen the end of the movie - no lie.  Not sure why cuz I liked the movie.  Finally one year I saw the end.  Now it's a tradition - we watch it every Groundhog's Day.  Sometimes I stay awake and sometimes not.  Tonight might be tough as Groundhog Day coincides with #43...



43.  THE SUPER BOWL.  If you aren't from the USA you might not care, but it's the final game in the NFL (National Football League).  Not SOCCER football but American football.  My team isn't playing.  It's the Seattle Seahawks vs. the Denver Broncos.  I'm happy with whomever wins but just want a good game.  I think I'm leaning Seahawks as I was NEVER a fan with Denver's long-time quarterback, someone my hubby and I refer to as "cry baby Elway."  That's another story.



44.  So for the superbowl, often there's a party to watch the game and munchies are eaten etc... We are having a chill time in our living room watching the game and yes, we will eat something but we haven't determined what just yet. 

45.  Finishing up this post with the last 3 pins I made to pinterest:  PIN #1 of 3



45.  PIN #2 of 3



46.  PIN #3 of 3




47. Here are the gifts my daughter and son left me at our house and I found when I returned home from my birthday dinner.

 

 

NOTE: My son wrote me such a lovely message on facebook - what a nice kid!

48.  And here are the lovely cards and well wishes I got in the mail.

49.  The end is almost here.  I'll leave you with a little photo inspiration from my blog reading today.  I saw this photo at THIS BLOG HERE.




50.  Finally!!!!  Happy 50th to all of my friends born in 1964 who will celebrate their milestone, half a century birthday this year.  How about you - is it coming up on your big five OH or did you pass that already - love to hear back.  Tata for now - Sher