Monthly Archives: August 2014

The last day

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We try to take advantage of nice weather, longer days, and saving money at my work.  So for the past several years we have the option of working four ten-hour days from Memorial Day (May 30) to Labor Day (September 1 this year).  The work day goes from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm.  That’s an hour earlier in the morning and an hour later in the afternoon than my typical work day.

We can choose between taking off a Monday or a Friday.  I chose Mondays.

Instead of getting up an hour earlier than my usual time, I only get up about 20-30 minutes earlier.  Ergo I don’t have time for breakfast at home so I eat something at work while I check my email and get ready for the day.

Today is the last day of “summer hours”.

And it’s the last day of eating the same breakfast I’ve eaten Every. Single. Work. Day. This. Summer.

I’m tired of it and I can barely get the food to my mouth.

breakfast-2014

Three Nekot cookies with peanut butter. A 16 ounce cup of peach green tea.  And one biotin tablet, one B-complex vitamin,  and two vitamin D caplets.

The apple is for lunch.

Quick.  Easy.  Non perishable.  No refrigeration required.

I almost stopped at McDonald’s for a breakfast sandwich but realized that it would not be as good as the ones my brother-in-law made for my sister and me last week.  He’s an excellent cook.  (Yeah I forgot to mention that I was at my sister’s house all last week and if I remember, I’ll post about what we did later.)

Oh, I’ll still drink the tea (at home) and eat the cookies (until they’re gone) and, well, take the vitamins (as always) but I can have more variety for breakfast starting next Tuesday.

Toast with peanut butter and honey or bananas.   Scrambled or fried eggs.  Warm toasted bagels with cream cheese.  Cereal.  Leftover cake or pie with ice cream – don’t judge.  I know you eat that, too.

Happy International Cabernet Day!

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There’s always a reason to have a glass (or bottle) of wine.  Thanks to the Wine Wankers I was informed of the holiday today: International Cabernet Day.

Mr. Aitch and I were planning on burgers on the grill for dinner but we can always celebrate the day with a bottle of cabernet.

Cheers!

Read the Wine Wankers post: Happy International Cabernet Day!.

Thank you Conrad for the heads (bottoms) up.

Greenish thumb

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Last year we planted tomatoes in our front flower beds.  The front of our house gets more sun than the back and I wanted to grow some tomatoes.

And keep them close enough to the house that the deer wouldn’t get them.

deer

But a chipmunk decided to make himself at home and steal the tomatoes.

Tomato-thief-002

By that time the plants were too large to do much of anything so we reluctantly shared.

tomatoes-july-2013-005

This year I decided to be a bit more proactive and make the plants less accessible.

001-Tomatoes-and-peppers

Half-inch hardware cloth (it is not soft like cloth) rolled into 18-inch high circles/columns.  I secured the circles/columns with wire and put some duct tape around the tops to keep from getting scratched when I had to pull weeds, pick ripe tomatoes, etc.

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I wedged the tomato tag from the seedlings in the back between the overlapping screening.

003-tomatoes

Red Beefsteak

So far so good.

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L to R: Red pepper, German Queen, Red pepper

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L to R: Roma, Cherry, Better Boy, Red Beefsteak

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Roma

 

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Roma

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Husky Cherry Red

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Husky Cherry Red

 

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German Queen

I followed Martha Stewart’s suggestion for tying up the floppy plants using old panty hose.

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Better Boy

I even tried a couple of red pepper plants.

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Red pepper

From the top clockwise: Beefsteak, Beefsteak, German Queen, German Queen, Better Boy

From the top clockwise: Beefsteak, Beefsteak, German Queen, German Queen, Better Boy

Question:  Why do some tomatoes split or get those lines in them as in the beef steak above?

Those German Queen tomatoes are huge!  They aren’t the prettiest but measure at about 6 inches across the widest part.  Very meaty and makes a great tomato sandwich.  I had not heard of them before but decided to try one plant this year.  It’s an heirloom tomato so I will save some seeds and try to start my plants from seed next year.  Looking forward to eating more fresh veggies soon!

Bacardi Cardi

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I knew I wanted to knit this sweater the very first time I laid eyes on it.  In 2007.

(c) Barbara Gregory

(c) Barbara Gregory

This sweater was the reason I bought the book: No Sheep for You by Amy Singer.

No Sheep for You

I loved everything about it.  Colors.  Style.  Over-all look.  And the name: Bacardi Cardigan

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The original yarn was not available anymore when I decided it was time for me to knit.  So I had to find a substitute.

I checked out the various projects on Ravelry to see what yarn other knitters used and narrowed it down to one.

With six different colors of yarn required I knew I had to be budget conscious.  My LYS was having a 20% off sale store-wide.  Yes!  They carried the Cascade Ultra Pima that I wanted to use.  I’ve knit with this yarn before and it is divine.

But my plan quickly vanished when they had only one of the six colors I needed.

Yes, the LYS could order the colors I wanted but the policy in the past was that I would have to buy all 12 skeins/hanks/balls per color as they did not want to be stuck with weird colors.   It’s a small store and while I understand that policy, (in my opinion) it’s a dumb one.  The owner was not available to question the policy so I decided to search throughout the store hoping I could find yet another substitute.  I found many yarns that I could use.  Not in the right colors for me.  Or way out of my price range.

Back to the drawing board.

Wait.  Someone used Drops Muskat.  After some quick (or not so quick) math, I figured out what  amounts I would need and the colors.  And it all came in under budget!  I wasn’t sure about two of the colors so I bought enough of each to make that decision when I saw them together with the rest of the colors.

I’ve never ordered yarn on-line before as I like to use all my senses, well, maybe not taste, when I buy yarn.  It was a giant step for me to go ahead with it.

The yarn was shipped on a Thursday and arrived the following Monday!  Fast, fast, fast turnaround.

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I love the feel, smell, sight, and sound of the yarn.

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I love the colors though if I had seen them in person, I might have chosen a lighter yellow.

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What I bought will work for sure.

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From the top and going clockwise: Warm Yellow #51, Light Olive #45, Apple Green #53, Light Beighe #61, Yellow #30, Dark Olive #44, and Khaki Green #77.  I can’t decide on whether to use the light olive…

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…or the bluer khaki green.  Color in the photo is off.

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Khaki green

Either one will look great.  The warm olive will play off the other warm colors.  The cooler khaki green will add another dimension.

What’s your opinion?

I have other knitting to do before I can get started on this.  In the meantime I might just go ahead with some mindless knitting swatch knitting so when I am ready to go, that part will already be done.

I can’t wait to get started!