Decorah Bald Eagles

I have finally got sucked into the miracle of life watching the eagles and their eaglets about to appear in the world. You can catch them at http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles. Not only are they majestic creatures and our national bird but watching them makes the crap in the world go away. There are three eggs and one of the eggs has been cracked so an eaglet will soon be here followed by the other two. You need to read below the streaming and see just how large this nest is 1367 pounds and this is the 4th winter it has been used. Mom and dad both sit on the eggs and keep them warm and safe. It is truly a beautiful thing to watch and knowing the whole world is watching makes it that more special. Go grab a cup of coffee and spend some time watching the miracle of life.

Act of Valor

Instead of doing the parade thing on Saturday with hundreds of drunk people I saw the Navy Seal movie. This movie should be mandatory watching for every citizen in America. It was an excellent movie and you should take some kleenex too.

I can't even imagine what makes a person want to be a Navy Seal except for the love of their country and boy am I glad they do. It takes a special kind of person to do this knowing each time they go into a mission they may never return except in a pine box.

Somehow thank you is not enough for what they do to protect our freedoms. If you have not seen this movie, go see it.

Happy Birthday Mom

My mom is 79 today and her birthcake is turning into a somewhat disaster based totally on my lack of reading and understanding the directions. Everyone knows whip cream needs to be beat to form peaks, right, I obviously had a serious brain fart today because well here is what I did:

I boiled the whip cream and melted the white chocolate early this morning in order for it to set 3-4 hours before putting the strawberry cake together and then letting that set for another hour in order to be ready for lunch at noon. I just took the frosting out and it is still runny, oh crap what do I do, I have powdered sugar, after half a bag of powdered sugar it dawned on me you have to beat the whip cream with the mixer to make it non runny, duh! Oh did I mention I did not think it would be enough so I doubled the recipe as well. Well lets just say I have frosting running out of my ears and I may have to make another cake or something to use the leftover frosting. But it tastes good.

Happy Birthday Mom and maybe next year I will just buy a cake.

More Knitting

My March Cell Phone Cover: Lucky You. My own pattern

This is from Kris Knits website and is for a group afghan.

Projects Finished So Far This Year

I got a new cell phone so it needed a cover.

My February cell phone cover,my own pattern called Love Me Tender cos afterall you should treat your phone tenderly after all the money you pay for it.

Dad's Birthday Socks

My aunt gave me this yarn for christmas. It is the old Dazzleaire. It reminds me of Neopolitan Ice Cream. I did not like the colorway knitted so I pulled out my trusty crochet shawl that I like. I also crocheted a flower to cover over the button. I wondered how old the yarn was because it did not have yardage or much information. When I opened up the wrapper there was a form where you could send off for a pattern booklet for $1.50 but it expired in 1993. It is very soft and I love it.

First Christmas 2012 gift done.

Mom don't look your birthday socks.

And to end this with God's work today, the sunrise.

I finished some projects last year and never got them posted so here it goes

I know I dont take good pictures but... this is a sweater out of a Paton's book where you take the pieces and make your own sweater. I bought 4 skeins of each color at Michaels on clearance so the yarn cost me $4 and I had the buttons in my stash.

This is the Basic Chic Hoodie, yarn was in stash, buttons were in stash and while it took me 2 years to finish it is finally done.

These are my thrummed slippers that I took a class for, I left one undone so you can see the fleece that thrums the slipper. These are very warm and cushy.

This is Sawtelle from Berrocco. I used Lamb's Pride which I had in my stash and was gonna use for my Einstein but did not have enough and bought the buttons for the Einstein so used the buttons for this.

This is Iced from Knitty.com and again stash yarn. This was a very fun sweater and very quick to make.

This was for the Loopy Ewe 4th quarter 2011 challenge. YOu had to use one skein of Madeline Tosh yarn, love this yarn, great to work with.

This was a Christmas present for my niece.

OH WOW!

I know I have not posted in awhile and I got quite a few projects that I finished to post I hope to get them done this weekend.

But look at the sunset tonight. It is gorgeous.

Don Harmon

I keep thinking if I write about this week and the events that happened, maybe I can move on. Generally people on TV don't really affect me except for I cried when the Wolfman died and Captain Kangaroo was a large part of my life when I was a kid, but other than that, they are just people I don't know.

Don Harmon was the meteorologist for 12 years on the local FOX news morning show. I remember when he came on he was 29 and oh so young. After a few weeks I decided he was much better than the arrogant guy they had on before him. Don became a part of my morning life getting ready for work. I planned my day and clothes around his forecast.

Don was a goofy guy what was just a big kid who never grew up. He was infectious, he could make you laugh even if you didn't want to. He wore some of the most outrageous clothes but he never stopped working for some of the local charities, he would do about anything for a charity to raise money.

When Don came to town he drove a land yacht, it should have been scrapped years ago but he loved it. FInally one morning we watched as it was crushed for a charity, Don cried and many of us did as well for him. He finally married and had a child, we lived through his life for all those years. When Lauren came on board she was somewhat put off and stuffy, but Don loosened her up over the years. He was loved by thousands and thousands of people living here, everyone loved Don. There was even a Flat Donny that people would take all over the world when they travelled, he was just that infectious.

I don't know what demons lived in his head that made him end his life Tuesday evening. I had just watched him that morning and I am sure he said something to make Lauren's eyes roll at him. He always did. THis week the co-workers have been talking about Don and his antics and talking about depression as well. I am sure the entire city has been in tears all week and maybe next week we can move forward and remember the good times Don brought into our daily lives.

My prayers go out to his co-workers, his family and the viewing area as we mourn the senseless loss of someone who made our lives a little brighter. RIP Don, we loved you and you will be terribly missed.

Holiday Elf

This is a free pattern from the Knit Picks website. I had some stash Palette and thought I would use it up. It does use very little. I put bells on instead of pompoms. A good project for an afternoon of bad weather movie watching. They are fun and took me about 4 hours total to make one. I will make more.

Einstein Jacket

So third time is a charm. While I did not get a good picture of the jacket, it is done finally. I used Vanna's yarn from my stash in the purple colorway and buttons from Knit Picks that look like the Harmony needles. It took me 16 days to finish and now it is getting cold I can wear it. I did wash it and it stretched a bit but I wanted a longer coat like jacket to wear.

Fairies

Can these get any cuter? Susan B Anderson has done it again. I wish she would quit creating, I can't knit all her stuff fast enough. I finished this in 2 days but there are so many small parts, it is like sewing Barbie clothes. I plan on making several of these along with some mushrooms and put them in Easter baskets for next year. I know I have Christmas knitting to finish but they are small easy projects for when you need something to occupy your time.

BTW you can find the pattern in KnitSimple Holiday 2011.

Chocolate Covered Cherries

Never buy them again, you must make them because that is the only way to have them.

The recipe calls for:

60 maraschino cherries (drain really well and de-stem if necessary)
3 T butter ( do not substitute)
3 T Light Corn Syrup (the clear kind)
2 C Powdered Sugar
1 package (14 oz) Wilton Candy Melts

Before I get into the making of the cherries I used a large jar I got at Sam's. They are bigger and sweeter. The label says 170 but I had 162 cherries in the jar. For all of them I used 2 sticks butter, 2 lb package powdered sugar, and a small jar of syrup. I used 2.5 bags candy melts in Light Cocoa flavor. I find candy melts make a much prettier and better cherry than almond bark.

If you don't have one of these Wilton candy melt melters, get yourself one, they are $20 at Walmart and are so much better than a double boiler.

I also like the spoon in the Wilton candy maker set it works perfect for the cherries.

Get out your cookies sheets and line with waxed paper. Make sure you have room in the frig for them to sit for about 30 minutes twice.

I like to use tins rather than any other container to keep the cherries in while they are making. I line them really well with wax paper and put a layer or two of wax paper in between each layer. Store them in the attic or garage or anywhere where it will be about 35-40 degrees. You don't want them to freeze but they need to be cool to juice up. It takes about 3 weeks to juice. Do not put them in the frig they wont juice up.

You need to drain the cherries really well and de-stem if they have the stems still on them. It does not hurt to drain them overnight, they will have more juice in them than you think.

Mix the powdered sugar, butter and corn syrup until you have a kind of clay, marzipan consistency. It helps to let the butter sit out overnight and get soft.

Take a bit of white dough and wrap it around a cherry, cover as much as possible. This will turn to the liquid juice. Put them on the cookie sheet. When you get a sheet full put them in the frig for about 30 minutes to set.

When you are working on your last sheet of cherries put the Candy melts in whatever you are using to melt them and get them started. If you are using the Wilton melter you can let it sit and stay melted for a long time.

Cover the entire cherry and make sure every bit of it has chocolate on it and put it back on the wax paper lined cookie sheet. When you have a sheet full put it back in the frig to let the chocolate set and take the next sheet out. Continue til all cherries have been covered in chocolate.

Once the cherries have set in the frig for about half an hour take them out and make sure the chocolate has set. Then pack them in containers to set for at least 3 weeks. I usually try one after a week and then two weeks and then three weeks to make sure they juicing and then they are ready.

Bet you can't eat just one.

Make Your Bed Or Not

There is a letter in the paper today about making your bed. This "person" says children spend 3 minutes a day making their bed and that amounts to 18 hours and 15 minutes a year wasted when they could be sleeping. Seriously I don't think 3 minutes a day will matter. She also says that a lack of sleep is a major problem in our world, again we are talking 3 minutes a day. She goes on to state that when teens are up late studying, a made bed is too enticing. They tend to desire sleep instead of completing tasks essential for being successful in the future. She says whether you make your bed or not could determine whether you find a cure for cancer, solve world peace or even end proverty.

As my friend Mike McPhee says shes smoking dope and she votes.

My parents made me make my bed, thanks mom and dad I could have cured cancer but you made me make my bed instead.