Ramblings - Our July Lake Trip

We just returned from a 4 day trip to St. Mary's Lake in Minnesota.  A buddy of Matt's invited us to come and visit him at his cabin.  It's about 5.5 hours from us so a bit of a road trip.  I wish we could have taken our time going because there were so many thrift stores, thrift markets, and interesting sites all along the route that we didn't have time to stop and check out.  On our return trip we did stop to get pictures with Paul Bunyan.  Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of Matt because the batteries died in the camera.  We took the furkids with and they had a blast.  Tip spent a good portion of the trip laying in the shallow water on the beach.  Lacey even let Matt coax her in up to her back and she never goes more than a couple inches in.  Oreo enjoyed sunning herself the whole weekend. They all enjoyed chasing chipmunks up trees all over the yard.

CRAFTING:

I finished up the rectangular rug and discovered that some bright pink jute had gotten woven into my natural jute and is clearly visible.  I'd hoped that it wouldn't be noticeable. I think the only way I'm going to rescue this is to totally dye the entire rug pink.  Maybe I can sell it to a glamper that loves pink.  It's frustrating to say the least that this occurred.  I may write to the manufacture and lodge a complaint because either I would of had to cut the huge section out and would have ended up being short to finish or dye this to match the colored jute that was woven in to it. It's much more visible then it looks in the picture below.  Otherwise, it's a nice looking rug.

I've made some progress on the twined rug also.  I have about 5" left to work and it will be done.  I have learned a lesson not to be cheap and use yarn for the warping threads.  I'd read an article where the woman said she used her leftover yarn from projects and I thought aha I can finally get rid of some of this yarn I have.  Wrong.  I've had 3 threads break so far and have had to fix them by knotting yarn into the space as best I can to replace.  I'll know from now on to use thinner strips of fabric for my warping.

 I also got some cross stitching time in on the trip.  As my rug supplies were to big to fit, my cross stitching project was the perfect size.  I don't think I've worked on it since my my was here the end of April. I think I spent a good portion of Friday working on it.

GARDENING:

The lettuce is popping up already. I was amazed to see little green shoots 5 days after I planted it.  Got to love lettuce for a fast growing crop.  I'm looking forward to some fresh cut lettuce instead of the store bought.  Tomatoes have a lot of fruit on them.  I noticed when we got back that I have rotten bloom rot starting.  I researched and it appears I need to add some lime to the soil.  From what I read apparently container tomatoes use up the calcium in the soil quickly and need supplemented.

WEEKEND RAMBLINGS JUNE 28

SATURDAY MENU:
Lunch: turkey sandwiches on 12 grain bread with pepper jack cheese
Supper: Grilled hamburgers and corn on the cob

We have been having wet, rainy weather of late and have not been able to get much done outside or do much outside.  I try to get walks in with the dogs between fronts.  I'm watching the radar screens more than the TV shows some days so I can plan accordingly. Matt was telling me that they have a ramp that trucks back down into so they can use a forklift to load and unload.  After one of the intense storms this week he said the store manager told him the ramp was flooded up to the electrical socket and they were going to have to manually pump the water out of it.

Jordon hasn't found a job yet.  I'm amazed that Walmart hasn't called they're in such desperate need of people but if I recall right it took them about 2 weeks before they called me after I put an application in there.  Hopefully soon because he's getting bored sitting around the house all the time.  He has been running on a daily basis to get in shape so that's a good thing.

Firework madness has started and poor Tip is cowering and panting heavily under my computer desk as I type.  I need to give him another dose of Rescue Remedy.  I need to order more, between the thunderstorms and now the fireworks I've nearly used all the bottle I have.  I found it on Amazon for about $8 less than I paid for it here in town so I'll definitely be ordering it online.

Grocery Budget:
I went over my new weekly food budget ($100 wk for the 3 of us) by about $20 but I also had over $20 worth of cleaning/non-food items.  I still need to go to Hugo's and pick up a whole chicken (or maybe a couple) as they have them on sale for $4.98 per chicken.  The cheapest Walmart had them today was $9.98 for a whole chicken so definitely worth picking up a couple for future use.  They also had pork loin chops on sale at half Walmart's price.  I'm noticing that buying for 3 people is a lot more difficult, either things come in packages of 2 or family size.  I had $6.05 worth of coupons.  They do not put coupon flyers in the papers here like they do most places on Sunday so I have to print any I can find off the internet.  Now that I'm feeding three of us I need to watch my food budget big time especially with several trips planned in the 18 months.

Gardening News:
The one good thing about the weather is that our tomatoes are starting to produce baby tomatoes.  There's probably over a dozen baby tomatoes on it and a bunch of flowers yet.  Our 2 plants should produce a nice harvest for us this year.  Aren't the baby tomatoes adorable!

 Bad news is something is destroying my basil.  I tried moving the planter but it doesn't seem to be helping. I've looked frequently and can't find anything on the leaves that could be eating them either.

Chives are doing well, I need to get a larger plantar for them as they're quickly outgrowing the small watering can we used to plant them in.  I made mashed potatoes with sour cream and chives in them last week and it was so nice using some of my own chives.  The baskets of flowers we put around the deck railing are blooming beautifully.  Matt's made frequent mention of the fact that it's pretty interesting how after we put out planters and did some yard work all of a sudden several neighbors went out and bought flowers and planters too.  It can only be a good thing for people to be growing things in my opinion especially food.

Weekend Ramblings Jun 21-22, 2014

Saturday:
Lunch: Taco Bell
Supper: Grilled pork chops and scalloped potatoes

Sunday: 
Lunch: Bacon Sandwich with leftover pasta salad
Supper: Pizza Burgers and salad

I can't believe I have been so busy that my last post was about Mother's Day weekend.  Many things are going on here in our home.  Most important of which is that my youngest son Jordon has moved in with us. He was ready for a life change and couldn't find another job in Michigan so he decided to come out here and see if he can get work here.  I'm sure he'll have something soon since everybody is hiring.  He arrived Tuesday afternoon after a 24 hour bus ride which he says he'll never do again.  Apparently having some guy he didn't know sleeping on him for 8 hours was a bit disconcerting and the roads are in such bad repair everywhere that it was impossible to sleep.  He has recovered nicely though.

To celebrate his arrival we took him to the shooting range Saturday and shot for most of the day.  Both him and I got burned and I ended up with a little sun poisoning even with sunscreen on.  With the crazy weather we've been having I haven't been able to get out in the sun much and I paid the price this weekend.  Jordon went running the day after he got here, only about 2 miles, and just that short amount of time outside he was sunburned. Matt also got the four wheeler working today so they were able to play on that a little bit this afternoon. I imagine they'll be out in the next weekend or so playing on that and Matt's dirt bike.

Matt is getting itching feet and wants to do some traveling so we have a trip to Italy planned for fall 2015!!!  I'm so excited!  Matt has been there with a group of friends but would like to take me there to see it.  I'm reading books on Italy.  We're still looking for a good package deal and have decided a guided tour would be best.  I started a savings account to start saving for the trip.  I'm thinking November might be good as it will be our 7 year anniversary of our first date, makes it romantic.

We've been doing a lot of yard saleing and finding some neat things.  This weekend we thought we'd have some luck considering how many sales there were but really found almost nothing.  We did find a glass gallon jug that we bought for 25c to put mead in when we get ready to rack it.  Last weekend I found a Kindle for $50 at the pawn shop in town.  I use the Amazon Kindle App on my tablet but they won't let you borrow books unless you have a Kindle of some type.  With Amazon Prime you can borrow one book a month to read and then return it at no cost.  Not all books can be borrowed but there are a lot I would like to read but doubt I want to buy so it's a great deal since I have Amazon Prime anyway. The one advantage to the Kindle is it has Whispernet which allows you to download a book anywhere.  I need WIFI access to download with my tablet so it can limit but typically isn't an issue.

I got a small bonus from work so I decided to use it to buy a twining rug loom.  Actually I bought the deluxe package which has the rug size frame and a placemat size frame and then you can combine the sides from the rug frame with the tops of the placemat frame to get a table runner frame.  I quickly realized that I was going to need an easel to keep from having a lot of back pain after working on it so I bought a cheap $20 artist easel at Walmart and Matt added a board to it to support the frame and I have a working easel.  Here's a picture of the rug I'm working on.  I've gotten double this amount done.  Unfortunately we've been so busy I haven't had much time to work on it.

Ramblings - Mother's Day Weekend

It's hard to get into Mother's Day when none of my kids are in the area.  I did get a wonderful phone call from my youngest son.  I'm sure my oldest son was with his mother-in-law celebrating.  Otherwise it was pretty much another Sunday.

It's been a wet and rainy weekend.  I had hoped to take the dogs for a short hike but the weather wasn't cooperating.  Yesterday I sat curled up in my chair wrapped in a blanket most of the day.  I just couldn't seem to get the chill out of my bones.  For supper I made up a batch of my Sausage Tortellini Chowder and we ate the last of the french bread with it.  Wednesday I was in the mood for some fresh bread so I baked 2 loafs of French bread.  We've been munching on the first loaf since.  I used the second loaf yesterday to make Italian sandwiches for lunch.  We finished off the last of the chowder today for a late lunch.

Saturday I did manage to get a few things done.  I ripped up 2 more sheets for the next rug project.  I also started cleaning out the fridge.  I took out the fruit and veggie drawers and let them soak in the bathtub while I washed down the inside of the fridge.  Hopefully I'll get to the shelves this week.  I plan on ordering a lazy Susan for the top shelve that we keep a lot of jarred items on so it will be easier to find things. I was out of laundry soap so I made a double batch this time.  The house smelled wonderfully peppermint-y afterwards.  I also took the Jeep through the car wash and gave her a bath!

Matt finally decided to upgrade his phone and get a smart phone.  We decided to bundle our phones instead of keeping separate accounts.  I guess it's about time.  Hopefully we'll have our new phones by Wednesday.  I've been needing to switch phone carriers but hadn't decided on which one or what type of phone I wanted.  Sprint service in our area is horrible!  Verizon and AT&T are considered the best in the area.  Matt has AT&T already so we just added me and upgraded him.  As much as I liked the idea of downgrading my phone and saving money, the reality is I'm use to all those extras and they do come in handy when we go into the larger cities.  Coming back from Minnesota last weekend I used the internet search to find a home brewing store to stop at to pick up supplies.

To end our evening we made up 2 batches of mead, a 6 gallon carboy and a 3 gallon carboy.  Matt had been able to get some local honey recently for us to use.  We're excited to see how this batch turns out but won't know for months.  We used a different yeast for these batches and I'm a bit concerned how it's going to work.  It didn't seem to activate like I thought it would.  If it's not performing like I want I'll order another type and add it in.  We will wait until we rack it to add anything to it.  We plan to do the 3 gallon as a blackberry mead from the blackberries I got from the Bountiful Basket and froze several months ago.  I'll probably buy some more from the store to give it a nice flavor.  I may get some vanilla beans and do a vanilla mead with the 6 gallon.  I have a couple months to figure it out though.

Ramblings Runestone Museum

When I checked a map to see how far away Alexandria, Minnesota was the first thing I saw on the map was the Runestone Museum.  Matt and I have an interest in Norse history and runestones so we were both excited to finally get to go there.  We've heard a lot on various shows about the Kensington Runestone that was found not far from Alexandria and have wanted to visit the museum.  We had an enjoyable afternoon at the Museum before heading back home.

For those that might not know what a runestone is Wikipedia defines a runestone as typically a raised stone with a runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition began in the 4th century, and it lasted into the 12th century, but most of the runestones date from the late Viking Age. Most runestones are located in Scandinavia, but there are also scattered runestones in locations that were visited by Norsemen during the Viking Age. Runestones are often memorials to deceased men. Runestones were usually brightly coloured when erected, though this is no longer evident as the colour has worn off.  

Wikopedia also defines runes as letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets, which were used to write various Germanic languages before the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter. 

The Runestone Museum had a short video about the Kensington Runestone and the family that found it.  So sad that their lives suffered so much from it.  They had items from the family and their home including an old sewing machine.  I didn't realize it was at first until I looked closer to the needle and presser foot.

The rest of the Museum were displays about the settlers of Alexandria who were mostly Norwegian or Swedish in origin.  They had several buildings outside of the Museum that had been moved there representing life when Alexandria was being settled.  There was a General Store, cabin, church, smokehouse, laundry house, school, barn and the stage coach stop/post office outside.  They also had farm machinery next to the barn.  

2 room cabin with loft bedroom

stage coach stop and post office with loft for sleeping

Snorri 40' Viking ship displayed in barn

Snorri's Rutter

1964 Arctic Cat Snowmobile displayed in barn

I also enjoyed the school room.  They had a huge number of books that would have been used that I could have stayed for hours and looked at.  There was an embroidered map of the US with the state flower embroidered inside that was impressive.

embroidered map

embroidered map showing state flowers for North Dakota and South Dakota

Ole Olaf statue across the street from Museum in a park

Ramblings May 5th

As much as we love for our friends and family to visit, afterwards we always have that sigh of relief that we have our home to ourselves again.  We are hermits somewhat in this aspect.  My Mom was visiting the past week from Pennsylvania where she is living now.  It was a nice visit and hopefully she enjoyed it.  Thankfully I was able to take time off and spend with her this visit.  She definitely got a dose of North Dakota weather while she was here with everything from snow to rain to a day or 2 of sunny weather in the 60's.

Matt thankfully was able to get the flooring done a couple days before she arrived.  Matt thought I did an excellent job on the room redecorating it, he called it Comfortable Country.  I found the comforter and throw at a thrift shop.  I put the green rug I'd crocheted on the new floor next to the bed. and I also replaced the sheer valance with thermal curtains.  Matt's sister, Bee, gave us the Bentwood rocker several years ago.  With my new desk set up in my office area there was no room for it so I decided it would make a nice addition to the guest room.  The walls will be our next major upgrade once we get a home improvement store in town.  We plan on taking out all the paneling and replacing it with drywall throughout the trailer. Once I get the nasty wallpaper taken down and the drywall up I think I'll do this room possibly in a cream color or a maybe a light green.  I need to get some decorations for the walls now.

Before

After

Matt's birthday was Friday so I took the whole day off.  We had planned initially to go to Valley City antiquing and thrift shopping but the weather was forecast better for Thursday so we went Thursday instead and stayed home on Friday.  I found a really nice top at one of the thrift stores for $1.  Mom had asked for me to make meatloaf while she was here but then changed her mind and wanted a spaghetti dinner so that was her supper the last night.  She enjoys home cooking so we mostly stayed in although we did take her out a couple times.  Friday I sat and watched movies with her and crocheted a jute rug.  It worked up really quickly and is so nice.  I have it outside at our entry door.

Saturday we took a road trip and met one of my sisters in Minnesota so Mom could stay with her for the rest of the time she's visiting.  I'll give more details on that trip in another post.  We met her in Alexandria, Minnesota which is about 3 hours from our home.  It made for a little bit of a long day but the weather was beautiful and sunny although winds were gusting and the temp was only in the 40's so it felt a bit chilly.  I had taken a light sweater with and realized by the time we arrived in Alexandria that it wasn't heavy enough for me to be outside much so we stopped at Fleet Farm and I was able to pick up a fleece lined zip-up sweatshirt.

Sunday was catching up on cleaning and laundry and then kicking back relaxing.  We prefer to do our birthdays privately so we waited until Sunday to celebrate Matt's birthday.  He requested my homemade pizza (no surprise there) and a cake so I made a dark chocolate bundt cake with coconut almond frosting.  I always have a fear when I make bundt cakes that they'll stick to the pan and not come out.  I thoroughly coated my ceramic pan with coconut oil before pouring the batter in.  I forgot to flour it as the instructions called for but it came out great.

Weekend Ramblings Easter Weekend

EASTER MENU:

Ham
Scalloped potatoes
Green beans

We had awesome weather this weekend with temps in the 60's and they said 70's, although it didn't feel quite that warm.  The sun was beautiful and the wind was on the calmer side.  We had some windy weather earlier in the week with gusts over 40 mph for several days.  Oreo was insistent that she wanted to be outside even with the winds.  Poor thing had to brace herself or the winds might have blown her away like Toto.  We really need to come up with some type of fence so they can hang outside without me being with them.

Oreo bracing against the wind with her ears flying

The pups and I went out for a walk Saturday evening. We live close to the entrance of the White Cloud Trail.  Amazingly enough I've never tried hiking any of it before.  The trail loops throughout the city and is approximately 10 miles long.  We aren't quite up to that long of a hike yet but I decided we'd try a mile or so of it from the entrance.  It follows a dirt road along the James River to start.  There was a drop in the river which created a nice little rapid. It was nice and peaceful even though there were houses on the other side of the river.  It would probably be a good place to fish once I get my license.  I realized that I need to get some flea preventative immediately and I need to see what the vet suggests about ticks as I'm sure they'll be coming out soon.  There were mosquitoes out in full force along the river so I'll need to remember to use or bring bug spray/deterrent.  I used my pedometer and we walked 2.28 miles.

I couldn't do much cleaning so I crocheted another rag rug and finished it.  This one is a rectangle done in red, white and blue.  Very patriotic.  I used a 1.5" strip instead of a 2" strip so I got the more holey appearance to it then the green one I did.  I did manage to give myself a blood blister on one of my fingers from the scissors.  I would have started another rug Sunday but my finger hurt so bad it will have to wait.

I ordered a deluxe video set from Rag to Rugs by Lora and I can't begin to say how helpful the video was. She starts from how much fabric to use, how to crochet, how to make oval, round, and rectangle rugs, and how to join strips so you don't get a stair step in the row from color to color.  The deluxe set came with the Q hook, patterns, and crochet stitch markers.  The cheat sheets are AWESOME!  I'd initially planned to make another oval but after watching the video I decided to make the red, white and blue rug a rectangle instead.  I thought the rectangles looked pretty neat.

Matt spent the weekend working on the lawn and it looks awesome compared to what it did before. Sunday  evening Matt decided he wanted to do something outside with the pups and I so we went down to the Reservoir and walked along the paved path along the lake.  It was so beautiful out with just a smidge of a breeze.  We both assumed that the bridge to the island would be closed due to flooding but it was open. We'd walked so far by then we knew we couldn't handle crossing the bridge and walking the island as well. I also need to get some needle nosed pliers to pull sand burrs out of the dogs paws when we're walking in that area.  I forgot my pedometer but I'd say we probably walked closer to 3 miles on this hike.

Weekend Ramblings April 13

SUNDAY MENUS:

Brunch:    Oven fried potatoes, bacon, eggs, and toast

Supper:  Homemade pizza

We cannot wait until Menard's builds a store here.  It is horrible not having a home improvement store for supplies.  Matt had gone to Fargo with a buddy Thursday and picked up all the flooring and a roll of underlayment for the hallway and guest room.  We had some items leftover from when he did his office.  When he went to put the underlayment down this morning he discovered he was one length short.  He went to 5 stores locally and nobody had what we needed.  Our choices were to drive 200 miles round trip for one roll of underlayment, buy something in town that's different but "might" work, or order online.  Thankfully Menard's has online ordering so that's what we went with.  Shipping was less than what we'd have paid for gas. Unfortunately they're saying approximately 10 days before we get it.  On a good note, other than that snafu, he was able to get the entire hallway done including door stops and just over half of the guest room.  I am so happy to be getting the carpeting out of here. 

While he was working this morning I made us a huge country style brunch of oven fried potatoes with plenty of onions, crispy bacon, eggs over easy and buttery toast.  He needed a good meal for the work he wanted to get done.  We shared a Butter Beer he'd picked up at the party store last night when he took a break.  Those of you that are Harry Potter fans will have heard of Butter Beer before.  It taste sort of like cream soda, Matt described it as butterscotchy in flavor.  It's good but I don't think good enough to pay $2 a bottle for it. It's a novelty item and I might buy some to send the kids for gifts.

My early morning was spent cleaning and doing laundry.  In the afternoon I continued my work on my cross stitch project and watched The Bletchley Circle on Netflix as well as helping Matt whenever he needed my assistance.  It was a 3 part Masterpiece Theatre drama about a group of women that had worked as code breakers during the war and gather back together to find a killer.  They were living ordinary lives while keeping the work they'd done during the war a secret when one of them starts noticing patterns to a series of killings.  I highly recommend it if you like British dramas or period pieces.  

WEEKEND RAMBLINGS APRIL 12TH

The weather has been beautiful here the past week.  I think the entire week was in the 50's and 60's.  You can only imagine my disappointment when looking at the forecast for the next week to discover temps won't get above 40'!  This is life in North Dakota.

The furkids and I have gotten out for several walks (or wonders as I call them) even on the windier days. The geese are still heading north and honking up a storm as they pass overhead.  It's a beautiful sight to see. I can hear the geese even at night when I take the pups out for their last outing before bed.  I noticed green grass starting to pop up in the yard and the dogs have been after ever bit they can find to graze on. They love eating grass.  We seem to have several crows in the neighborhood that I've been watching from the window during the day as they dash about finding bits for their nests.

Saturday Menu: 
Lunch: Egg salad on baguette and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Supper:  Out to Eat

The yard sales have started!  Another good indication that summer is on it's way.  We went to two different ones today.  One was more of a farm sale since we had to travel a ways outside of town to get to it but it had the best items.  Matt found a box of tools that he picked up.  He bought a trailer to put the snowmobile on last weekend and needed some wires to hook his harness back up and found what he needed there for $1.  Not surprising with my focus on rag rugs of late that my first item is a chocolate brown colored king size sheet set that I bought for $2.  They had 3 more sets but they were all purple.  I probably should have picked them up for that price.  I also found a multi-level basket for $3, which I plan to use when I start selling my homemade goat's milk soaps.  I need to start getting some of these for displays.  I didn't find anything at the second yard sale but Matt found a leaf blower that he talked her down to $20 on.

After a busy morning I decided to relax and do some cross stitching.  I picked up a kit at an estate sale last fall for a quarter and started working it today.  It's robin eggs in a nest.  I think I've decided to go with a bird theme in the guest room so it will fit in with that.

Matt pulled up carpeting and finished up about 7 pm.  He was very sore afterwards. Since he worked so hard I made him some of his favorite Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (recipe below).  As he says, they have everything in a cookie you could want.

While he was finishing up, Oreo insisted on going for a walk.  The wind had picked up so I wasn't really wanting to take a walk but she was being annoyingly insistent that she wanted a walk.  I wish I could have taken a picture of her.  The wind really picked up about the last half mile and she was literally having to almost muscle her way through it (she only weighs about 18 pounds) and her ears were flying back.  She's spunky for a 14 year old pup.  I'd planned to make shrimp scampi with linguine last night but when I pulled the shrimp out of the freezer I discovered severe freezer burn on them so we ended up going out to eat.

I found this recipe on the Internet but for the life of me I can't remember where so I apologize for not being able to give credit for it.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

2/3 cup peanut butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups oatmeal (I use old fashion)
2/3 cup chocolate chips (I used mini chocolate chips)

Turn oven on 350'.  Cream together peanut butter and brown sugar, vanilla and eggs.  Add oatmeal.  Mix in chocolate chips.  Use cookie scoop and drop onto cookie sheet and then use fork to flatten a bit.   I used a 1.5" cookie scoop and this made roughly 18 cookies.  Bake for 12 minutes.  I found with the size scoop I used it took 13 to 14 minutes.

Midweek Ramblings

Since I posted so much about the weekend I thought I'd do another post.  Monday I put a rump roast in the slow cooker and made French Dip sandwiches for supper with my potato salad.  It was a fabulous meal.  I used the leftovers the next day for another sandwich along with a bit of leftover potato salad.  I used frozen mini baguettes for the bread since we don't have any stores that have bread like this fresh.  This received 2 thumbs up from Matt.

Slow Cooker French Dip (from Fix It and Forget It Cookbook)

3 lb rump roast
1 onion, sliced
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 beef bouillon cube (I used 1 tsp of bouillon paste)

Put everything in the slow cooker.  Add water to just cover roast.  I cooked this on high for 2 hours and then low for 4 hours.  I used frozen mini baguettes.  This made enough for 2 meals so I cut the roast in half and put half of the roast and juices in a container in the freezer for a future meal.

We had a quick flurry early in the week and I was blessed to have this wonderful view as I work from home now.  As they're predicting 10-12 inches of snow between tonight and tomorrow morning I will probably be viewing this again as I work.

Weekend Ramblings - March 30th

Saturday Menu: 

Lunch: Cobb Salad
Supper:  Dinner Theater at The Art Center

The morning was disappointing.  With temps being predicted to be well over 50' I had expected to be outside to enjoy the warmth of spring but the winds were 20 mph or higher and it just wasn't the kind of weather to be outside in.

My first stop Saturday when I left for my errands was to stop at Goodwill.  I picked up several more sheets.  I think I have enough to do a red, white and blue rug next or maybe a table runner.  While I was there I noticed a large oak computer desk with hutch for $40.  I mentioned it to Matt when I got home so we ended up going back and he liked it enough to buy it.  He's been wanting a larger desk.

We attended  the dinner theater at The Arts Center.  The play was Relative Values and was about 3 hours long.  They were in the final act when the fire alarm started going off.  Nobody knew why it was going off.  They checked for a fire and found nothing.  They couldn't get the alarm off.  The couple on the stage when it occurred started ad-libbing about the situation.  It was pretty amusing.  Fortunately they found somebody to turn it off.  Since the play was a British comedy they served roast beef, scalloped potatoes, carrots, and a roll.

Sunday Menu:

Breakfast: Easy Cheese Danish
Lunch: Leftover Cobb Salad
Supper:  Italian subs and pasta salad

Temps were wonderful with a high just over 50'.  After my disappointment with the weather Saturday I didn't expect much today.  I did take the furkids out for a wander around the neighborhood.  Matt was outside and he came in and told me to come outside to see something.  It seemed like a million geese in multiple groups flying over head.  They just kept coming.  It's a wonderful sign of spring.

My morning and the early part of the afternoon was spent working on the rag rug.  I ripped it totally out and started over, ripped out part of it again and finally finished it today!  The rug consisted of 4 sheets that I ripped up into 2" strips and crocheted.  I can't wait to for Matt to build my twining frame so I can twine/weave them.  Trying to get the corners right can be difficult.

Since I planned to work on the rug most of the day, I decided to make something for breakfast.  I frequently pick up a package of cheese danish for the weekends. This Easy Cheese Danish was so easy and so good! I found the recipe on Pinterest.  It was super easy to make and I got 2 thumbs up from Matt.

Basically it's just 1 roll of crescent rolls.  Mix 1/2 cup sugar and 1 tsp vanilla with room temp package of cream cheese.  Roll out crescent rolls and smush the lines together so they don't pull apart - so you have a large rectangle.  Cut in lines diagonally about every 1" to fold over.  Smear cheese mixture down center and then pull sections in alternating so they appear to be braided.  I decided to put this on parchment paper on the baking sheet for ease of clean up.  Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes and allow to cool.  Mix 1 cup powdered sugar, 3-4 tablespoons of cream, and 1 tsp vanilla.  Drizzle over.  I was surprised at how much this made.  We have enough left for breakfast tomorrow if he doesn't eat it for a snack tonight.