Hobby Horse Prototype

Mr H did not have any socks that appealed to me, so I went through my own sock drawer and found a pair of the many slipper socks that I have. This particular pair had grippies on the bottom, so I turned it inside out and if you can see them in the picture, they have little knobbies where the ears would be, so I thought - perfect! Ears built right in. Being that this is a practice one (the first one) I may go to the original picture I saw and crochet ears on the next one. Since the socks are pink, I stayed with the pink theme. I found some pink yarn in my stash to use for the mane and the reins. 

I also discovered that I didn't have any stuffing, so I used something else, but will put stuffing on the shopping list for the next one. I also had to use a yard stick (this is only temporary for pictures) as I need to get some dowel rods as well. 

I used buttons for the eyes, and chose not to stitch eyelashes on this one. I probably will when I make the next one though. I also can see where I went wrong with the mane. I will need to pull more yarn through the back of the head to make it a longer mane. 

It has all been a learning experience for me as I never made one of these before and having no instructions, just followed my instinct. 

The whole thing took me about an hour or so to make. The next one will take a bit longer as I have to crochet the ears, but they are not that big and won't take too long. 

I may also go with a brown mane and reins and use different eyes/buttons on the next one. I have a red pair of these slipper socks that I want to make some with as well. I figure I will make a bunch these hobby horses in case I need some for kids gifts or just to have for fun in a barrel to use as decor. I know one or two  of them will be for my granddaughter when she is old enough to play with them. 

I also finished my curtains for the guest room, but I need to purchase curtain rods. The ones I bought were the wrong size - I had a senior moment at the store when I bought them and need to exchange then for ones that fit. 

When I get them hung, I will post pictures of those as well.

It was a busy morning here at the homestead and now it is time to get ready for my sweet granddaughter for an afternoon of patty cake, so big and peek a boo.

How's Your View Today?

I love my view from the kitchen table. We have been especially "lucky" (depends on how you look at it) that our weather has been mild to say the least. It is the last day of January and the temperatures are to be close to 60 degrees and sunny today! Pretty much the same tomorrow except we may see some clouds/chance of rain. What I love is that we can still see the green grass during a time of the year when everything is either brown/dormant or covered with ice and snow. 

Another view I love is when we are driving from our house to wherever our destination may be. The beautiful farms and farmland. 

This little pond I pass by every day that I come and go from work. They actually have sand on the far side of it, next to the dock. In the summertime, I can see the family that owns this pond enjoying splashing around and sometimes the family dog is enjoying a dip as well. 

You want to know the best thing about all of these pictures? They were all taken through a window. I wasn't sure how they would turn out, but thanks to Mr H and his need to have not only the car windows clean at all times, but the house windows as well. It isn't unusual to see him out there cleaning the windows on any given day. He even cleans my car windows! 

I sure am a lucky girl, cause I put cleaning windows low on the to do list. 

His secret to clean windows? I will tell you.....shhh...keep it to yourself

He uses a mixture of vinegar and water that he makes himself and keeps in a spray bottle. He then wipes it all down with an old white t-shirt. No streaks, no lint....just clean windows. 

Another helpful thing he does is with the house windows, he always pulls the storm window down if it looks like rain (and of course over the winter when the windows are not open anyway). This keeps the sills inside nice and clean and the windows easier to clean. 

How's your view today?

Mine is crystal clear...

A Visit To A Car Show

Mr H and I spent an enjoyable Sunday yesterday. A friend generously gave us their tickets to the Auto Show at the Harrisburg Farm Show building. So yesterday, we loaded up the car with camera, and well...just the camera....

This is the entrance. We must have arrived at a good time as there was no real waiting in line to get in. Mr H said in previous years he stood in line well past this point where I took this photo.

Since the show is inside the farm show building, I thought I would take a picture of this mural. It truly describes my neck of the woods.

Had to also take a picture of good old "Bessie" with her farmland mural painted over her! 

Now onto the photos of the car show. These are just a few of the autos we saw and were some of our favorites. There were new cars and classic.....

I hope you enjoy...

Hobby Horse Project

I know my granddaughter is a bit young for this yet, but I think these would be so cool to make. The picture comes from "Today You Inspired Me" blog. It is not in english and no translation is available, and there looks to be no instructions either. I do, however, think I could make these. I am sure if I look through Mr H's sock drawer, I could find some wool socks that he NEVER wears, and since the roping looks to be crocheted along with the ears, it looks simple enough. If I do make these I will have a tutorial to go along with them.
So that is one more project to put on the to do list, but I think this will be a fun Wednesday morning project for me to get started on. it doesn't look too involved and would be fun for me to do. I have all the materials to make this except for the stick, which can be easily gotten at a hardware store or garden center.

Chocolate Lovers...

Step aside Hershey Kisses, Wilbur Buds are far better and more chocolatey. 

Mr H and I heard the Wilbur Chocolate  candy store was having a 25% off 1 pound bags of buds for the month of January, so off we went to get our stash. I love the dark chocolate and Mr H loves the milk chocolate. 

Check out the Wilbur Chocolate link. 

My parents both retired from Wilbur Chocolate owned by Cargill, Inc. 

My dad was an engineer and still does consulting for the company and my mom was a logistics coordinator. 

So I grew up in the chocolate world. Funny story is that when I was younger, I used to get hives all over my body, when I went to the allergist to get tested, it turned out that I was allergic to CHOCOLATE! Also, oatmeal, tomatoes and shellfish. I was not a good time - lets see - no chocolate, nothing with tomato in it, no oatmeal....it was no fun. Luckily, when I had my first son, I guess my body went through some sort of "change" and I was no longer allergic to these foods that I happily and enjoyably eat today. 

So if you live in the area of Wilbur Chocolate or plan to visit the area, stop by Wilbur's and stock up on your Wilbur Buds! Makes a great Valentine gift for your sweety.

 Also enjoy the candy store museum with artifacts and history of chocolate. Plus, if you ever need to know about chocolate, my dad can give you the complete rundown and all you need to know about chocolate and then some! He is a walking chocolate encyclopedia. 

**Disclaimer - I am not being paid to endorse Wilbur Chocolate - it is just a great part of my childhood as well as my adulthood.  

Valentine's Day Is Coming!

Over at Tidy Mom's blog, she has some cute ideas for Valentine's Day. I have been looking or more ideas on small crafts to make to give my Avon customers for Valentine's Day. 

Over at the Scrap Shoppe blog, she has stuffed paper hearts that I just love and look easy enough to make. 

My mom had made stuffed paper gingerbread men out of  brown paper bags and these go right along with that sort of craft. I love them. I will have to give these a go and let you know how mine look! 

I think these will be perfect little gifts that I can somehow create a Valentine's Day discount with them. Maybe on the backs of them I will put a % off tag and they can reach into a basket and pull out their heart discount. 

I will share pictures when complete. 

I love it when a plan comes together! 

Freezer Cooking With Crock Pots and Other Food Related Discussion

photo credit "Mama and Baby Love"

So I came across these freezer meals you can put right into your crockpot....I thought...how awesome! You bag up some meals and the day you want to make them, you get them out of the freezer, defrost a bit and dump into the crock pot. I really think I am going to try this. I found some great recipes and helpful hints and tips here at Mama and Baby Love and also here at The Krazy Coupon Lady.

 I read reviews and concerns that went both ways on this type of freezing and cooking

•  placing raw meat in the bags with the rest of ingredients - I think this is ok...it is going straight to the freezer - hey I ate dirt as a kid....I am still here....
• the veggies may get mushy and the sweet potatoes might taste like the carrots, visa versa....I don't know....I think if you don't let them get freezer burnt and use the bags within a month it should be ok and still taste fresh?
• not blanching the veggies - sort of same as the above....
• too much sodium using the recipes with cream of ... soups....for those with sodium issues, I think there are reduced sodium soups??? OR....just don't make those recipes and/or find a substitution 

Now, I do not like to leave the crock pot on while I am at work. We have 2 older models and I am just not comfortable leaving it on even if on low. That is just me and one of my quirks. I will though leave it on overnight while we sleep as we do have smoke detectors if that makes any sense.
These would make great Saturday and Sunday meals as well as covered dish meals, my day off meals, and just having them on hand for a "just in case" meal. So, if I made about 8-10 of them up a month, it would cover most of those days. Also, I don't want to have one every night as we do like other types of food for supper.

• breakfast for dinner - bacon/sausage with egg sandwiches/omelets and maybe some pancakes
• chicken ceasar salads
• pork chops, stuffing and either buttered noodles/mashed potatoes and a steamed veggie
• oven baked chicken  with the above side dishes - love a crispy skin (yes we eat the skins here...)
• Tacos!
• Fish - broiled, fried or baked - either will do
• Seafood - broiled, fried or baked as well.

You know, things like that. Although there are other things I could make in the crock pot with simple easy prep that I don't have to pre freeze, but most of these I make on the stove top in a dutch oven.

• ham/green beans and potatoes (all mixed together with some onion added) - ( I use ham hocks )
• soups - potato or veggie 
• chili
• pork and sauerkraut ( I slow roast this in the oven or crock pot - depends on my mood and the day)

Those are just an example of things we like to have for supper.

Our diet changes over the summer - we do more grilled meat, steamed/grilled veggies, pasta salads, fruit salads - things like that. 

With all of that said, I will still try the freezer to crock pot method for a portion of our meal preparation as I see it has many benefits. 

I can pick 4-5 recipes per month, purchase the items to make at least 8 of them (2 of each), peel, chop, bag and freeze and those meals are ready to go. 

So far my favorite ones that I saw were

• BBQ chicken
• Brown sugar chicken
• Beef sandwiches
• Goulash

I have also googled freezer to crock pot recipes and found others for beef stew and other fun meals. 

One last thing about crock pot cooking - I found a great idea to wrap potatoes in foil and place in crock pot and slow cook - this would be great for a family/freinds baked potato bar topping night! Use smaller potatoes so everyone can have more than one with different toppings! Everyone bring a topping to share and all you have is supply the baked potatoes! Hmm....Mom....you reading this? Lets do this one family supper night.....

What's Happening This Week...

She love the camera

 Please enjoy these pictures of my granddaughter while I go on and on about the projects and things I have been accomplishing or attempting to accomplish.

Patty cakes at it's finest

Besides babysitting my granddaughter and enjoying her new love of patty-caking...

I have started to sew curtains for the guest room/Melody's room when she can sleep in a bed/My Marine son's room if he decides to sleep here on his time back at home/spare room....boy it has a lot of uses! 

I found some lace and some mint green fabric that I have been toying with on the sewing machine. I will need to purchase curtain rods for these. When they are finished, I will post pictures. Right now, they are a work in progress.

She is all girl....chatting away on the "cell phone"

I filed my income tax this morning - federal, state AND local! I am on the ball! I have ulterior motives though. I want that $$$. I will purchase the nifty difty/handy dandy camera  and ALL that comes with it that I have been "borrowing" with this money, I will begin looking for carpet for the master bedroom and purchase it with this money, and I will also get my passport with this money so I can enjoy a cruise this summer with my ENTIRE family - sadly minus my son as he will be deployed at that time. 

I love this little patty caking peanut - tongue out and all
I think she is gonna be a handful as she gets older - she is
all smiles and happiness now - but I sense a little bit of her
Grandma in her.....

Next on the agenda is 

• painting the bookcase in the guest room
• finishing the edging on the quilt in the guest room
• painting the dresser in the guest room
• adding the rest of the personal touches in the guest room
• begin planning this years veggie garden - with seedlings and creating a map of the garden
• begin planning and making a timeline for the floral gardens that will edge the perimeter of the house

That is it for now as that is enough to keep me busy for a bit. 

At least for the next 2 months.

After that it will be after winter clean up in the sun room and more focus on the outdoors with gardening and such.

I also need to make a spring clean up list - like carpet shampooing, yard cleanup from any snowstorms we may possibly get etc....

Snowy Days

 We had a bit of snow over the weekend, so I thought I would get the camera out and test it out on the outdoors. Boy do I still have a lot to learn with this camera. 

 Thankfully we had a lot of wood stored in the shed so it is nice and dry to keep us nice and warm this chilly weekend. Believe it or not, it is supposed to get up to 50 degrees on Monday! 

 Some bluebirds decided to visit the suet feeder....

 This is where I was having difficulty with the camera. It takes great moving shots, but I need to work on the color in my editing. Since I am starting in automatic mode with the camera ( beginners mode...lol) The white all wants to look gray, so I have to adjust it in Picasa. I am just going to have to learn to get out of automatic and learn the settings. It will come in time, I just have to study, practice and play with it. 

 I was surprised that this bluebird let me get as close as a I did. He did look at me occasionally, but went back to pecking away at the suet. 

 We later decided to go for a drive up to the project ( a wooded area) to look for deer or other wildlife. Thought we would see some easily in the snow. All we came across is the local farmers mules and some cows. I sort of overexposed the mule picture. Had it on the wrong setting....

 I do love cows....

More Pictures With The Camera.....

 Of course these pictures of my granddaughter - 9 months old in a few days...

Thought I would make this one sepia

 I still have to play with the lighting on these pics....lots to learn....