Featherstone Quiltworks

I’m not much on making resolutions, mostly because past experience tells me I’m not likely to keep them for very long anyway.

This year I’ve made one (I actually started this week) that I’m going to work really really hard to keep, because it’s a 11-week resolution.  I’m going to walk 165 miles in eleven weeks.   I was going to make it 150 miles, but since that doesn’t divide evenly by 11 — well, if you’re mathematically challenged like I am, 165 will make perfect sense to you!  This way, I know I need to average 15 miles a week.

I’ll report on Sundays — my Sunday Stick-To-It Report.

As this is the end of the first week for my walking, I’ll report my first week’s progress here:

Week 1:  15 miles

If there’s a resolution you’ve been thinking about, maybe just make a smaller commitment to start.  A whole year is a long time, and anything we do that’s good for our health is going to be beneficial.  And who knows?  Maybe it will lead to new long-term habits.

Right now I’m working on ten more weeks, one day at a time.

–Sue

• Heels and nylons are not a part of my normal life.  I wore them Sunday night to a party and my left knee still hurts!  Time to shop for a pair of dressy flats (I’m a Clarks and Sketchers kinda girl normally) and ditch my last pair of heels.
• I have a new phone — a Droid (no, no — say it with me in a low, drawn-out voice…D R O I D…).  It does everything, although I’m still in Learning Mode.  I was taking a picture of the newly fallen snow, and wondered, “what’s this button for?”.  It reversed the camera so I could take a picture of myself.  I was so startled, I hit the shutter button.  The result:

• Judging from the above picture, I need to get a professional haircut, go back to coloring my hair — and why am I looking over the tops of my glasses to take a picture when I have new bifocals?
• It’s good to take care of your knees, and don’t examine the rest of yourself too closely.

–Sue

at noon today, CDT!  I finally chose a 1-yard piece of fabric from my stash, as I couldn’t find any tea or teacup fabric in my limited in-store shopping this week.  I chose a big, floral pattern of roses.  I always thought it would make a cute pillowcase for a little girl…or a not-so-little girl!  Anyway, it suits the pinkness of the basket:

A better look at some of the items…

The three boxes of tea are underneath.  Have you tried the honey sticks yet?  If you like tea, they are just perfect.  It’s like a straw, sealed at both ends, filled with honey.  Snip off one end, and squeeze the perfect portion of honey into your tea.  Lenox china mugs, napkins, teacup note cards, a dishtowel, teapot and a basket!

You have to go to THIS POST, however, to enter.

–Sue

Woke up this morning to no power in the house.  Went out to get the paper.  It was saturated, right through the double bag.  Went to call Star Tribune to get a new paper.  Phone doesn’t work without electricity.  I KNEW THAT!  Got cell phone and called.

Now what can I do?  I headed towards the computer before I caught myself.  Nooooo, no computer.  Thought about throwing in a load of clothes.  That won’t work either.  Can’t make a cup of coffee.  Kinda dark in the house, and kept trying to turn on lights that were powerless.

I kept feeling silly, trying to turn on things that of course won’t turn on. Thought about my iPod, which I found out needed a charge.  Couldn’t even plug it in.  Roamed around the house.  Sewing was out of the question too, and not bright enough in the house to cut anything out.  Maybe a treadle machine isn’t such a bad idea?

I dug a couple of 2008 quilting magazines out of the recycling and read for a spell.  By the time we got home from church, the power was back up and life as I know it was back to normal.  Our outage was probably only 5-6 hours.  I can’t imagine going without power for a week.  (And thank goodness for air conditioning today!!!  hot-hot-hot)

–Sue

and it was fabulous!

In fact, the whole menu was from the TV show, “Kitchen Boss”:  Chicken Piccata, Roasted Potatoes & Onions, and Sauteed Mushrooms.  The chicken especially was like something you’d have in a fabulous restaurant, and it was very easy to make.

I guess I’ve watched a lot of TV lately, although I had never seen Kitchen Boss before.  And cupcakes seem to be a big competitive deal nowadays and I’ve seen a lot of cupcake wars on TV.  Personally I have never thought cupcakes were all that special.  I’d rather have a piece of cake, I guess.  Or a cookie.  Or a brownie.  Or a piece of really good chewy bread with real butter!

Continuing in my week of senseless TV watching/listening, I couldn’t help but take in all the to-do about the Royal Wedding, already referred to as the wedding of the century.  Do they realize it’s only 2011???  I mean, I have two single sons.  Who’s to say one of their weddings won’t be the wedding of the century?

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to bring something special to our stitching group tomorrow to kind of celebrate the big wedding that I’m pretty sure none of us were invited to, and what could be better than cupcakes?  Well, probably quite a number of things, but play along with me here…

So in celebration of mindless television and the “wedding of the century” (and isn’t that a perfect marriage?), I made two dozen swirly, delicious cupcakes (even though only 9 fit into each of my cupcake/pie/cake boxes).

And I know they’re delicious because DH and I took it upon ourselves to do a little taste-testing!  (I learned from TV not to overbake them or they will be too dry.)  They are perfectly moist, and of course icing them this way deposits about twice the normal amount of frosting on each little cake.  Milk chocolate cake (Betty Crocker) with strawberry frosting (Duncan Hines) on the left, and white cake with lemon frosting on the right (both Betty Crocker).

I have to go now.  I have a HUGE mess to clean up in the kitchen.

–Sue

First there is the snow — drifted onto our deck higher than the railing.  We probably got around 20″.  That’s a lot for one snowfall, plus we’ve already had two big snowfalls already this year.  And it’s only December 12th!!!

• We had no mail delivery yesterday.  I don’t remember that ever happening before.
• No newspaper this morning.  Of course, we wouldn’t be able to find it if there was one delivered!
• The Viking’s opponents for today’s scheduled noon game, the NY Giants, couldn’t get into town (the MSP airport closed yesterday).  Game delayed to tomorrow night.  Whoops!  Early this morning the Metrodome roof collapsed, suffering three tears in the Teflon dome from the weight of the snow and the high winds.  Put that game on hold until they can find a place to play!
• Besides the airport closing yesterday, city plows and buses were pulled off the streets yesterday/last night as well.
• Rescheduled Christmas get-together lunch plans with friends from yesterday to next weekend; rescheduled dinner plans with friends from last night to this afternoon.

Secondly was the wind.  It combined with a lot of light low-moisture snow to make blizzard conditions with low visibility and a lot of drifting.

And the third factor is the cold that’s moving in behind this snow.  Yesterday it was around 20 degrees above all day.  This morning it was zero degrees, and it’s supposed to climb all the way up to 7 degrees today.  Tonight it’s supposed to get down to  15 degrees below zero with a projected wind chill of -20 to -30.  There is still a weather advisory out, and the fun continues.

Where are they going to put all this snow?

This is much too early to have this much winter weather!

Port Aransas, Texas:  High of 61 and sunny today, with a forecast high of 70 by week’s end.  *sniff*

–Sue

In the “Admin” portion of my blog, I’m able to see what a visitor entered in a search engine like Google or Yahoo! (if they arrived at my blog after doing a search).  I get a lot of visitors  who arrive here after searching for “sock monkey quilt“, “watercolor quilt“, and “fruit ladies“.

Two searches this morning that struck my funny bone (with a link to the posting they would have found):

“duck eyelids” (REALLY!  I’ve had this searched for many times before)

“knitting with a broken wrist” (ow!).

– Sue H.

The other day I promised a review on the Jen’s Chicken recipe found on Judy Laquidara’s blog.

DELICIOUS!  Not low-calorie, but it isn’t purported to be diet food.

I always start the crock pot out on high for an hour or two to get things going, then reduce to the lower temperature.  That maybe have made my sauce a little thick.  No problem — I thinned it with a little half & half.  The second day I added a package of cooked peas, added fresh-ground pepper and Parmesan cheese to the top.  Perfection!

You have to love a recipe with four ingredients plus noodles and that cooks itself in the slow cooker.  We will definitely have this one again.  After I log in a few miles on the elliptical torture device trainer.

–Sue

PS:  Makes at least six generous servings.

So, my question is, what is its purpose (I’ve added the box in the left-hand column)?

I used to think it was a way to follow new content on a blog, but that would be Google Reader (or something similar).

I started wondering about it because fellow blogger Marilyn is trying to reach 100 followers through Friend Connect so hopefully she will be allowed to give away a Go! Cutter on her blog.  (By the way, you may want to stop over at Marilyn’s blog & if you enjoy your visit, sign up as a friend.  Wouldn’t you love an extra chance at a Go! Cutter???)

Anyway, when I find a site I like, I rarely add my name as a follower.  Instead, I follow them through Google Reader.  Now I’m thinking it’s apples and oranges.

Enlightenment, anyone?

–Sue