Knitting update

G's cousin had a little girl a few weeks ago!  The first first born girl on that side of the family - 8 grandsons and 3 granddaughters!
Miss C was a "surprise" baby, so I wanted a gender neutral yarn and something that went with a yellow and grey nursery.  I love Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage yarn and thought Stephen Loves Tosh was perfect!

 

I hope Miss C loves it!

For the moment I am working on making another pair of socks....

And have another baby blanket in my queue....

Round or Pinwheel Baby Blanket by Genia Planck, found on Raverly,

Photo © anxiousdog

using Madelinetosh - Lichen yarn, which I think will look great and be great for a "surprise" baby.

Wonder if these crafty projects will align with the Spring version of the Pinterest Challenge!

Enjoy!

ELH

Pinterest Challenge!

Challenge!!

I love reading Young House Love and Bower Power.  I love pinning ideas to Pinterest and have made/bought a few things.  I am not a very crafty person or craft on a regular basis, so having the stars align with needing to make a new appetizer for an Oscar party and the Pinterest Challenge - Winter Version was amazing!

Not sure making a recipe necessarily counts, but it counts for me!

At Christmas, I decide to try my hand at Green Chile Pepper Jelly.  Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of the jelly, but it seemed to be a hit with my in-laws!  We ate most of it with homemade bagels and cream cheese on "H-family Christmas Morning" (Christmas is celebrated the Saturday before, so we can all visit our other in-laws - brilliant idea!)

This is the recipe I used - the hardest part was the canning, since some cans needed to be redone.  I just followed the canning directions included with the pectin.

Makes 6 half-pints of jelly
6 fresh green chilies
6 cups of sugar
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
cheesecloth
6 oz. liquid pectin
6 drops of green food coloring
1.  Wash and mince chilies. Combine chilies, sugar, and vinegar in a large saucepan or kettle and boil mixture at high heat for 5 minutes.
2.  Pour boiled mixture through cheesecloth to remove seeds.  Return the mixture to saucepan or kettle.
3.  Add pectin and food coloring to mixture and boil for 1 minute.  Skim off any foam that may have formed.
4.  Pour mixture into hot, sterilized, half-pint canning jars. Seal according to manufacturer's directions.
5.  Process jars in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes.  Test seal when cooled.

I had some jelly leftover that needs to be eaten soon, so I decided to make crackers.  Specifically, Cheese Wafers with Pepper Jelly, thanks to Pinterest and Better Homes and Gardens.
The recipe was pretty simple.  

Dough after sitting in the fridge for ~4hrs.

I used a mixture of extra sharp cheddar and sharp cheddar (of course purchased in a block and shredded in my KitchenAid food processor.) and did everything with a food processor.

The brown ones in the corner were too thin and got crispy!

The crackers and jelly were a hit at the Oscar party and I took the leftovers to work on Monday.  
My only comment is to cut the recipe in half.  80 wafers is too much!

Maybe for the next Pinterest Challenge I'll do something more crafty!
Enjoy!
ELH    
 

WWW

Mon, Feb 18^th – Unplanned off day – the alarm went off and Gussy jumped up on the bed for cuddle time, so I rest set the alarm for another hour.  Silly me!

Tue, Feb 19^th – Boot camp!  Lordy we did a repeat set of 4 exercises with 50 reps, 40, 30, 20, then 10reps.  Have I mentioned I like to turn my brain off when working out and hate counting!  It might have to do with swimming competitively for 9years and counted my fair share of laps!!

Wed, Feb 20^th – Run morning! In the dark!  3miles in 28:37.

Splits –

Mile 1 – 9:33

Mile 2 – 9:36

Mile 3 – 9:26

Thurs, Feb 21^st – More boot camp fun!

Fri, Feb 22^nd – I was planning on taking Molly for a long afternoon walk, but the weather was wet and cold and I was feeling lazy!  Project Runway was calling my name louder than the dog leash!

Sat, Feb 23^rd – 3.3mile walk with Molly!! She decided to walk through a huge puddle, so she got a hose down when we got home!  Fun times!!

Sun, Feb 24^th – 2.09mile walk with Molly and G in the morning and then a 4.01mile run in 40:41min in the afternoon.

Splits –

Mile 1 – 9:55

Mile 2 – 9:38

2:22min walk break

0.89miles @ 9:58 – hilly!!

1mile @ 9:46

I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt and was really hot = slow run.  On the plus side, my feet didn’t hurt!!

Enjoy!

ELH

Mixed Nuts - shoe addition!

Some of my foot wear from the past few weeks!

Stripes and dots!

Stars!

I think I need to get new wellies :(

My outfit for one of the labs I have to work in!

Enjoy!
-ELH

MIxed Nuts!

Yes, I am a child of the 80s! 

New house motto!

Christmas present, finally framed!  Did you know my kitties are named Asparagus and Artichoke??

Snow this morning at my parents house!

Enjoy!
ELH

WWW

I accomplished one of the New Years Resolutions this week!  I finished A Grown Up Kind of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson!  Not a great book, but glad I finished it.  This can be added to the Skip It! list.

Mon, Feb 11^th – Off/rest day and 1^st oil change for the Outback!  Exciting times here!!

Tue, Feb 12^th – Boot camp! And a 1.41mile Molly-walk in the afternoon.

Wed, Feb 13^th – Run morning – 3.0miles in 27:58

Splits –

Mile 1 – 9:31

Mile 2 – 9:15

Mile 3 – 9:09

Thurs, Feb 14^th – More boot camp – at the end we did a sprint treadmill set –

1min at 8mph

2min off

1min at 8mph

2min off

45sec at 8mph

1:30min off

45sec at 8mpg

1:30min off

10sec at 9mph

10sec off

10sec at 9mph

10sec off

10sec at 10mph

Wow that was hard!

Fri, Feb 15^th – Morning walk with Molly - 1.64miles.  My body was sore from boot camp.

Sat, Feb 16^th – The weather was cold and windy, so I opted for a long walk with Molly – 3.0miles.

Sun, Feb 17^th – “Long run morning” – 4.25miles in 42:32, followed by a 2.23 mile cool down walk with Molly.

Splits –

Mile 1 – 9:37

Mile 2 – 9:57

1:44min rest/walk break

Mile 3 – 9:45

Mile 4 – 9:57 – super hilly!

0.17miles @ 9:26

My legs were still tired from Thursdays boot camp.  On the plus side, my feet didn’t hurt!

Hope you all had a great workout week!

Enjoy!

ELH

Happy Valentime's Day!

No the "m" is not a typo, that is how we said Valentime's Day as kids!  Love it!

I hope you all have a great day today!

Etsy necklace from my mom.  I got an "e."

Every year I usually end up with an unexpected gift from G. This bracelet is completely different than my other jewelry, but we love it because it is small (I wear 6.5" bracelets!), Kate and I are BBFs (in my dreams), and it is fun!

Happy Valentime's Day to you!!
ELH

Punchkie

I am Polish, my mom's maiden name ends in "wicz" and according to my grandparent's funeral home director, my last name probably ended in "ski" generations before.
And in my family's Polish tradition Fat Tuesday means eating punchie - a donut like pastry coated in powdered sugar.
The polish spelling is Paczki and my family, the purest do not fill them.  Just powdered outside!

Actually, by tradition, I mean my family living in Detroit.  You can get punchkie at every grocery store for the week leading up to Ash Wednesday.  

We have my mom's grandmother's recipe and I decided to try my hand at them.  The recipe is huge!  My mom's family had one girl and 4 hungry boys, so I cut it in 1/3rd, but forgot to cut the water!

Opps!  So I had to add a lot of extra flour to make the dough less sticky.

This was also my first time frying anything and I burnt the oil (I used canola oil since it was what we have on hand) after the first round came out  I was working without a candy thermometer, so I had no clue how hot the oil was and had walked away from it.  Opps!

After a trip to the grocery store, the next round of punchkie came out great and tasty.

Paper bag used for shaking the punchkie in powered sugar.

What family traditions do you have?
Happy Fat Tuesday!
ELH

WWW

Mon, Feb 4^th – 2.13 mile walk with Molly.  Still feeling a little sick, so no running.

Tue, Feb 5^th – Bootcamp!

Wed, Feb 6^th -  More bootcamp! And we ran 1.2miles.

Thurs, Feb 7^th – off/rest day

Fri, Feb 8^th – 2.11mile walk with Molly.

Sat, Feb 9^th – 3.5mile walk with Molly and G.

Sun, Feb 10^th – 3mile run in 27:29(1^st run in ~2weeks) and a 2mile walk cool-down with Molly.  I felt pretty good.

Splits –

Mile 1 – 9:06

Mile 2 – 9:01

Mile 3 – 9:19

Enjoy!

ELH

January Mileage

Gussy!

Running - 36.50miles

Walking - 25.76miles

Not too shabby considering my mental block with running, annoying foot pain, and generally being sick!

-ELH 

WWW

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I caught the flu/cold/plague on Sunday, so this wasn’t a great workout week.  I didn’t go to work on Monday and only worked a half-day on Tuesday.  By the end of the week, it had all moved to my chest and I have an awful sounding couch.  Sleeping hasn’t been great either since I wake up in the middle of the night not being able to breath.  Just a down right awful week!  I hope to get back into running and working out this coming week.

Mon, Jan 28^th – 2.0 mile walk with Molly in the afternoon – needed to get out the house.

Tue, Jan 29^th – 2.83 mile walk with Molly in the afternoon.

Wed, Jan 30^th – Crazy rain day, so no walk.

Thurs, Jan 31^st – I got up for bootcamp and was ready to walk out the door and was hit by an awful coughing attack, so I decided I wasn’t ready.

Fri, Feb 1^st – Rough night of sleeping, so no early morning walk and we didn’t get home until late.

Sat, Feb 2^nd – 3.25mile walk with G and Molly.  Plus some stretching and abs.

Sun, Feb 3^rd – I skipped yoga and just took Molly for a 3.0 mile walk (plus some abs, stretching, and vacuuming!)

I hope your week was better than mine!

ELH

Attack of the Aliens....

....and other creatures!
A friend of ours had these little Alien men around his house to "protect" it!
We saw some at the grocery store years ago and wanted our house to be "protected" also.

We now have a collection of Alien men, white dogs, and little Kinder Surprise toys on the door frames.  Not many people notice them, but it is fun when they do it make me laugh!

Surprise!

"I spy..."

Can you find this guy in the next picture?

My co-worker got this for me in China.  Cute kitty!

Kinder Surprise truck!

Add last but not least, a little dog "protecting" us as we walk in the house!

What quirky things do you have in your house?
Enjoy!
ELH