Back on the Wagon

Well, I am back on the wagon, again.
What do I mean?
Weight loss, of course.
I visited several different places that were "diet centers". I wanted to see what else was out there. I was NOT looking for a quick fix. There are NO miracle diets. It is all hard work. I was wanting something that I could live with over the long haul. I knew what Weight Watchers had to offer. I want to see if there was anything different that would give me a change.
I went to the "Diet Center". This diet was eating one of THEIR bars for breakfast, one of THEIR smoothies for snack, one of THEIR bars for lunch, and then eating a small dinner. Of course, you are going to lose weight. But this does not teach me how to eat, how to live in the real world. Would I have lost a lot of weight? Most likely, but I could not see myself maintaining it. It was VERY expensive, almost $700 to start and about $80 per week for THEIR product.
Then I went to the "Metabolic Research Center". This diet seemed more reasonable. It did have a protein drink that you needed to buy, 2 boxes per week, at 13.00 a box, so that came to $26.00 a week. The diet consist of you eating and preparing your own food, so that was a great thing. You had class on preparing food. The cost, however, was about $400.00 up front for a 17 week program. That is $23.50 per week. I probably would have chosen this one, but the price was too expensive, too. It seemed to have a lot of one-on-one, so that was good, but just couldn't swallow the price.
Today, I went back to my Weight Watchers and yes, I paid for 4 weeks. That comes to $11.00 a week, since I am already a lifetime member. Last time that I was at Weight Watchers, they changed their plan. It is now called "Points Plus". It was drastically different from the old program that I had been using for about 5-7 years. I bucked at changing and you were not really given a choice. I am not saying that it was NOT a good change. I think it was. I just was at a junction in my life where going through the "change" and being made to aanother "change" was one too many changes. So, I quit going. And now, I am back.
It is what I need to do. But change is really hard, hard to resist foods that I have to cook for the boys. I am a really good cook and I love cooking for my boys, so I am always tempted.
Pray for me.
I really would love to be more fit for my 30th anniversary at the end of July. I am realistic in knowing that I will not reach my goal by then. But progress in that direction is good.
Pray for my boys, I become a food "Nazi" when I am dieting, I don't want to do that.

A Mom's Tribute to her Son

Where do I begin? It seems so long ago that we brought you home from the hospital. Yet, it is hard to believe how quickly this day has come. It is hard to connect that small, little boy to the man that you have become.

I weep and rejoice at the same time.

I think of all the stages that you went through--your love of dinosaurs, your disdain for Barney, your love of lizards, especially of African fat-tail geckos, your love of nature, flowers, birds, butterflies, dragonflies, native plants, photography, music, guitar.....and of course, computers.

I am amazed at all the many talents that God has blessed you with.

I see so many things that I should have taught you and didn't. I see my failures as a mother and yet, God's kindness in spite of those failures.........and I am humbled by God's goodness in giving us you.

No one can convey just how motherhood tears you apart -- how it can take you through all the emotions of joy, sorrow, fear, love.....at the same time.

So I am here, at this time in my life, weeping and rejoicing at the same time. Missing that little boy that I could hold and rejoicing for the young man God has molded you into.

One day, if the Lord tarries and you have children of your own, you will understand how much mom loves you and understand my heart on this day of days.

Congratulations son on your college graduation.

May? Already?

The first day of every month hits me like a brick in the face. Time seems to fly to quickly.
Since my last post, we celebrated Ben's 23rd birthday and took Grace to the Memphis zoo.

                                         I just love meerkats!

                  The Memphis Zoo has a delightful birdhouse.

Ben are Grace look great in front of the China exhibit at the zoo.

I finished a shawl for a friend. This one is made in a cactus fiber that she bought when she visited Morocco. She shared some with me. I Navajo plied it to make it knitable, dyed it a lovely turquoise and knitted it for her. This was one of my "Pray and Knit with Love" projects. I seem to be doing a lot of those this year. This friend was having a mastectomy.

 Last weekend, Michael and I, took a lovely two day adventure in the Miata. We left Friday morning, encountering little pockets of rain all the way to Silver Dollar City. We had not been to World Fest in 2-3 years. This was the only weekend that we were going to be able to go. Friday night, we hit Danna's for barbeque, then the outlet malls. Four pairs of capris, two t-shirts and one ball of yarn later our trunk was  full to capacity! For real!
Sat morning the weather was perfect for a complete day of top-down, wind in my hair drive.
We took Hwy 76 out of Branson West. At our turn onto Hwy 86, we encountered The Quilted Cow in Cape Fair, MO. It was a delightful quilting shop. This is Ginny the owner. It is such a joy to happen upon stops like this one and to get to know hometown America. I could see myself spending a lot of time at this shop, if I lived near here. Thanks for the lovely welcome Ginny!

We took Hwy 86 to Hwy 23 and visited "Sew in Heaven" in Holiday Island, AR. I came away with 6 balls of Jojoland Ballad yarn.

 From Holiday Island, we took Hwy 187 to the little town of Beaver, AR. Here is the spring house on the other side of the Little Golden Gate Bridge.

                       Here is the Little Golden Gate Bridge.

                  Here is the mercantile at Beaver, AR.

For road trip knitting, I took two lace weight projects. They were perfect, small, compact, brainless knit projects. One was a shawl for someone special and the other is a new design that I am working on in a lace weight version. More on that later.

2012 Is a big year for my family. In two weeks, our Ben will graduate from college. He will graduate debt free. We only paid for this last semester. His first 4 years were on scholarship. He will graduate with a degree in Computer Science. He will be leaving our little nest soon to live on his own. It is very bittersweet.
In July, Michael and I, will celebrate 30 years of marriage. We are planning a special trip to celebrate this occasion. This a year of big happenings that give us an opportunity to look back over the provisions that God has supplied. We are grateful to God for the blessing that He has given our family and we are humbled.
Now, you are caught up until next time.

What is on my needles?

Okay, I admit it. I can get lost in my work and sometimes obsessed with a design or design idea. But that is not a bad thing for you, once I get around to publishing it.
Do you remember the Baby Allison Christening Blanket and the Christening Gown and Dress set that I did?
Well, I started another design set. This one incorporates my love of Herbert Neiblings Lyra and my love of Elizabeth Zimmerman's Pi Shawl construction and my love of making heirloom baby things.
Remember my cast-on-itis, right before my Dallas trip? I ended up casting on another design to take. I came home from my knitting group at the Senior Citizen's Center and dug out my Brown Sheep Cotton Fine, that I had bought about 3 years ago, and crunched the numbers! I had lovely Pi Shawl knitting for 75 rounds to get to the lace part of this Christening Shawl/Blanket. Perfect knitting for traveling. The anticipation of that lace edging was pushing me to knit those 75 rounds. I was enthralled with the thought of how it would look. I did not anticipate just how lovely it would be.
Now to flood you with the results! I hope you love them, too!

Here it is blocking!

Here it is blocked!

Here is the gown that came to my mind while knitting the Shawl.

 

Here is the edging on the gown!

Another view of the edging, I cannot get enough of the edging!

The Bodice of the gown.

The dress version.

The edging on the dress version.

The bodice of the dress version.

Now for some family pics. Ben and his girl, Grace, in their Easter finery.

Michael and I in ours.
I have been using my sewing for only quilting for so long, that I think I forgot how to sew garments. This simple dress gave me so many fits! I used the seam ripper too many times. It is a wonder I could even wear it. I am wearing my Twilight Sonata Shawl with it.
Well, that is all for now.
More soon.

One last view of the gown and Shawl. Ahhhhh! I really need to drag out my manual for my camera. I just cannot capture the beauty of this design. Note to Self: Put down the needles and read the manual!

Cousin Phyllis' secret Chicken n' Dumpling recipe

These are the most delicious Chicken & Dumplings. They are every bit as good as my momma's. And my mom knows how to cook good ole southern food.
Sorry Cousin Phyllis, your recipe for Chicken & Dumplings is too good not to share. Just keep your son, Randy, away from this blog and he will never know your secret.
What you will need:
1 whole Chicken (I put the whole thing in a dutch oven the day before, bring it to a boil and let it simmer for about 3 hours. If you don't like dark meat, use bone-in chicken breast. I used 4 and it really was too much meat. Put some of the meat aside for another dish.)
Add salt to taste. Remember, you can always add more, if needed.
1 package of Grands Buttermilk Frozen Biscuits (this is NOT canned biscuits. You find these with the frozen rolls in the frozen food section. See photo of pkg below).
I, also, have a couple of cans of chicken broth on hand, in case I need more broth.

The day before:
Boil the chicken the day before and once it has cooled, put it in the fridge. I like to do this so that I can skim off all the fat, debone it and strain all the gunk out of the broth.
Dumpling making day:
Set out your biscuits to thaw.

Defat, debone and strain your broth.

This is my broth. I add lots of coarse black pepper to the broth. Bring it to a rolling boil.
You really need a thick dutch oven for this. If you use a thin pan, it will burn on the bottom.
Add more of the canned broth to this, if needed. I added a can to this, since it was not enough once I had removed the chicken. Notice that the chicken is not in the broth pot.

While I am waiting for the broth to come to a rolling boil, I take my thawed out biscuits and on a floured surface, I roll out two at a time. I roll them out as thin as possible. Notice the size difference in the rolled out one and the one that isn't.

I roll them out by using a  small roller. And I cut them into strips with a pizza cutter.

Once the broth has come to a rolling boil, I drop my little pieces of dough into the broth. I do this one biscuit at a time. I, always, make sure that they are pushed under the broth (with a wooden spoon) and allowed to rise to the top, or float to the top, on their own. I roll out the next biscuit and using the wooden spoon, I push aside the previous dumplings to uncover a clear broth area and begin dropping the next set of pieces of dough.
Repeat this until you use all of the biscuits.
Once you have used all the dough up, add your chicken to the mix, bring it back to full heat, turn down the flame, cover it with a lid and simmer for 30 minutes.

Honestly, this makes a huge batch! I always use this opportunity to take some to church friends who are in need of a meal or have a group of southern-food-loving buddies over. These heat up great, too.
Now, go out and get your ingredients!
Sorry again, cousin Phyllis.....................these are just too good to not share.

DFW in one post?

How am I suppose to tell you all about my DFW trip in one post? Well, I will try and then, I may have to continue it tomorrow. There is so much to tell, but I will try. 

Friday, I took a Lily Chin class on Computer Aided Designs. Still trying to process all of that. Great class, great information. It is going to cost me, since I now have a program or two that I want to purchase for my designing. 

It was great to get to meet her in person. Everyone who knits has , will or needs to encounter Lily Chin. Anyway, great class. 

We made a trip back to Chef Point in Watauga, Tx.

Friday night was Ravelry night. Her I am with Sarah and her adorable, really good baby boy.

Here I am signing a copy of one of my books at the end of the Ravelry event.

My friend, Cindy is standing behind me. She looked amazing in her shawl knitted with Malabrigo sock weight yarn.

Here I am setting up for my class.

I took about 10-15 shawls for samples. I do a lot of bead knitting. It was so cold that they came in handy for the students.

Here is a pic of my sign outside of my class.

My students.

Here is Vivian, one of my students, wearing the shawl she made after the class. It is made in Madelinetosh sock yarn. She is definitely doing her homework!

More students.

More students. I had requested a minimum of 10 and no more than 15. I had 15. It was the perfect number.

It gave me good one-on-one time, too. I, honestly, could not have had a better group of students. They were eager to learn and I felt very at ease with them. All teachers should be so blessed to have students like these. They made my teaching job feel so natural. Thank you students.

Here I am with Cindy. She looks marvelous in the scarf that she felted at her workshop on Friday morning. It is so much fun for her to get to be at this event too. She is one of those friends who share my love of yarn and knitting. We had such a great time shopping at the yarn market.

Comic relief!

Sat night, we had dinner with our favorite Tx relatives, James, Patti and Jason. Got to meet Jason's girl. She is a knitter, too. A beginner, but that will change.

The trip to Tx is always so lovely with the roadside wildflowers. These are some showy evening primroses. AR has these, too.

Here I am posing with the blue bonnets. They are so glorious.