iMagiNe cReAtiVe nAme hERe

u, v, w, x, y, z!!!!!

• unfinished...The Christmas cards remain quietly tucked into their box. I just didn't get to them this year, and honestly I didn't feel like doing them. I had a bit of a bah-humbuggy Mr. Scrooge thing happen to me this year. At least we got the tree up and (slightly) decorated. Timothy brought home the ornament below that he made in preschool. What a riot!
  

• valentines...in December??? I was in a local craft store (the one that has the J at the beginning) last week looking for candy canes for the tree and for the boy who wanted some sooo much. They had all their Christmas stuff 50% off (at least) and no more candy canes (boo hiss). I was shocked to see all the Valentine's Day items already on the shelves. It's just not right.

• winter...I love George Winston's December cd. It is one of my faves that I listen to all winter long.

• x...???? I'm not even going to try.

• yarn...of course! I didn't get any yarn for Christmas but did receive several knitting books to inspire me to use up the stash of yarn I already have.

• zzzzzzzz...I'm looking forward to getting a few more zzz's tonight after a few late nights/early mornings of holiday fun.

Done, done and done!

T is for...

• tired! Someone is teething and has been a big GRUMP. I got a bit of a reprieve when he fell asleep this morning. Ahhh...quiet. Poor little guy.

• thankful...Last Thursday my dad finished enduring a long few months of daily radiation treatment for prostate cancer and is doing well. I got to go with him to the hospital for a treatment at T'giving. I hadn't posted about it before because it's been difficult to talk/write about. I started to include it in several posts before but always deleted it. It just feels too personal. Although it's been very trying, much good has come from my dad's illness, and we are truly thankful that he is still with us.

S is for...

• sleepy...zzzz....I love afternoon naps. My littlest guy takes a long nap and my BIG guy is now doing the every once in a while nap (how did he get to be almost 5?!). I will miss my BIG guy when he is off to kindergarten next year. When I was pregnant with Lukas, Timothy and I took a nap in my bed pretty much every day. He liked to hold my hand too...awhhhh.

• silly...Lukas is turning into a silly thing. He loves to laugh and when he makes his siblings laugh it makes him laugh more. He has been "talking" more (still need that universal translator!) and yesterday he handed me something and said, "Here you go." I was floored!

• strings...My Lydia is playing the viola this year and enjoying it. I played the viola from 4th grade through HS and still have mine that will be hers one day if she keeps playing. I still have dreams about strings or my bow breaking during concerts (this never happened in real life thankfully).

• satisfying...I finished up a quick gift knit last week: Irish Hiking Wrist Warmers. I used Caron's Simply Soft in bone and my trusty #8 Denise needles. I actually made two pairs of these (the other is neon green) but neglected to take a photo of the second pair. I made a red pair for myself in 2005 that I wear all the time. I see a few more of these in my future to squirrel away for presents. 

R is for...

• rice....We are major rice consumers here due to my deep abiding love for my Zojirushi fuzzy logic rice cooker.

• recent...here are some recently finished knits (see details on my Ravelry page!)
  

Monkey socks!

Wavy Scarf!

Hat and fingerless Mitts for my Mother-in-Law!

Q is for...

• quiet...How good it is to be home from T'giving traveling and have a quiet (well, at least during naptime!) house again. Dh back at work, children at school & all is well. It's nice to visit with family but doubly nice to sleep in your own bed again!
  Lukas on T'giving ------>

• question...Looking through my recipes to use up my turkey leftovers today. We were away for T'giving and did not bring home any leftovers. So I went to Wegmans yesterday, bought my bargain priced turkey (tempted to go back and get another one today!), and roasted it for dinner last night. Now I have loads of leftover turkey! Yay!  I seem to make the same things each year with the leftover turkey and want to change it up a bit. I do love my turkey tetrazzini (did I spell that right?!) though and will make that for sure! I want to make soup with the turkey carcass too. What do you make with your leftover turkey?

P is for...

• phletttt...(or however you write the sound that you can make with your lips)...I have two (count 'em two!) FOs here and the camera is MIA. I feel a bit like Charlie Brown. :(

• peculiar...Lisa tagged me with the 7 random/weird things meme (hope I don't repeat myself since I know I've done this one before but am too lazy at the moment to go back and find it):
  
  1. I dislike my dh's feet and hoped that my children would not inherit this particular thing from him.
  2. I hate to drink milk all by itself.
  3. I HATE flossing and even after suffering through gum surgery I just can't get myself in the habit of doing this.
  4. Even though the warning on the box of cotton swabs says not to put them in my ear canal, I do it each time after taking a shower. I can't stand to have water left in my ears.
  5. When I eat a meal, I have to take a bite of each thing in turn and make things come out even (see #2 about milk above). I don't for instance eat up one thing in its entirety (like all the potatoes and then all the bread). My dh is the exact opposite of me and eats all of one type of food at a time.

Apparently I can't count either! Just looked back at this and realized I only did 5 things instead of 7! Ha! Oh, well...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

O is for...

• the color orange...makes me smile. Right now I'm knitting an orange scarf and an orange cardi. A skein of orange yarn is calling to me cast on for some orange socks.

• obsession...hmmm...think I have a bit of an orange obsession? Perhaps.

• overdue...Wondering if there are any overdue library books floating around our house right now.

• overcast...Today's dreary weather makes me want to crawl back in bed.

N is for...

• nice....Thank you all for your comments about  my daughter the bad guy. She loved being Draco. I now have a couple more meatball recipes to try too-thx! I'm making marinara sauce today so my last batch of meatballs will probably vanish. The house smells soooooo good! It's finally fall here too - hurray! - with real autumn weather so it was the perfect day to make a little red sauce (my tried and true!). I'm using the last of the tomatoes I froze from our garden (sob).

• nap...off to take a short one. :)

M is for...

• Malfloy...
  Apparently Draco Malfloy is friends with  Wednesday Adams - who knew? Figures though. Here they are at Wednesday's Halloween party. (Draco and dad even made a wand stuffed with ripped up flower petals. Timothy likes this photo of Draco the best. ) scary...
  
  

• meatballs...
  Have I mentioned before my quest for the perfect Italian-style meatball recipe? Here's my current fave (still looking though). I like to triple it and freeze them.

Beef Meatballs (baked not fried!)
from Cooking Light,  JANUARY 1997

1 1/2 pounds ground round
1/4 cup (1 ounce) finely shredded fresh Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1 teaspoon dry mustard
3/4 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2  garlic cloves, crushed
  Cooking spray
 
Preheat oven to 400°.

Combine all ingredients except cooking spray in a bowl; stir well. Shape mixture into 30 (1 1/2-inch) meatballs. Place on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until done.

Yield: 30 meatballs (serving size: 5 meatballs)
CALORIES 228 (35% from fat); FAT 8.8g (sat 3.4g,mono 3.5g,poly 0.5g); PROTEIN 27.4g; CHOLESTEROL 73mg; CALCIUM 95mg; SODIUM 370mg; FIBER 0.8g; IRON 3.4mg; CARBOHYDRATE 8.2g

                               

L is for...

• Dare I mention lentils again? Such lovely little things. I tried a new lentil recipe over the weekend. It's a stew but ended up being less stewy and more side-dishy, so we added sauteed slices of sweet Italian sausage to it and served it with homemade bread and a green salad. We all enjoyed it! Yummers!
  
  Crock Lentil Stew
  from Saving Dinner
  
  3 Cups Chicken broth
  1 can Italian tomatoes, undrained
  1 can tomato paste
  1/2 cup red wine, optional (I included this-yum)
  1 tsp. thyme
  3/4 tsp.basil
  1/4 tsp. pressed red pepper
  1 onion, chopped
  3 carrots, sliced insto rounds
  2 stalks celery, chopped
  3 cloves garlic, pressed
  1 lb. lentils, rinsed (I used French Puy lentils)
  s & p to taste
  
  Combine all ingredients in crock pot, ecept s & p. Cover and cook on LOW for 10-12 hours. s & p to taste before serving.