Baa Baa Knit Stitch

>Those of you who know me know that I refer to myself as “home-economically-challenged”: that is to say, I’m not really at home in the kitchen. Unfortunately, when I do decide to try to cook something, I have this annoying habit of picking something that’s not the easiest for a beginner. It’s the same way I approached piano lessons as a child. I’d get a piano book and immediately turn to the back and learn to play the last piece in it. Then I figured I was done. The other piddly stuff in there was bor-ing. So we’ll say that working up to a skill set is not my strong suit.

I found a recipe for sea salt caramels. Looked good. Looked reasonable. I assembled ingredients: cream, butter, sugar, Karo syrup, vanilla extract and sea salt. Check. Recipe called for a large stock pot and a candy thermometer. I grabbed the largest pot I had out of my cookware set and broke the seal on the candy thermometer package and went to mixin’.

Cook for 10 minutes on high heat and bring to a boil while stirring to melt butter and dissolve sugar. Check.

Reduce heat to medium high and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, till temp on thermometer reaches 248. Check.

Except…well… nobody told me what happens when cream, sugar, butter, and corn syrup start simmering. Things expand. In spite of every blasted chemistry and physics class I’ve ever taken, this thought never occured to me.

And when Mt. Vesuvius blew up all over the stove, I realized their definition of “large stock pot” was “bigger than the pot I had”. Exhibit A:Note the caramelly goodness all over the sides? Yeah. Mt. Vesuvius erupted. We grabbed the pot off the burner and tried to get things calmed down.

So I think… well, I’ll keep a better eye on it next time… so I put it back on. Alas, I’m a slow learner. The same bloody thing happened again. Exhibit B:See Richard’s hand cleaning up caramelly goodness from the eye of the stove? At this point, I fear we’re going to have to call in someone to repair the stove as that particular eye will no longer light of its own volition. Exhibit C:I like to call Exhibit C the “cha-ching for the stove repair people shot”. Note that this shot was taken in mid-cleanup. Caramel makes very quickly when the mixture lands on a hot stove-eye (just in case you were wondering).

So we figured that the volume of the goop we were working with was greater than the volume of the container, and we’d better take some out if this experiment was ever going to succeed. Richard diligently ladled out caramel mixture, and we resumed simmering for what seemed like an eternity at that point.

But the temperature finally reached the magic 248 and we poured the mixture out onto well greased parchment paper and left it to set. I had no idea what it would taste like, considering all the consternation, but actually, it’s some pretty tasty caramel.

It oughta be. I have a feeling it’s gonna be some very expensive caramel when everything’s said and done!

>Yeah. I went to the mall. Evidently it was “Stand in the aisle and stare” day and I didn’t get the memo about it. I got out as fast as I could because I decided that yelling “Move your fat butt” a) wasn’t very polite and b) wasn’t in the spirit of the season. But there were some folks that did not know the meaning of “Excuse me…. excuse me… EXCUSE ME!!!”

I swear I’m trying to be in a good humor about the season, but it doesn’t help that the two people I need to buy gifts for are the two most difficult people to shop for on the face of the earth.

My mom: I get that she has all the junk and tsotchkes anyone could ever want and/or need. However, I’m not about to go up to her house for Christmas empty-handed. So each year I end up on a quest for the person who says “don’t get me anything” trying to find some simple something that might possibly tickle her fancy yet not clutter up her house. This is easier said than done.

My husband: I love my husband dearly. I cannot imagine life without him. But buying presents for him drives me nuts. He provides a list, and says he’s open to surprises, yet when said surprises are presented often goes “Oh. Thanks.” and tosses the gift to one side. One year he did that with a rather expensive jacket and I stopped festivities right there and then. It reminds me of the Friends episode where they’re buying birthday gifts for Rachel, and her boyfriend Tag buys something that’s not on the list. “Don’t ever go off the list” they tell him. (Geez, I miss that show. There’s so many life applications in it…).

So today I went to the mall. I went off the list at hubby’s request to try to surprise him (without buying gift cards, since he specifically requested that I not give him those). I came up with something. We’ll see. I shopped for Mom for a few things in addition to the mitts that I’m knitting for her. Again, we’ll see.

Believe it or not, I have to go back to the mall tomorrow, because I forgot something I was going to get for Mom. I can’t believe I was so stupid as to have to go back on a Saturday, but we’ll go early and get out. Besides, they’re practically giving the place away. Srsly.

Wish me luck!

>…a rainy night in Georgia. At least it looks like that’s what it’s gonna be right now. Don’t get me wrong: we need the rain in the worst kind of way. Problem is the cold front coming in right behind it… which may lead to ice… an encounter with which wasn’t the kindest to my behind last Friday.

Was headed to Rome to see Mom, and as usual, I stopped at one of the local Starbucks to fuel up for the trip. This isn’t the usual Starbucks that Richard and I frequent; as a matter of fact, this one isn’t known for it’s incredibly efficient staff, if you catch my drift. At any rate, I pulled into a choice parking space in front, grabbed the purse and stepped out of the Hummer to get my coffee…

…only to find myself sitting on the asphalt right on my adequate (I’m not so naive as to say “little”) behind. And I landed hard. With absolutely no memory of what happened.

Then I saw the black ice.

So I crawled on hands and knees over the ice to find some place with traction so I could get up and assess the damage. (Several days out, I’m now incredibly annoyed that nobody inside the Starbucks, which was full, lifted a finger to help me. So much for the season of goodwill.) I went up to the counter and told the person that they had a problem, because there was black ice in front of their store, I had just fallen, and they’d better do something about it before someone really got hurt. The genius beside her said “Oh yeah, there was a sheet of glass out there all last winter.”

Really, Sherlock? Think ya should have done something about it?

They gave me a free latte, and Sherlock followed me out with a yellow cone. He got to my car and allowed that “Gee, you really can’t see this, can you?? Let me help you to your car.” I’m no fool; I put my latte in on the other side of the car before taking him up on his offer. He did put the yellow cone in the parking space so nobody else could use it till things thawed out.

Fast forward to Saturday morning. I awaken to find out that I am sore in places I didn’t know I had. I couldn’t go to my stitch group’s annual gingerbread house construction day at Vicky’s. Even on Monday, sitting all day at continuing education was painful (even more than tax law normally would be). And we’ll just say my rear end is a delightful shade of blue and dark purple.

**sigh**

At least I don’t think there’s any permanent damage, either to my body or to my dignity. But if there’s ice again this week, I’ll be taking it very easy when I’m out.

>When I look at the FEEDJIT feed associated with my blog, I find that most of the hits are associated with this post. People from all over the world are looking at it. It’s really pretty kewl.

What is it about the post that you find interesting? The cute dog? The sentiment? I’d like to know!

Leave a comment and tell me what you’re thinking. 🙂

>Woo! Georgia Tech beat Georgia!!!Yay!!!

>Tomorrow in the US is Thanksgiving Day, so it’s appropriate to stop for a moment to consider all the things in my life for which I’m thankful. Even though I may blow off steam here from time to time, on the whole, I’ve got it pretty darn good.

I’m thankful for:

–my faith. I know that ultimately God is in charge and whatever He leads me to, He’ll see me through. Now, admittedly, sometimes I have a hard time reminding myself of that, but it’s a fact.

–my husband. Richard is the absolute love of my life and I just can’t imagine what I’d do without him. I get all warm and fuzzy when I know he’s planning for our future together too, like when we were at a service for one of our fellow church members who passed, and the minister was talking about the gentleman and how he visited his wife every day in the nursing home. Richard asked me later how we were going to make sure we were still together if one of us had to go to some place like that… Now *that’s* thinking ahead. 🙂

–my mom. She’ll be 80 next week, and I’m blessed to still have her independent and relatively healthy.

–my business partner Bob. The big brother I never had growing up came into my life 10 years ago.

–my stitching buddies. All of them are the sisters I never had. We’ve been together for quite awhile now, and seen each other through a lot. It makes me happy to see them each week, to talk to them on the phone, to get email from them, and to chat with them on the computer.

–my friends on Ravelry. What an unexpected bonus I got when I signed up to join Ravelry to see a few patterns and get reviews on yarn and books!!! I have met so many wonderful people there; participated in some great swaps; and found a group of NASCAR fans as rabid as I am. And I was touched beyond belief this past summer when people I’ve never “met” from there contributed generously to our efforts to raise money for the Southeastern Brain Tumor Foundation in memory of my dad. They only knew me from my snarky posts and my odd sense of humor, yet they wanted to help me. How great is that??

–my church. I can’t imagine life without our church and in particular, our church choir and handbell group. What a fantastic bunch of people.

–the fact that Richard still has a job and that my business, while down a bit, is still going and paying the bills.

–the fact that I have a warm home, plenty to eat, and clothes to wear.

–our troops and the sacrifices they make to keep all of us safe.

–the fact that the election process is (almost) over. I’ll be honest: my side didn’t win, but my prayer is that our country can come together and our new leadership can make the right decisions.

Oh, and one last thing…. I’m thankful to that lady at the Publix today who let me go in front of her with my one small item when she had a huge cart full of stuff. I’ll pay it forward as soon as I get an opportunity.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!!!

>…or a full moon, or something.

On Saturday, Richard and I went for lunch to the tea room in Woodstock. Nice place, but crowded parking lot. I circled and parked in an actual parking space. Others weren’t so considerate. Some of you who have been reading my blog for awhile recall this post, where I posted the score of Hummer 1, Honda 0. We almost had a repeat performance, as someone parked their small piece of rolling fiberglass behind the Hummer, leaving almost no room for me to back out. Richard stood outside as I executed roughly 20 small “Y” turns to maneuver the Hummer so I could back out without knocking the small car into the street. When Richard got in the car, I stated that I should really leave a note giving that person who was stupid enough to park there what for.

So I did.

It was rather cathartic, although they’ll never know who did it. At least I had the privilege of telling them off and slapping it under their windshield wiper so they could see it.

Oh, and I went back by the church’s bank today to drop off some paperwork they say they were missing. Funny, when I signed the signature card, I was under the impression I had signed the signature card. Evidently that’s not how they roll. We’ll just say things deteriorated from there and the conversation got quite unpleasant. I’m creating an RFP to give to several banks for them to bid on our business. It will please me greatly to sign the check that withdraws the last funds from that institution.

To add insult to injury, my windshield cracked. Got in the car this morning, and there was a three inch crack from the top left of the windshield headed for the middle. Fortunately, my car insurance covers it, but they’re gonna have to replace the whole thing. Still just a pain.

>1. To the bank my church uses: I’ve been signing checks for 2 1/2 months now, ever since the death of our previous treasurer. Yet you pick today to embarrass one of our employees who tried to cash her check saying I wasn’t on the signature card. Really? Let’s see: you knew I was the treasurer; you called my cell phone; you’ve cashed all the other checks… So I think I was perfectly justified in losing my temper with you. And my pastor told me that even our Lord lost his temper with the money changers in the temple. So pfffffft. And as soon as I can get things together, we’ll be changing banks, because this isn’t the first time you’ve pulled crap like this. We’re right across the street from you, for Pete’s sake. Pick up the phone and call if you have a question.

2. To the gentleman behind me in line at the grocery store: hitting me in the rear end with your cart isn’t going to make the line go faster. I checked.

3. To Jim Martin and Saxby Chambless, candidates for the hotly contested Senate runoff in Georgia: Stop calling me. I’ve already made up my mind, and neither of you are going to change it. Now both of you are just ticking me off. Ditto for your respective political parties and anyone calling on their behalf. Forget you know me, or you can kiss any future contributions goodbye. I mean it. And while you’re at it, stop mailing crap to me as well.

4. To the idiot who tailgated me, passed me, and then cut in front of me, only to have us stop at the stop light at the same time: gee, that really worked out well for you, didn’t it?

>I’ve finished a cap for Connor and his friends. Oscar was a bit of a reluctant model:I fear treats were involved after that one.

I’m waiting for a mailing address to get this one in the mail. Pattern is the “House Hats” from Charmed Knits, and it’s made with Encore Worsted so it’s nice and washable. (I don’t particularly enjoy knitting with Encore, which is a blend of wool and acrylic, but it’s durable and quite suitable for something like this.)

>It’s a rare day indeed when I’ll post twice, but I came across something thanks to my friend Jen from Ravelry that I think all of you knitters and crocheters who may read my blog need to see.

See, Connor’s a little boy with a brain tumor. Stage III. This is very, very bad. Surgery isn’t recommended, but they are doing chemo and radiation which, you guessed it, will make his hair fall out. In Wisconsin. In the winter.

Now, some of Connor’s friends want to shave their heads in solidarity with him… but his best friend’s mom, Beth, got the idea to have everyone at his school wear a cap in their school colors to show their support. You can read her post about it here.

There’s a short time frame involved. They need around 200 caps to be mailed before December 1. Gauge isn’t important, because there are kids and adults of all ages at his school.

I’m going to go cast on a hat now. You know how close to home anything involving brain tumors hits for me.

Can you help? Please?