Pinterest #7

It's the third time I've been down and out this winter. It's abnormal for me but I've been deducing why this is happening. The first thing I noticed that each time I'm sick it's usually piggybacking the last time I was sick. So I think my immune system is shot.
The next thing I noticed is being blessed with four little ones kid germs have been reintroduced into our lives and since I've no intention of giving up hugs and kisses I'm destined to deal with kid germs.
And lastly cabin fever and not a lot of crisp, fresh winter air to clear the body. We've been under "extreme cold warnings" meaning don't go outside and only if you have too for a few minutes at a time. The Great Lakes went from being only slightly covered at the beginning of January to 85% covered now. That means a whole lot of cold and a whole lot of ice. It's also why I've been taking pictures indoors.
Check out Great Lakes for more info on our deep freeze.

 

Looking through Pinterest in hopes to find some help with my yucky days it seems I'm doing all the right things and eating all the right foods. It does make me think then that getting out and about or at least a change of air in the house might be the answer I'm looking for and luckily our temperatures are about to change for the better!
But until then here are a couple of Pinterest things I did and didn't find helpful for your yucky days.

Last year I made this concoction in hopes of helping out with my cold. When I took a tbsp of the spicy mixture it helped for all of two seconds but not overly helpful for the duration of the cold. If you've tried or are going to try this one and it works for you let me know. I'm curious and may give it a second chance. I did find hot water and honey just as effective though.

source

This year I made my own menthol vapor rub. 

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I'm totally liking this stuff and it helped a great deal during my cold and it's not as harsh as the store bought stuff which I like. The store bought was a staple in my home growing up and in my home with my kids as well. But the switch from using store bought things to knowing what I'm using on and in my body has been gradually happening in my home for years now and this vapor rub is a keeper.

 My next plan is to boost up my immune system and I'm leaning towards elderberry syrup. Although I read it's great for colds, it was also one of the things that continuously popped up for boosting immune systems as well. At one of our many houses we lived in we had oodles of elderberries but only thought of them as a nuisance berry because of the lovely purple bird blotches left behind on everything. If I knew I had a super berry growing in my midst I would have been using them a long time ago. :)

According to my children they were mulberry not elderberry. 

Pancake Tuesday!!

It's here! The day set aside to use up your lard before lent!
I'm always amazed at how long ago these traditions started and how we've kept up those traditions so many years later.  I think I can let that lard part of the tradition go though. :)
The pancake itself is old, think Ancient Greece old and you get the picture. But oh how times have changed for the griddle cake and it's not just a breakfast food anymore. I find you can have one of these satisfying flapjacks anytime of day!

Let's start with Martha Stewart's basic pancakes. This is the traditional pancake you'll expect to find for todays big day. Just butter and maple syrup and your good to go!

Now lets bring it up a notch.

Lindsey from Dash of Nostalgia brings us Pumpkin pancakes. I don't know about you but I like pumpkin anytime of year and who could resist a plateful of these.

These next pancakes in my opinion would blow the roof off your pancake day and if you've never tried a Chocolate pancake then my friends you don't know what you're missing.

Check out Cooking Classy's pancakes. She's got a few other pancake recipes to get your creative juices  flowing as well.

So what will it be? Plain jane or over the top? I'm doing a little of both. Sticking with the plain pancake then dressing it up with fresh fruit and whipped cream. I may even get a little crazy and add some candy sprinkles. :)

Pinterest #6

Here it is! My dress that I started for Christmas and was going to finish for Valentines.

                                             This is the dress that was my sewing inspiration from Pinterest.

                             
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Did you catch that "was" in the opening sentence?  I'm not going to finish it because I have a problem. I'm just not a dress girl, I like separates. I thought maybe this would be the dress to change all that and in the beginning it was but the farther I sewed along the more dissatisfied I got. The more times I tried it on I knew it would be a dress I wore only once because I had too and then it would hang in my closet. 

It's fate now..it will be torn apart to make something I'll actually wear.

Even looking at it on the dress form I still think its such a lovely dress with all its polka- dotness

This is the pattern I used.

It's been a bit of a tough week with some feet dragging moments however this latest sort of fail did have me learn a lot of sewing techniques I've never done before. Waist stays, side zipper placement and a horsehair braid sewn into the hem, definitely made this a teaching dress and that's a good thing. The new challenge now is making something wearable with what little fabric I have left. :(

Pinterest #5

When I was a little girl every winter I'd spend one week of it sick in bed. Mumps, tonsillitis, stomach bug, colds, I was a ticking time bomb through out the winter months till something hit.

I should have known something was up the other day when I had the urge to watch " The Bugs Bunny Show". When I was sick being entertained by a rabbit who would occasionally dress as a woman was a treat. It happen to air while we were having supper so I could only ever catch a few toons here and there. When I was sick I got to watch the whole hour.
So last week when a nasty cold took hold sitting under a cozy blanket and watching Netfilx was about the only thing I wanted to do. That and play with yarn in an attempt to conquer knitting socks. I'd have to say I'm close, not perfect but close.

My Pinterest Challenge also took a back seat last week so this week I'll have two for you.

Today's is Homemade "Oreo" cookies.
As we know homemade is usual better but when it comes to knocking off a store bought brand can they compare?

Here is the original Pin

 and the site the recipe comes from.

I shall start with the taste test. Yes, comparably speaking they taste very close to the middle fiddling cookie but you know the homemade version is filled with things you can pronounce. So that's a plus all the way!

I had a little trouble with the recipe itself though. I found that the amount of flour used in the ingredients was not enough and I had to keep adding to the cookie dough because my first batch turned out like this.

She said the dough needed to be dry so I compared the dough to what my rolled sugar cookie would be like. Apparently mine wasn't dry enough but by the end and after adding a lot more flour I got a cookie that resembled the recipe.

I debated on just making crumbs from the not so nice ones but made them into cookies too.

So would I make these again? No. I don't buy Oreo's all that often to begin with and truthfully the amount of time it took to make these cookies I don't think I could be bothered. 

Fun to try but not a keeper in my books. :)

Better, better, better.

I'm trying very hard to become better at the things that interest me. Better sewist, better upholster, better baker, better painter, better knitter...you get the picture. I also believe that each of these things plays into the next. Patience must be practiced in all things newly learned and unless you're lucky right out of the gate it will take time to hone one's skills. Rome really wasn't built in a day. No really it wasn't, look it up.

Last fall I began a knitted sweater project. Worked on it on and off and by Christmas it had been set aside. Not totally happy with it but far enough along I had to think twice about ripping it apart. Once the Christmas festivities had passed I pulled out my completed pieces to the sweater I unravelled the whole thing. I decided, not happy.

I had two patterns, a vintage and new that I liked and both were very similar in style. I thought why not combine the parts I did like and if it didn't work I could rip it out again, after all this is just part of the learning process. Right??

Results, VERY HAPPY!!

The base of the pattern, sleeves, back fronts is from the new, the added cables and length come from the vintage. 

Side note- another plus for making my own things. The pattern called for a certain length for the sleeve but I think I added 2 extra inches so that it would be long enough. Pure joy factor there. Things that are too short on my arms annoy me.

The cables are what I'm most proud of having never done them before and was what caught my eye when I bought the vintage pattern in the first place.

When I tried it on and everything was as it should be and I may or may not have squealed with delight. I've got big plans for this sweater and it's the first piece to a puzzle I've been sorting out in my head. Stay tuned!! :)

The yarn used came from KnitPicks