Busy Saturday

After about 4 days of rain we had a nice sunny day and managed to get some things done.

I started off by being lazy and sleeping in (!!!) and then took Princess B to buy roses.
I knew I wanted something fragrant, easy and hardy--I came home with 2 "Little Devils". I don't like the name, so Princess B renamed them "Rosie" and "Pointy"


This is a shot of the front before today's work (I really needed a picture of the real before--before my friend Carol came over to help me dig out trees, cut down bushes, dig out Lily of the Valley, take out rocks and prune.. it was a serious jungle.

Anyways--before:



and after.

I put some Red Cedar mulch down and have a bag left which I think will go on the side flower beds.
Princess B wanted to pick out some pink flowers--and after dissuading her from a Hibiscus tree and a Clematis, we put these in "her" flower bed.



We also planted some Daisies that had been given to us by a friends' son (He is a whiz with plants and has helped me figure out what some of my flowers are)


I also ghetto rigged a Topsy Turvy out of one of the buckets the Rose bushes came in.

I tied the strings inside the bucket so they wouldn't interfere with the plant growing beneath!!
I had a foam circle that I put around the stalk on the inside to protect it and keep the moisture there--and included some shredded newspaper to block the holes and some good dark soil and compost!
:)

I also harvested some Rhubarb today (some--this is less than half of what we have out there--Shoe for scale:)

I have a request already for a Strawberry Rhubarb Pie..I have dreams of Rhubarb cake and Rhubarb punch....

Hubby mowed lawns and started the process to open the pool..It was a very busy, but fun and productive day.

Oh, and I also finished Princess B's other skirt and sewed a new one for her from some fabric she has been eyeing:

Better pictures in the daylight tomorrow.
The fabric was from some I received from Freecycle, I used elastic that belonged to my Mother, some thread that was gifted to me..a very fun and frugal project!

I think my skirt will be next...stay tuned

Bread

For my birthday, my Dad and step-Mom got me this book.


(that looks really small--It's called "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day:)

It is amazing.
If you like to make bread--you need to get it. (Either buy it, or see if your Library has it to borrow first)

Basically--you mix together bread ingredients for 5 minutes, let it sit for 2 hours the first time--then you can use the dough for 2 weeks and there is no kneading, no sitting, not rising--just bake.

This was the first loaf:


Just a basic loaf--so good. Crusty outside, all soft in the inside.

The second loaf I decided to add cheese and minced onions (not really following the recipe, since the cheddar bread calls for sugar in the actual mix, I didn't do that)

(The cheese looks really orange, it's just the flash)

I didn't even wait for it to cool down--the butter totally melted on it, it was so good.
Princess B calls it the "best bread ever!"

They have food recipes to do with the breads too (stews and soups etc etc)
There are recipes for chocolate bread, rolls, pizza dough, baguettes, cornbreads etc etc

I'm in love, and probably will get as big as a house from all the bread I'm going to eat
:)

Random

Food, kids, Knitting, stuff....

The weekend was great--parties (plural), Grad, Mother's Day, swimming, Birthdays, Lost dog/found dog (long story short: We think my sisters RIDICULOUS neighbour called the pound when my blind half-deaf dog went outside to pee without a leash on.....seriously...four hours later after searching and trying to figure out what to do, we found out he was safe at an animal hospital and it didn't cost us much to get him back....Dear Neighbour: You stink)

On a happier note: My sister Erynne is a College Grad! (just has an internship to finish this summer!)
My nephew is getting bigger
Princess B lost her first tooth on my Birthday in the middle of the Grad party:

(the "big girl tooth" has been growing in behind for a few weeks now

She's pretty happy:


I got the movie I asked for from hubby,
I ordered myself a pattern for sewing


My sister knit me an AMAZING shawl

I received some awesome sewing scissors and an amazing bread book from my Dad and Jacquie
(Can I say amazing again?)


This is the bread:



Which takes all of 5 minutes to put together, sits only as long as it takes to heat up your oven, the batch makes enough dough for 8 loaves..did I mention it only takes about 5 minutes?
No kneading, no sitting, no proofing, no waiting---bread, in 1/2 hour.

I treated myself to a couple of things for my birthday.
Coolest mug evah:
Empty of coffee/tea it says:

Full of coffee/tea it says:


I've wanted that mug for so long, it's been sitting in my cart at Ravelry.com for months now

If you don't know about ravelry.com and you are a knitter/crocheter/dyer/spinner GET THEE OVER TO RAVELRY.COM
The wait is only a few days (back 3 years ago when I joined it took up to 6 weeks)--and it is totally worth it.
What do you use it for?
Let's say you want a free knitting bag pattern--just click click patterns/bags/free gives you a ginormous list of free patterns

Let's say you have 200 yards of bulky funky yarn and you don't know what to do with it:
clicky clicky on yarn, 200, bulky and it will show you patterns and projects that others have knit with those specifications.

Have a question about a pattern you are knitting, look up the people who are knitting it, the places that they have posted questions etc.

I love love love Rav

Amazing...

So, more treats:

Socks that Rock Lightweight in the Lucy colourway.
(Named after Wendyknits kitty Lucy)

A cool bag that zips into a little pouch (I bought one for my sister last year and needed one for me) (blogger, why is this upside down?)



Some Sari Silk remnants for art yarn spinning



Yeah!!!

We're off again

Away for the weekend to my Sisters Graduation, My Birthday, my Nephews Birthday and Mother's Day.
I have more secret knitting (Test knitting) that I can't show but this picture warms my heart:
(pardon the messy hair--bath time came later)


She wanted to do knitting with me the other day--picked up her knitting and started.
She then got distracted and wanted to use her knitting machine to make "lots and lots" of doll clothes...She's like me--instant gratification girl.
:)