Lucky Dog

Still suffering from the awful sinus infection!  Can you believe that?  It is true, although for the last two days I can actually say it feels a tad better (but only a tad).  Christmas was such a bust and I feel awful about it.  No one even received a card this year.  I think I have a way to remedy that though.

Last Friday, feeling defeated by the sinus infection and wanting to give it the big "up yours", I decided to make dog treats for my dog Kane. 

I used a recipe from the book, "Real Food for Dogs", called Great Gravy Cookies.

Ingredients I used:

(slightly modified from book and amounts have been doubled)

5 cups whole wheat flour

4 small jars beef-flavored baby food

1 cup rolled oats

2 eggs

1 cup nonfat dry milk

1 cup water

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 package bacon, cooked and crumbled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Lightly pat your hands with flour and shape the mix into a big ball. Flatten the ball using a floured rolling pin. Use a cookie cutter to cut the dough into shapes. Place the cookies on a greased cookie sheet (I did not grease the baking sheets and did not have a problem with sticking). Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Allow the cookies to cool before serving and store them in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

Kane says they are delicious!



Hello...hello...Is this thing on?

Have you ever suffered from a sinus infection? 

Two Sundays ago, my head was pounding and congested.  I fought thru it for two days at work till I couldn't take the headache any longer.  Vitamin A, Garlic pills, Vitamin C and lots and lots of ibuprofen and rest.  After a week there was little improvement.

I did see my doctor yesterday and was prescribed antibiotics, although for now I am not able to feel any of their healing powers...maybe in another day or two.

Some may ask, well what about Christmas?  Well I don't have a tree up, I haven't bought any presents, I haven't made any presents, no stockings hung with care....to sum it up, my house looks like bah hum bug! 

Hard at Work

Every Christmas, I always take on more projects than I could ever accomplish...but if I even get half of what I want to make finished then I will be happy.  Last weekend I made a trip to the local yarn shop to buy supplies for a couple shawls.  I walked out with a load of yarn from the "sale" table, all $4.00 per skein.

On the table, the Elise Shawl and the Sweet Pea Shawl.  Still unsure who will received these.  The Elise Shawl is almost complete, maybe 6 to 8 more rows.  I have been working on it since Sunday. Last night I felt bored with that pattern so, figured I would change things up and start on the Sweet Pea Shawl. 

What a disaster!  I sat down and started the 202 foundation chains...around 160 I lost count.  After recounting and re-reading the pattern I was ready to start on the first row. 

The first row on the foundation chain is always the most tedious.  All the counting and looking for the tiny back loop to insert your hook and nothing to really hold on to, it is very time consuming.  At the end of the first row, in what seemed to take hours, I noticed I had extra foundation chains.  Hmm, I must of (re)counted the foundation chain wrong.  I started on the second row and got three quarters of the way across, when I discovered a mistake on the first row.  The only way to fix it...to undo everything all the way back to the mistake.

Take two.  Trying to be more careful, I take even more time completing the first row.  Start on the second row.  Halfway across....another mistake found on the first row.

Deep breath.....count to ten.....scream a little out loud.

Take three.  This time I paid all of my attention to crocheting the row.  I blocked out the TV, my husband, my cat trying to love on my elbow and my dog asking to go outside.  This row was going to get done, even if took me till 3 in the morning.  At the end of the row I had to add back the "extra" foundation chains.  I also looked very carefully at the row to make sure there weren't any mistakes....it was perfect.  After re-crocheting the first row so many times I was exhausted.  I made it through row two and half of row three when I set it down for the night.

Only 22 T-Shirts

FINISHED!!!!!

It only took 22 t-shirts and a few hours to finish, ok more than a few hours, but it is finished, and it is beautiful!  The time it took to make this rug was well worth it.  Will there be more rugs like this in my future, probably not.  There will be more pot holder though, they only took a night to finish.