What-What?! Week of January 11th

Peter had to work this week.  It was lonely (due to a typo, this almost said 'lovely' -- oops!).  But making money and paying bills are good, so I guess that's okay.

Food wise, this week has been excellent.  Thursday, I made chicken and dumplings, based on The Pioneer Woman's recipe.  If anything from that recipe, the addition of corn flour to the biscuits is a unique touch that is worth doing.  I added masa to a recipe Bisquick biscuits, 'cause I don't look down on cheating. :P  If it's cold where you live, make this.  It is so, so good.

After that, on Saturday, the husband and I made a German-themed dinner of spatzle and schnitzel (no recipe for that, sorry).  This time, rather than making it "off the board" as is traditional, I used a flat cheese grater, which I pushed the batter through with a heat-proof spatula.  This made my spatzle much more consistent in size, and was much easier to do.

I started teaching Saffron how to cross stitch early this week, and she completed her first little motif:

She did most of the stitching herself, though I had to pull out sections sometimes for her to re-do (one time, there was a HUGE knot).  This next week, I think she's going to start on a cat one.

A picture of it in progress:

 

My project isn't finished yet.  I have to go to the store and buy supplies, since I've apparently lost stuff during the move.

The stages of making German helmets. (Introduction section)

For a somber read, I suggest looking through the WWI photos over at The Atlantic.  There are a lot of pictures there, including many showing somewhat unusual content, like animal hospitals, horse gas masks, and the soldiers from Middle East theater.  Some of the historical commentary is a bit untrue (like the sheer ridiculousness of Austria-Hungary's demands to Serbia), but for the most part it is very good.  Keep in mind, though, these are photos of war, and can be graphic in nature.

What-What?! Week of January 4th

I have now been blogging for a two years!  Wow.

Tomorrow, my husband goes back to work.  The last two weeks have been a nice break from the monotony of life.  It's also nice to be reminded that I can see him all day, every day, and I still want to see him.  That I just saw him two minutes ago doesn't make me less excited. <3

Friday, it actually snowed for maybe an hour.  I put my littlest down for his nap, and by the time he awoke, it had melted.  He was extremely disappointed when he woke up from his nap, as he had wanted to make a snowman.

Adventures in Cross Stitch

Over the course of a few evenings, I decided to do a cross stitch.  I haven't done any needlepoint in probably ten years or so, but I did have all the supplies sitting around.  The aida cloth that I have is very low count (that is, a very coarse weave), so the stitches themselves are quite large.  I had actually bought a pattern to use, then discovered that my cloth pieces weren't large enough for it.  Oops. :P

That said, I did really enjoy making this.  I have another project in the works for right now, but when that's finished, I plan on picking up some finer weave aida cloth and making some other things.

While looking for patterns, I spent a lot of time on Etsy and Craftster, with mixed results.  Finding patterns that aren't sort of old fashioned, overly cutesy style, or reminds me of the puff sleeves from 80s prom dresses, is a bit of a challenge.  The blog Don't Call Me Becky actually has a great list of designers that, while expensive, are just fantastic.

If you don't follow that link, one that you absolutely have to check out is Satsuma Street.  Her series of "Pretty Little..." cities screams vintage Disneyland to me.  That's San Francisco above.

Yeah, I might have to buy it.

That's what I get for a restarting a hobby.