CORN!

We love corn!
In the summer when corn is plentiful, we eat lots of it. At least a couple times a week. We miss it in the winter months. Well we buy it frozen in bags but I'm trying to cook more and use less packaging. I have tried the freeze method of blanching and freezing the corn on the cob and it turned out fine, but it takes up a lot of freezer space. I have heard a lot about doing it like this so thought I would try it. The recipe called for 32 ears of corn, so I bought 40 being the OCD person I am...............I just can't buy 32 when the sale is 10 for $2.

I know, it's not easy being me!

So I got up bright and early and got to work. How long does it take to shuck and clean 40 ears of corn....about an hour!

That's a lot of corn!
It takes about another hour to cut all that corn off the husks. I used my large roasting pan and I'm glad I did...it was half full when I finished...then I added the butter and half and half.....yes, that IS a pound of butter and a pint of half and half. That is what the recipe called for and I always follow the recipe to the tee the first time I make it and adjust afterward ...if there is a next time, that is. Oh I know I had 6 more ears than they called for, but I knew it would be ok.
An hour later.....golden creamy goodness! That will be a lot of corn in my freezer and it won't take up nearly as much room as on the cob.
Oh, and if you were doing the math, here are the other two ears....LUNCH!

Handwork Wednesday---and a trip to Oscoda

I didn't post on Wed. because I really had nothing to show you. We went on a little trip to see my friend Denise. She lives in Oscoda Michigan. We drive right through East Tawas too and it is gorgeous this time of year. I can't stitch in the car anymore because my eyes are bad and no place to put my STUFF. So I got it ready to go by using my water dissolving blue marking pen (used for marking quilts) and I made a 10x10 graph, which makes counting so much easier. It takes forever to keep finding your spot if you don't have a grid.That took me over an hour to do but it will be worth it and save lots more time in the long run!

Here is a close up of the grid pattern. Solid lines every 20 spaces and dotted lines in between. Makes it easy to find your spot with the chart. When the cross stitch is done I wash it in cold water and the lines disappear like magic!


I didn't want to be rude and stitch while I was at Denise' and we were gone until Monday so I only got a tiny bit done. Here is my pathetic efforts for the week.
About the trip, we dodged a bullet on the way down. There was an area on I75 that splits off one lane surrounded by cement barriers on the left and two lanes on the right and they are working on the center area. There was an accident on the one lane (can't get around it) side and there was a back up for M I L E S!

We saw lots of people sitting in lawn chairs, tops of their cars, talking on cell phones, etc.
These people had a radio out and kind of looked like they were having a good time. I learned my lesson though and will ALWAYS take the two lanes side as to not get trapped. When we got to Tawas, I heard it finally cleared up. We could have been stuck for over two hours and I'm so glad we weren't one of the unlucky ones who were.
The canoe races on the AuSable river were going on and it is a big deal to watch the canoes cross over the finish line. We tried to go but we couldn't get a spot close enough and I can't walk that far so we did something else instead. Denise always tries to show us the local sites while we are there. I feel bad because I can't remember the name of this place but it had to do with logging and the history of Michigan. It was a nice place. They had this cool statue and others too.

There were beautiful views of the AuSable river from different vantage points
They had a stair case with a sign by it warning everyone who dared to go down to the water, how exhausting the climb would be. Me and Denise sat it out but Mark took the challenge. This little tent like place was at the bottom.
Looking up....
Yeah, he's the MAN!

Handwork Wednesday-My first

Vicki just finished her cross stitch cat project she has been working on for YEARS!

It always amazes me how long it takes to complete one of these. When I was younger and before I discovered quilting, I cross stitched a lot! I have quite a few finished pieces that are still un framed. Shame on me! They took thousands of hours to complete, you would think the least I would do is frame them! I will unearth them and show you in another post. Anyway, I decided to start a new cross stitch project of my own. I am planning to do a weekly update like Vicki, to keep me going on the progress. Here is my new project: SEPTEMBER

It is the September month of a leaflet that has a picture for every month for a whole year. I plan to make them all, of course. Starting with this one, I can't tell you why I am starting with this one, I suppose I should have started with January....

I pulled all the DMC colors to complete the project and cut the aida fabric for the project and made my working copies of the pattern. Tomorrow I have to go buy new 3X glasses to be able to work it. I will start on this tomorrow with stitching. Update, next Wednesday.

You know it's hot when you see this....

I walked through the front room just now and saw this: (yes the fan is running, even though it looks like the blades aren't moving)

Yeah, he looks pretty comfortable.....

Why is it when they say "A dog's life" it is supposed to be a bad thing?

A visit with my mom

Mark and I went to visit mom this month. Here we are at her house.
This is a rare picture of me and my mom.

My relationship with my mom could be better and I'm trying to make sure I see her more often. She lives in Cookeville, Tennessee. She moved out there in 1990 when she divorced my dad. She lives in a house that belongs to my Aunt and Uncle. I am so grateful for them and all they do to help mom out. Mark and me went to see her a couple weeks ago. It is a long day in the car. My legs were so stiff and sore I could barely unfold myself and I hated for mom to see me limping along like I do now. I did warn her so she wouldn't be shocked. It was a nice visit for the most part. I tried to do some housework for her but she wouldn't let me do much. Mark and I went to Hobby Lobby one of those days and we also took one day and went out to see my Aunt and uncle.

This is Aunt Betty standing and Aunt Madge sitting: Can you believe Aunt Betty is 79 and Madge is 74? They are beautiful women and take good care of themselves.

This is me and Aunt Madge at her house in the woods. We had a really nice visit and they took us to lunch at the cutest little local cafe. I wish I had taken pictures of that.

All in all it was a nice visit. Mark wants to go back in the fall.

Stash Report May 30, 2010

First stash report of the year and it is almost June. Yikes!
Well I haven't posted a stash report in quite awhile because nothing in and nothing out but this week is differant! First of all I went quilt shop hopping on Wednesday with 3 of my good friends. I bought some black fabrics to add to my drunkard's path quilt right away so I will count that both in and out. I bought 6 yds for some new projects..... I couldn't resist these fabrics they were so cute! I also bought 3 more yds of reds and greens for my strip Christmas quilt so that is also to be counted in both in and out today.



Judy L is having a QOV challenge this week and since I have been wanting to make a QOV all year and hadn't gotten around to it I decided to jump in too. I didn't start right away but that is ok because I waited until day 5 and added all the strips up and used my new GO cutter and have been having a ball for the last day or so. Cutting and sewing, I spent all day yesterday working on this project. This is as far as I got at 10:30 this morning. It will have to wait until tonight to sew more on it because I have some other things needing my attention.

Fabric IN this week: 12 yds

Fabric used this week: 19 yds

Total IN this year: 12 yds

Total out this year: 19 yds

I can do this!

I have been newly diagnosed with RRMS which is Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis. I have seen my doctor and am starting daily injections of Copaxone.

I'm not gonna lie, I was a little nervous but hid it because I didn't want Mark and Jess to be nervous. The nurse was great! She took lots of time with us explaining everything and then we all practiced on the little ball she brought...I was expecting an orange....harumph!

I injected myself and really didn't feel the needle at all. They are very small and the injection pen makes it super simple. Yep, I can do this.....hopefully it will help keep the MS from flaring up. This medicine works well for most so I have good reason to believe it will help me too.

On to other things (I don't know why I was worried about this)