Sunday Funday!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Along with house work and get ready for the work week ahead I did mange to get the third row sewed on to my Twisted Star Quilt!!!

After lunch I made some Oatmeal, Chocolate, Banana, Zucchini muffins.  The recipe made 18 so I took some over to my friend and neighbours as she has teenage boys and I do know how that species is ALWAYS hungry!!

Hoping this inspires your own creativity and wishing you the 

BEST Monday EVER!!!

Kathy

Going Banana's....

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today I finally went bananas!  Seriously.  There were 6 bananas on the counter looking sadder by the day.  As of 1500 hours this afternoon three were safely sequestered to the freezer and the other were brought forward:

TAH DAH!!!

Chocolate, Chocolate Chip, Flax Seed Banana Muffins. 

They were delicious and my son was super excited to have fresh muffins as we have been out for a few days now (shhhhhhh).

After dinner, kiddo, dog and myself headed out to the River Valley again; 6.3 miles this evening.  Looks like Spring might actually be here ☺

Of course I need to up the doses and frequency of my puffers but it is SO worth it.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Sick Day...

Good Evening Internet Friends.

Well, it was bound to happen I guess.  My son came home with a cough, sore throat and woke this morning with a fever.  Poor little tyke looked and sounded terrible.  So, it was a sick day today.  

After lunch he decided that maybe home made cookies would be something he would like so we made some.  Okay, I made them he looked on sickly. 

He ate one and then went and had a nap!  Someone is NOT feeling well.

I asked him what he would like for dinner as food intake was limited most of the day and he wanted Spaghetti Casserole just like him uncle (my brother) makes when he comes to visit.  So, I made Spaghetti casserole and Caesar Salad (although I ate all of the salad):

After dinner we watched a movie and despite it being Friday evening I did not even have to argue about going to bed!  

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Chocolate!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

As you likely know I am a HUGE fan of Milk Chocolate!

Every month as part of the Membership Committee of the Sherwood Park Quilt Guild in addition to Birthday Cards I always try to have some home made tasty treat.  This month since Valentine's Day is almost upon us I made Chocolate Hearts.  I used my stash of Lindt Couverture Chocolate and made 98 chocolates:

TAH DAH!!!!

Yes there are more than I require right now but I still need another 120 for my son for school next week💗

Then in typical Kathy fashion I needed some way to gift these to everyone so I wrapped them.  I was very fortunate that another lady from Quilt Guild came over for a soup lunch and help me package and wrap all 70 for Guild:

It was not a quick project but MUCH quicker with her help of which I am most grateful.  😼

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Roll Call......

Good Late Evening Internet Friends!

Yes, I am present and accounted for.

Despite getting my Flu Shot, I succumbed to Flu.  I am thankful that I did get the shot as for the past week I have been ridiculously sick.  At first I thought it was a really bad asthma attack.  As the day wore on I felt worse and then worse and over the next three days I felt worse every day.  I did attempt at one point to return to work but was physically exhausted after only a few hours and the pain relievers and fever suppressant had stopped working.  By mid this week I decided to go see my Family Doctor.  She assessed and determined that I had flu but also swabbed me to prove it.  😓😰

Over the past week I have just gotten more and more ill.  Today has been the first day that not only did I get out of bed, but I showered, got dressed (not pajamas), ate three meals (most days was extra buttered toast - soft that way, and warm tea), and have not gone for a nap since I woke up this morning.

"Sew".....as you can likely guess......I have not been well enough to get out of my own way and have certainly not done any kind of crafting.

I will show you my latest treasure acquisition from just before I got ill:

This is a Valentine's Knitting Package that I designed. Chocolate themed zippered pouches and Chocolate Cherry yarn from Ancient Arts!

I really am hoping to have the energy tomorrow to get started on a project with this yarn.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Good Friday...

Good Late Evening Everyone.

Today was a very relaxing day for my son and I.

First off we slept late.

We had pancakes with berries for breakfast:

Yummy!!!

After lunch and finding out that the microwave exploded - seriously - made a loud spark - some bright flash and now it sits there hanging above the stove looking sad.......I'm sad though too - we headed out in the snow to the Lindt Factory!  I LOVE that place and there always seems to be a really good sale on!

Helping out the Easter Bunny this year as not sure what kind of financial situation he is in with the current economy ☺

This evening I spent time sewing another Knitting Project Bag and writing a pattern for it as well. 

Another day I will post some of the how to's for this project in case there are questions about how I create this bag ☺

"Sew" that was my relaxing Good Friday and I hope everyone had one as well.

Hope this inspires your onw creativity...

Kathy

Oh Where Oh Where has my Week Gone???

Good Evening Internet Friends!!!

So, seriously, I have NO idea where my week went.

Sunday...spent 2 hours cleaning the house again.  Have decided that if I clean one room entirely every Sunday eventually I will be caught up and just have to do maintenance house keeping.

Then kiddo and I made:

Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I used the entire bag of Callebaut Milk Chocolate Chips that I had purchased at Duchess on Friday.  These cookies were DELICIOUS!

We took dog for a walk in the River Valley:

Since it was a little on the cold side down by the river and kiddo had been complaining of not feeling well I made Chicken, Lentil, Sauerkraut soup for dinner:

What's that you may ask????  Well, its almost everything I could find in the refrigerator; water in the Dutch Oven, frozen turkey broth from the freezer (the Christmas turkey broth that I saved - when frozen the fat rises to the top and is really easy to separate off when ready to use), onion, celery, and carrot that were the last of their kind in the crisper (should go get groceries), 2 handfuls of dried lentils, 1/2 quart jar of sauerkraut, 2 frozen tomatoes defrosted and pureed, and chicken sausage.  When cooked through I topped the soup with the last of the multi grain taco chips I had a bag on the cupboard and some grated sharp cheddar!  Yummy and warm and hopefully will keep the cold virus away.

Monday was you may have guessed it - Stay Home with Sick Kid Day.  Woke up twice at night to kiddo vomiting.  By noon he was no longer vomiting but he wanted to sleep on my lap so that is how I spent the afternoon.  I love that he still wants to sleep on mommy when he is sick!

Tuesday was back to school and work.  Maverick the puppy chewed through his pillow for the absolute last time.  There was nothing left to sew together to try and hold it together anymore, "sew" I sewed him a new one and filled it with left over fabric remnants:

It's a HUGE pillow.  Here's hoping he leaves this one alone for a while

Wednesday evening, was a bit of knitting, I did 2 rows on my Oroya Shawl so not enough progress to show yet.  I am currently 41 rows from being done but the pattern in so intricate that to keep from making mistakes I only do the pattern row and then the purl row and give up for the day ☺

This evening after work I headed out and ran a few errands including groceries at Costco so that I do not have to shop this weekend and am ready for Easter Dinner with the family!

Planning to head down to my craft room now for a bit before sleep creeps in and see what I can get into!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Valentine's Day Treats

Good Late Evening Internet Friends.

You would think that with the amount of time I have had off in the past few weeks I could have got the treats for my son's class done early.  Nope.  Late yesterday after piano and dinner, guess what we are doing???  

Last month's box of Paper Pumpkin was first of all really cheap and I'm not sure exactly what one was supposed to do with it.  I needed 30 Valentine's treats though so this is what we did with it:

My son misspelled a complicated classmate's name so now were down to 29.  Great \: {

A wander through my craft room and I found these packages from another craft project:

We put the candy and chocolate inside and gave this one to the teacher since it was different.  All done in less than 60 minutes.  YAY us.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Awful Waffle Sunday!!!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today is Sunday and as usual that means I got up a little earlier than everyone else and made WAFFLES!!!

I even tempered some Bernard Callebaut chocolate to drizzle over the waffles!  They were very tasty.

Mid afternoon I decided that we needed cheesecake for dessert.  Why?  Not sure, but I thought we did so I made a cheesecake and strawberry sauce for it:

OMG it is delicious.....I have been back to the fridge a couple of times for "just a bite" since dinner ☺

For dinner I poached Atlantic Salmon with a creamy dill sauce and served with mashed potatoes, broccoli and salad:

While waiting for laundry loads this afternoon I did manage to finish my Thrumb Mittens:

Apparently it is a good thing I finished these today because when we took puppy for his walk this evening this is what I discovered:

Somehow, this is the first snow that we have had this fall.  I should not complain because I cannot remember a time when by November there had at not been at least one snow fall.  My petunias only froze on Wednesday!!!  ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Trick or Treat????

Good Late Evening Internet Friends!

Okay, here is my rant for the day/week/month... not sure how big this is going to get (plus I am a wee bit tired).

Tomorrow is my son's Halloween Party at school.  Firstly, this is the first time since he entered Junior Kindergarten at age three that the Halloween Party has been held during school hours (I am used to those hours being used for learning.......hmmmmm).

Secondly,  I get a memo from the teacher today letting me know that only one parent has been nice enough to offer to supply a "healthy" snack for the party.  

My son loves to bake and cook in the kitchen with mommy and as such we have supplied his classmates over the years with muffins, and bars, and cookies and all kinds of treats.  I did have to learn about the gelatin issue, but other than that his offerings were always appreciated by his classmates and teachers and gave him a sense of pride in his culinary skills.

Fast forward to this year where the teacher informed us that no food can be brought into the class that contains (are you ready for this????)

*nuts

*tree nuts

*wheat

*eggs

*gluten

*milk

*gelatin

*soy

Now, I am supposed to send a healthy snack with my child on the bus in the morning five hours before the party and what am I to send????  An apple and a celery stick for each child????

Seriously, Halloween, while not being a holiday but more of an occasion/event just got a whole lot harder to plan for.  

My intent was to supply nothing since I have no ideas what to send, but my son was quite upset that his classmates would not get something from his awesome kitchen.  So this is what I came up with:

It's popcorn, candy corn, Halloween sprinkles, and Bernard Callebaut chocolate (yes, it is milk chocolate).  The best  I can come up with for now.  Hopefully no one has to use their EpiPen cause of this ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Super Monday Fun Day!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today was officially the last day of summer!  Tomorrow my son starts his new school and I return to work on Wednesday and all the extra curricular activities that did not start last week, start this week.

Today I let him sleep late one last time and watch Phineas & Ferb since it seemed appropriate.  I even made him waffles for breakfast with canned raspberries:

Then we ran one last back to school errand to get a combination lock for his locker as the choose your own combination lock that I got him was a giant piece of JUNK!  Even the girl at Staples told me that these are really hard to open!!!!!  Then why sell them????

Eventually we found a non fun, non colored, plain old combination lock at the Home Depot of all places.

This afternoon we baked Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies:

After dinner we went to the park for a run and to play one last time for summer vacation:

After the final check was done of school supplies, shower, and he inventoried his closet that all his new clothes are clean for tomorrow he went to bed.  Tomorrow should prove to be interesting as up until now school clothes has been a "do I wear a cardigan, pullover or vest with my blue shirt and tie"?????  Since age three this is the first time that he has not been in uniforms at school so I think I might have to get him up a little earlier tomorrow morning as this wardrobe concept may be a little overwhelming. ☺

Earlier in the summer when we went school supply shopping my son did not like any of the pencil cases in the stores because they all "smelled".

In typical Kathy fashion I have had lots of time to sew a pencil case, however tonight at 2200 hours seemed the perfect time to do this.  "Sew" I did with the fun fabric he had picked out from my scraps.  There was not enough for the style he wanted, so he got this:

It is lined with blue whale fabric but I forgot to take a picture of that before putting all the pencils in! 

Now I am off to bed to get ready for the BIG adventure tomorrow; first day of a new school and routine for both of us and first day of public school as well and that has been a learning curve for me this summer ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Wakey Wakey Chocolate Cake!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Well, I woke up this morning with a low blood sugar which required a juice box ASAP.  While I waited to get out of bed I thought about the fact that today was starting out similar to this exact same day 11 years ago (except that EMS did not have to respond today).

Eleven years ago today I was almost 34 weeks pregnant with my son.  During my pregnancy I developed the inability to recognize hypoglycemic episodes and also became a very "brittle"( for lack of a better word) diabetic.  I would take 1 unit of Humalog with a meal and 2 hours later find myself waking up in the Emergency with several intravenous lines hooked up to me.  Eleven years ago today my grandmother called me in the morning as she usually did to check on me and when I did not answer the phone she called EMS for me (my grandmother lives 8 hours away).  After being "revived" I spent most of the morning on the couch and eventually got ready to attend my weekly perinatal appointment at the High Risk Pregnancy clinic.

It was a very hot day, kind of like today except that there were ominous black clouds in the sky.  I left my black lab at home watching some nature show on television (she liked that) and went to my appointment.  It was a Friday and everything and everyone seemed slow.  I almost left the appointment because it was just about 1600 hours and I wanted to go home and put my feet up as the clinic chairs were most uncomfortable.  

I was seen before I could leave and as the perinatologist read my emergency report of that morning he decided that an emergency C-section needed to be done for my and baby's sake.  My husband was out of town in a remote work camp.  Thankfully, my NICU friend and neighbor was off that day and she came to the hospital to get my stuff, went home to let the dog out and returned to the hospital to be with me for what ever support I needed.  

Since I was going to be alone for this C-section it was decided that I would get an epidural so that I could be conscious for baby's arrival.  However, the years of being an RN had apparently played havoc with my back and the anesthesiologist with his student entourage watching was unable to advance the catheter.  I was given general anesthetic  which several years later my NICU friend told me of all the awful things I said and did to the nurses that day, some funny, others not so much ☺ 

I remember waking up in ICU with several IV's hooked up and the pediatrician that was covering for the pediatrician I had chosen for my son telling me and the team around me that my son would be discharged as soon as I was ready to go because she knew me from PICU and that I knew what to do with a premature baby!!!!!   

What????!!!!

How does one deal with a 34 week babe at home without a ton of very expensive medical devices and round the clock staffing?  

Well,  11 years later we have proof that it can be done.  It was a LOT of work, but worth it ☺

If you read my blog you will know that my son is a fan of Phineas and Ferb and recently on an episode the robot was waking up a character with "Wakey, Wakey, Chocolate Cakey".

My son thought that was a brilliant idea for his birthday and so last night I made Chocolate Zucchini cake for him for breakfast:

I added whole wheat flour and some flax seed to it, so along with the zucchini in it and a glass of milk I am going to say it was a "balanced" breakfast for today!

This evening we went to Taste of Ukraine, his favorite restaurant for dinner.  

As far as crafting, I have accomplished none of that today.

Happy Birthday "Bug".

Kathy

Happy Easter!

Good Evening Internet Friends!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Easter and ate way tooooo much chocolate.

Speaking of chocolate; that is my craft for today!

This weekend my son and I set about making these:

I used the Lindt Chocolate Easter Nests recipe for these.  I did not have any chocolate that was not meant for Easter available though so I used Lindt Couverture chocolate I had and just tempered it before use.

Since it was late at night when we were making these I though that the addition of the chicken and the bunny to this photo would generate several laughs, questions and or comments, which so far it has!  ☺

Today was one of those long days in the kitchen.  I had the turkey in the oven to roast by 0830 hours.

I made Sprinkle Pancakes for breakfast after the Easter Egg Quest around the house:

Mid morning between lunch preparations my son and I made a brownie for dessert using some egg shaped marshmallows we had found while on vacation (my son took out and ate all of the green ones in case they were lime ; ) :

Lunch was great and we had a great visit with my 89 year old Granny.  It's always fun to see how her and my son interact ☺

Now I think I will spend the rest of my day doing some crafty things as tomorrow is a busy day getting ready for the week ahead.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

COOKIES!!!

A few weeks ago my dear friend Brandy hurried off to Duchess Provisions to get for her any myself the Duchess Cookbook.  We were seriously worried that we might not get a copy !

Well, not only did we get copies, but we even got signed ones!

Today I took the book very carefully off the self and made:

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies!

Of course they were delicious.  So, this afternoon, I will be headed off to Duchess Provisions for a few other items I "need" to make some other wonderful things from this cook book.  Plus it is Small Business Saturday so a good reason to shop there and other places along 124 Street ☺

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Night Shift Food!

Hello Internet Friends.  To be perfectly honest it is my second day of night shifts and I really do not know what to call this time of day ; {

When I got up this afternoon for a bit, I was craving chocolate, so I made a brownie to take with me to work this evening:

Just what I needed!

Okay, so here is how to make it:

Chocolate Brownie (Kathy style)

1 1/2 cups milk chocolate (I use Lindt Couverture)

1/2 cup butter

- combine ingredients in a double boiler to soften, stirring frequntly

add:

3 eggs (whisk quickly)

add: 

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 heaping tablespoon ground flax seed

mix until combined and pour into a 9 x 13 buttered pan 

top with:

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts

Bake in a 350F oven for about 25 minutes

Drizzle with caramel sauce while still warm (I purchase mine at Duchess Provisions).

Enjoy!

Off for another nap before dinner.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Green Cookies?

Good Evening Internet Friends!

In my quest yesterday to stay awake I decided to do some house cleaning (no, seriously).  However, this is how a tired brain works; look at bag of Mint Decadent Chocolate Chips.  Two choices, put bag in cupboard, or bake cookies.  Too far to walk, bake cookies:

So, I made mint chip cookies, put in some mint extract and adding some green food coloring.

I think I might have to add a little more green food coloring next time, but they taste great anyway.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Summer Vacation Day 23

Good Evening Internet Friends!

Today was a rather busy day, but a productive one.  My son and I ran a bunch of errands, did a couple of fun things too and after dinner we made cookies:

We found in the cupboard earlier today a bag of M & M's.  We ate some, and decided the rest should go into cookies.  YUMMY!

This was also the first time that I have really done any baking since I got these:

These are the Kitchen Craft Colourworks 4 piece Measuring Set that I found a few weeks back at Gifts and Gadgets.   I just loved the look and feel of these that I had to get them (and from what I can read they are made in England!).  They are super easy to measure with and I love how comfortable they are to use, and the colors are so PRETTY!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Cookie Date

After dinner, my son and I had a Cookie Date! 

That's where we make cookies and chat about the day, and life, and all things important to a nine year old boy.  Seriously, very amazing what one can learn!

The recipe we used this Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and made:

They were good with a glass of milk, and I learned lots!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

C is for Cookie!

Today my son and I made cookies for lunches this upcoming week.

Not sure how many will be left....

They are simply delicious!!!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

 

Kathy

Playdate!

Today my son had his twin friends from school over for a play date.  Three nine year old boys in the house at once!!! It was great fun, they are all really well behaved kids.  They played until they were bored, ate most of the left over cookies that I had baked for Santa the other night, and then decided that they needed more.

So, together we made:

Now, there is a lot of thought and compromise in these cookies.  Three different boys with three different ideas as to what kind of chocolate chip cookies should be made, white chocolate, semi sweet chocolate and milk chocolate.  We agreed to a bag of each of these kind of chocolate.  The recipe called for 4 cups of chocolate chips, I think we were closer to 6 cups.  They sure are good though!

If you are wondering which recipe we used it is: Buttery Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

p.s. this is all that is left of the 6+ dozen cookies we made.....