27 posts from May 2008

And this one which is the original version.  I really liked the sound of thunder (go figure).

A trip to Target yielded these three bars.  The one on top is dark chocolate with 88% cocoa.  It was pretty good, but I wouldn't rate it as one of my favorites.  The Frey dark chocolate with hot chilli pepper was too hot (and that's really saying something coming from people who like hot spicy food).  Ken and I both agreed that the chili pepper completely overwhelmed the chocolate.  Last of these three was the Lindt dark chocolate with chili.  I'm tempted to go back and buy a case.  It has just enough heat compliment the chocolate without overpowering it. 

My friend Toni brought me a couple of Kinder eggs when she came back from her trip to Canada last month because she knows I like them.  The chocolate is surprisingly good considering these are nothing more than vehicles for selling toys to children.  As you can see from the photo it's a hollow egg that is milk chocolate on the outside and white chocolate on the inside.  The first one I opened up contained the toy you see in the top photo.  It's the first time either Ken or Toni or I had seen a toy that was already put together.  Bummer.  The second egg is shown in the other picture.  This toy is far more typical of what you normally get.  You must put it together yourself and they usually have stickers to attach.  Apparently I failed to take a picture of the finished toy, but if you look at the instructions you can see what it looks like put together.

My sister brought this little box of chocolate back from Hawaii and gave it to my mother.  She passed it on to me because she didn't like it.  Ken and I didn't like it either.  The chocolate was very waxy and, frankly, tasted a bit like dirt.  Dole can do bananas and pineapple, but they really need to leave the chocolate to the experts!

2.  I've tried out some new restaurants this month.

This little place is around the corner from our house.  Wendi and I first went there about a month ago.  I had the chilis rellenos and they were wonderful.  I went back with Ken a couple of days later and had the carne asada.  Most definitely the best I've ever had.  This past Friday night Ken and I went back.  I decided this time I would try some BBQ just to see how that part of the menu is.  I chose sliced brisket.  It was tender enough to cut with a fork and very tasty.  The fried okra was excellent.  The baked beans were out of a can.  Oh well.  It's the only dish I've had there so far that I wouldn't recommend.  I hope this place makes it.

For anyone traveling through OK on I-35 you'll find this place between Guthrie and Edmond at the Waterloo Road exit.  Don't let the Jaguar fool you.  The people you see here were wearing the fanciest clothes in the joint.  I can absolutely recommend the fried catfish here and I'm not even a fan of fried fish.  It was tender, flaky, moist, and not at all greasy.  And it's cheap!!

On Tuesday Toni and I drove down to Norman to have lunch with our friend Becky.  I can't remember the name of the Mexican restaurant she took us to, but it's her favorite and it was well worth the drive.  I can tell you that it's on Porter right across the street from the hospital.

3.  Last Sunday I rode a horse for the first time in my life (not counting horses at carnivals that are being led around by someone).  I'm not afraid of them or anything, it's just taken this long for the opportunity to arise.  Guess you could say I've led a sheltered life.  Anyway, here's a picture to prove that I did it.

That's Toni in the front.  It's only her second time to ride (the first being about 40 years ago).

4.  I've never been fishing either.  It's on my list of things to do if I should ever get the chance. 

5.  I love the sound of thunder.  The first time I ever heard the phrase "delicate sound of thunder" I thought it was a perfect description.

6.  About the only form of needlework I've been unsuccessful at is knitting.  My oldest sister decided to teach me when I was 10.  She started off teaching me to do it right-handed and I had no problems, but she quickly changed her mind and took me to work with her a few days later so that one of her coworkers could teach me to do it left-handed.  That was an utter failure and I've never been able to do it well either way since.

7.  I've started playing the lottery.  Yes, John, I still say it's a tax on the stupid and a waste of money, but it does get me out of the house to walk at least two days a week.  I figure that's worth the $2 a week it's costing me.

8. I was born with crooked kneecaps.  If you sit on the floor with your feet flat on the floor and your knees pointed straight up your knee caps should be horizontal.  Mine are tipped to the outside about 20 degrees.  For the most part this isn't a problem, but my knees have sounded like Rice Krispies since I was in my mid-20's.  And if I'm not careful the cartilage will wear out.

This is our bedroom.  Two years ago in January we had all of the plumbing in our house replaced.  The upstairs bathroom is on the other side of this bookcase.  In order to replace the pipes for the sink and toilet the wall behind the bookcase was ripped open.  After the wall was repaired and before the bookcase was put back in place and reloaded I painted the wall behind it.  The next week I made it around the window.  I haven't touched it since.  Do you think I need to get busy?  (Note that the chest of drawers is still pulled out away from the wall so that I can get behind it!)

Two months later (when Jenny was getting married) I managed to get both of the bathrooms painted and put back together.


Here's the kitchen.  By the time June rolled around I figured it was time to get the kitchen painted as we were having a big cookout at our house.  I painted all of the walls except for this section over the sink and stove because Ken is going to put in a ceramic tile backsplash.  It didn't happen at the time because he was still going to school and didn't have the time.  I'm still waiting for it to happen, but I don't have any room to complain about it until after I finish painting the bedroom.

The top is 84" x 84".  I am very pleased to have it done because it allowed me to meet three goals in one project:

1. Obviously, I got another UFO moved into the "ready to quilt" pile.  The twelve blocks around the perimeter of the quilt are the result of a block swap.  About a year ago one of my girlfriends went to Hawaii and brought back the koi fabric that you see in each of the blocks.  She gave 1 yard of fabric to each of 11 of her friends and we each made 12 blocks.  In September we got together and traded blocks.  This one is my contribution--

2.  When I realized that John was going on vacation and would be bringing me more fabric I decided that I needed to try to make a dent in the stack I have from his last trip.  One of the pieces had just the right colors to go with these fish blocks, so I used it for the fan blades in the center section of this quilt.  (Too bad the brilliant colors really don't show online.  You should see it in person!)

3.  One of the reasons I chose fan blocks for this section is so that I could get in some practice on curved seams before tackling that double wedding ring.  These blocks finish at 6" which means those yellow and orange pieces had some very tight curves and were quite a challenge to get right.  By the time I got to the outside curves I could do them in my sleep.  Even those are tighter than the curves I will be stitching on the DWR so I now have complete confidence that the quilt top will go together without any problems.

I plan to do some fancy quilting in those large black spaces.  Now if I can just find the time to quilt it before fair season gets here!