PANCAKE BREAKFAST IN CARROLLTON GA

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And Now Some Meals That Didn't Suck...

I was going through my phone, clearing out the memory... gosh it fills up fast! And I came across these shots that I haven't posted yet.

So here goes:

Scrambled eggs
bacon
smoked sausage
stone-ground grits

Now this one may not look all that appetizing... but trust me, this one is yummy! Sometimes we like to have breakfast foods for supper. I have never been crazy about eggs... I almost always have to "trick" myself into eating them. My great-uncle taught me to mix all my breakfast items together.... not attractive... but even now, i eat it this way.

grilled hotdogs (hebrew national... the only kind i like)
on tortillas
coleslaw
grilled onions
ore-ida french fries

my most recent plate from Saffron Indian Restaurant... delicious!

grilled smoked porkchops
roasted corn w/ onions & diced tomatoes
crowder peas with assorted wilted lettuces

grilled chicken thighs (marinated in a Colombian hotsauce)
lima beans
roasted okra w/ tomatoes

red velvet cupcakes
pistachio cupcake
yellow cupcake w/chocolate frosting

These are from Iced, the new cupcake shop on Wade Hampton Blvd...

This is the only disappointment in the bunch... and it is only a small one... they were OK... just not great. (does this look like $10 worth of cupcakes to you?)

For the price, I expected great.

AN EXPERIMENT GONE BAD: PIGFEET

I don't know why... just the urge to try new things, I guess that's what persuaded me to try them. They seemed so harmless there... lying in the plastic-wrapped tray. I researched recipes on the internet... and discovered that a lot of people like pigfeet. They have kind of a cult status.

They smelled so good cooking... the whole house smelled of pork, onions & garlic with a little bay leaf and seasonings.

So how could they taste sooooooooo bad? i don't think that anymore words are necessary... just watch Sugar Daddy's expression as he tries to keep his bite down... I confess: I spit mine out!

But Gabe (our outside doggie) seemed to love them as he scarfed them down (after Sugar Daddy picked the bones out).

As with all new food experiences, you win some -- you lose some!

FO ALERT: Guilt-free Chocolate Beret

I finished the beret that I was making for Lady C, who if you remember, brought me back an awesome gift back from Germany: an awesome bag o' yarn!

This beret is based on the one from Crochet Today magazine that I made for my cousin.
(and the one for my sis.) I made a few changes ... but it is basically the same hat.

Here are some close-up shots of the yarn... this is a wool that i picked up in Carrollton, Ga at Ewe Knit ... love that shop! I saw it and just fell in yarn love with it... I knew it would make something wonderful!

I certainly hope that she likes it; and knows how much I appreciated her gift!
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And now for something entirely different! Here is a picture of Jubal in his "bunny disguise"... i guess he is getting ready for spring! lol

He is such a cutie!

SUGAR DADDY'S PUERCO TACOS

No words necessary, other than ... Muy Bueno!

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IS MY HUSBAND THE GREATEST OR WHAT?

I celebrated the big 4 - 0 this week; and I have to admit that Sugar Daddy outdid himself in the gifting department.

He walked in with a Barnes & Nobles reusable shopping bag (a nod to my serious reading habit and my trying to be a little greener... was my thought). After dinner (a wonderful Vietnamese take-out feast... love that Saigon Fast Food on Pleasantburg Rd!), it was Present Time!

Sugar Daddy doled out the contents (all wrapped in colorful tissue paper by the man himself, so sweet) of the bag:

1. Garmin nuvi 765T GPS
2. an envelop containing hotel cofirmation (for Sptember) for 8 days\7 nights in NYC
(on Times Square)
3. book: a Knopf Mapguide to New York
4. book: another New York Mapguide
5. book: 1000 things to do in New York
6. book: ZAGAT guide to NYC restaurant for 2009
7. book: the Unofficial Guide to NYC
8. book Fodor's NYC 2009

Wow! I almost threw up ... that is how excitted I was! I have never been to NYC--but have always wanted to go.

And then, he told me the rest: We are going to drive!

He knows that I have an unnatural fear of flying (never flown & hopefully never will... it is really not the flying that scares me... if I had wings, I would gladly flit about... it is the crashing that scares me the most).

So we will be driving; and the first stop will be 1 night & 1 day in DC (never been there either!) and then we will spend 1 night & 1 day in Philadelphia (never been there... Liberty Bell, here I come!)

What a wonderful and exciting gift! Sugar Daddy, you are the greatest! I love you so much!
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

Maybe I should turn 40 more often!

YOU GOT EYES WHERE?! (I made a hat)

I made this hat for my cousin, L. She obviously shares my offbeatness! (is that a word?)
We were discussing hat styles for her impending hairloss when she said something that tickled funny crochet bone. She stated that she might as well have fun with the situation; and that she fancied having a hat with eyes on the back. The visual idea just fascinated me... this was one project that I couldn't wait to start!

Here is an aspect of working freeform: my original idea was to make realistic eyes... but somehow they kinda went all "monstery" on me. (why do i keep using words that don't exist? lol)

I hope this is close to what she was looking for.

I guess I will know soon... it goes in the mail tomorrow!

edited to add: i am linking this to FIBER ARTS FRIDAY on Alpaca Farm Girl's Blog.

Please visit and see what cool stuff the other participants have done!

Click the blue link above to go the site!

WIP UPDATE: Wallhanging

I took some pictures of the wallhanging that I work on when we are at our house in Georgia.

I have been working on it for several years now. I love the primative look of it. My idea is for this piece to seem like it could be hanging on a cave wall... almost like a painted animal skin. It's adorned with buttons, beads & shells.

I hope to finish this piece one day!

LOL

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SOME WEEKEND WRAPUPS

First off, here is the hat that my younger son bought me for my birthday. It was ordered from Etsy; and is made by Xenobia Bailey (who, if you crochet, aren't familiar with... shame, shame, shame... Google her... Now...LOL). (Her Etsy Shop) If you look on my sidebar, you will see that she is listed as one of my CROCHET HEROES!

I don't know when I will ever be able to go and see her wonderful & inspiring artwork in person... and this was a chance to own something that she actually made.. . and I received a nice hand-written note from her too!

Here is another early birthday gift... an absolutely bright and marvelous carpet runner (from Dad & Jan... thanks!), that I decided to use... well, on the wall! (that isnt too weird, is it?) The colors (not to mention the Sunflowers!) just seemed perfect to use as almost like a wallpaper border. I think it goes great with the new counter that Sugar Daddy & Sunshine put up.

And since we were traveling on Vday (our niece, R, got married), Sugar Daddy outdid himself with last night's Filet Mignon and Lobster Tails on the grill... so delicious!

LOBSTER TAILS ON THE BARBIE!

and of course, a pic of our usual Sunday in Greenville Saffron Plate. super yummy!

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OUCH! I HAVE A BRUISED EGO...

i don't think of myself as an overly sensitive person, but i have to say that i got my feathers ruffled just a tad last night... ok, more than a tad.

i am going to vent a little now... and i would appreciate your views on this... maybe i am over reacting:

our weekly knit\crochet group decided to make a group collaborative afghan. so members turned in squares that would be combined in strips and then the strips connected to make the afghan.

well, when the time came to connect the squares into strips, most of the folks, for whatever reason, didn't volunteer ... so out of a seven strip afghan... i ended up putting together 5 of the 7 strips. i asked whether the joining colors were important... i asked if there were special conditions to how i should do this... i was told that anything was fine...

so the squares were supposed to be 10 x 10...but, and this is mine included, they were ALL different sizes... so there was a certain amount of extra rows put here and there to make the strips equal width... so i decided to forgo the grid square aspect... the individual squares are in the strips ... but not in the "grid formation"... practically impossible in a timely manner.

i used colors... if you look at my work, you know i am into color...

i thought the effect was like an "arty throw" ... not bad, i was fairly pleased with it.

so last week, i gave the strips to the lady who is going to connect the strips and bind to make the afghan complete.

i showed pics (and here and here) of the strips to a couple of other members (didnt want to get the strips out because afghan recipient was there), and got very favorable comments. One member even said that while she was sorry that i had ended up having to do all of that; that she was glad because she liked my style of crochet.

last night when i asked how the strips were coming, i was told that most of it would have to be undone... that the squares "were getting lost ... they didn't match up"... my work was ""appreciated", but that it was "just impossible" like it was ... and the kicker, "it wont look anything like what you did." ---she and another member decided this.

WOW! i have to admit, i took it a little hard. i vented to the ever patient Sugar Daddy, who consoled me.

It was really a good thing that i went to a "heavy metal" rock concert (Slipknot) after leaving the meeting... i got to work out some frustration by headbanging...lol

i do not believe that i will be volunteering to help out in that way again... i dont mind doing the individual piece... but i certainly wouldnt take on the piecing part again... i spent over 15 hours on this project, time that i could have spent on my own works... i am still a little bitter about that!

i decided to sleep on it before blogging about it... to make sure that i was looking at it objectively.

i dont think that the comments were meant to hurt my feelings... maybe it is just a difference in vision and style?

what do you think? i would appreciate different perspectives on this... something similar happen to you?

AWESOME GIFT

I received a text message from a friend,Lady C ...the message said to check my car where I would find a gift from her recent trip to Germany.

WOW!!! what an awesome gift... great balls of imported yarn!! Aren't they beautiful? I spent at least 30 minutes just petting and touching the yarn.(C told me that her Granddaughter kept holding the yarn & saying that it felt just like her 'Lubby' (her blanket- she can't say 'Lovey')

And I love the colors! I also appreciate the variety of yarns! C said that her mom commented that there wasn't enough of one kind of yarn to make anything with... C told her, "You don't know Joanna... she can use it!"

Right on, C! That is one of the things that I like about freeform crochet: i can mix & match at will! Freeform is also great for using yarn left over from 'main stream' projects!

OK... enough talk... I gotta go play with yarn!

Thank you sooooo much, C!
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JACK'S BACK!!!

Just wanted to let everyone know that my nephew's dog is back home!
My sis called me this morning to let me know that he had been found. A lady noticed him wandering around and took him home out of concern that he might be hit by a car.

She made up a flier and and when she went to put it up, she noticed he was already on a flier! So she called my sis and made arrangements to get Jack back home! so nice!

Speaking of nice... thanks to everyone who responded and offered help through email, Twitter and craigslist. I appreciate everyones' concern. It is quite interesting to see how electronic communications can be used in situations like this. I had tweets and emails (a lot of which i accessed via my mobile phone) trying to pinpoint the areas where Jack might be. Some were people who I have never made acquaintance with... they were twitter friends of twitter friends of twitter friends!

FASCINATING!

I will sleep better tonight knowing that Jack and my nephew are reunited!
Thanks Again, Everyone!

MISSING DOG - Have you seen him?

This is my nephew's daschund, Jack. He is a small black and brown dog with one blue (with a spot of brown) and one brown eye (with a spot of blue).

He is about 4 years old and has scars on his back. He is very gentle and sweet-natured.

He has gone missing in the East North Street Area.

Please contact me via email if you see him: fiber.deviant@gmail.com

His family misses him!

Thanks!

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