Tuesday, June 28, 2011

What?

If you toast a marshmallow, and save it for later, does it still taste as awesome?

How to Make Toasted Campfire S’more Pops!

The above link prompted such a question. Pre-cooked marshmallow? Does it being room temperature ruin the effect of a s’more*? Would you be sad if I skipped the apostrophe? Smore smore smore. No, it looks like I can’t type if I skip it.

Besides there anything better than a fire-toasted marshmallow peep?

Oh, you didn’t know? I like peeps.

To eat, and in idea/imagery. That explains why the above link goes to their merchandising site, and not their candy site. You know how people like cows, but not real cows? It’s kinda like that, but I like real peeps too. Maybe not the sugar free ones though, because I don’t like sugar substitutes, but I would like to buy them just to use them as photo props because THEY ARE GIANT AND PEEPS and are single formed so they have no holes from ripping then apart.

I heard the Just Born factory tour in Easton…wait I went to give you a link and don’t they do factory tours anymore? I mean I thought it was like Chocolate World at Hershey where it has nothing to do with the actual factory floor but has a cute ride and crap…what the heck? I know Hershey’s added a bunch of little-one centered activities too, wait, I know, I’m thinking the wrong factory, I was talking about Crayola!

How many years later and I still freakin’ love this clip from Sesame Street, from the music to the colors to the smell of a box of crayons.

Getting’ old. That’s gonna be a new blog tag. Warning, this video smells like crayons. The good ones too.

 
 
 

*Oh I think I'd eat anything that was s’more themed, regardless of temperature.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Deep Thoughts

Crap, can’t remember, was that from SNL?

So why is my deodorant made in Mexico? Oh well I had an argument about that but then when I went to type it I was like…”Oh, well, why not?”

I made these again (almond), and they still taste burnt. I guess I should try it next time in a pan like the recipe says, rather than a pot…hey I can’t be the only one who doesn’t want teeny tiny candy splatters everywhere! Wait, I looked at the original post and those don’t have skins, and both times my nuts had skins. Maybe that is what is burning. My nuts. Crap here comes the link. Thanks Vince. (and crap there were too many to choose from)

Still Thirsty.

Am I blogging? Like a normal blogger? With updates that aren’t months apart? I blame Regretsy. *waves and hollers* HI MY NEW FRIENDS!

Yes my blog readership has doubled. I blame Jackie. But if I typed Jackie-O, everyone else reading would assume I meant something totally different. And my blame I meant YAY.

I think this updates was inspired by The Blogess. She makes things awesome though, so it is all good.

WHY IS THERE NO FOOD IN FRONT OF ME. Well shit that one is my own fault, I forgot to do something other than take the lid off and leave it on the counter.

That was the hungry voice.

This was supposed to be left open and filled in throughout the day, but it kept flowing, so we’re going to go with it.

I feel simultaneously smart and idiotic. NO no, in this moment I mean, different than that feeling throughout the day. I just found that what blogger calls tags, LiveWriter calls Categories and THERE IS A BAR RIGHT IN THS FRAME for me to edit them. Fail in paying attention.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Water makes me thirsty

Water is making me thirsty.
I am trying to jam a much as I can down my throat in order to feel better – because I AM SICK AND TIRED OF FEELING SICK AND TIRED.
And I was inspired by this post from Crunchy Betty:

Slip It In For Beautiful Skin: Drink Water When You Wake Up

So today is my second day of guzzling extra water, and I am freaking thirsty. Also I had tuna melts for lunch/dinner and water doesn’t fix the after taste. Not that I haven’t been trying to cut my sugar-drink consumption (other half switched to diet and I would rather drink city chlorinated water from the tap than that) anyway, but this has been water only. I may have to mix up some gatorade though, as just rambling about it is making me even more thirsty and I just had a big glass of water.
Yup, blogging about water. I will say it makes you thankful you can have such a thing to complain about, and such an outlet to do so it! So there’s something positive… yup one of those grumpy days around here. 

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Patriotic Crochet Along

CAL = Crochet Along, in case you didn’t know. :)
I got this idea from my fellow blogger Jenn of Jenn Likes Yarn…it is a Patriotic-themed CAL! Thanks Jenn!
So Megan of Crochet Every Day is hosting a Crochet Along for starry coasters in which “The goal of this little crochet along is to complete a set of four coasters by July 4, 2011” being broken up into an intro post, and a post showing off your creativity!
Welcome to my intro post! I’ve never done a CAL on my blog, but today installed Live Writer (Sound familiar? A few posts down I was quite excited stating the same thing…but this time we are broadcasting from a more permanent machine) and can share in the crochet fun!   IMG_2913
My colors are based on the classic US flag colors of red white and blue, and include Red Heart Super Saver, Vanna’s Choice, and some stash yarns. My first idea is to use the dark red, heathered white, and navy (which is super soft!) for a country look, and then use the brighter colors on another star and see which I like more. I also may try the dark colors with a beige in place of white just for something different, but I didn’t think of it when I took the photo! Oops, I even have a red and white cotton yarn that completely skipped my mind – I may sneak that in too!
Now I will admit, between taking the picture and sitting down to type, I did make one already, and they stitch up quite quickly! I may make them double-sided, or add a row and use my “CROCHET OVER TRASH CDs” obsession as of late to make a different type of coaster than the flower pattern I have been using. (hint hint to me, that needs a post of its own).
Oh and welcome Summer! I am not a fan of being warm but this weekend for Father’s Day I took a drive to see my dad and got burned on my driving arm for trying to be frugal and not run the air and enjoy the breeze. Luckily I gave it enough care that it seems to have healed into a tan that may even not peel! 
So the plan is to be back showing my finished stars, but first, I’m going over to Crochet Every Day to post my link. Do you crochet? You should join!      

Bored Swiffer

(wow this was written a few months ago, so but Swiffer photos taken today)

Bored Swiffer?!
Yes well you would be bored too if you had to languish in the laundry room for a few years.
Anthropomorphizing the Swiffer isn't working for me though, how about you?
So I had a crochet project in mind for a while now, probably when this post (ohhh, fancy new window opening link!) first was linked from Craft last year. I kept thinking I would make one; then got too lazy to bother. I even browsed Etsy multiple times for a handmade Swiffer cover, but never made a purchase. You know the old I CAN DO IT MYSELF kept getting in the way. Plus I’m cheap when it comes to something made with yarn where there is HOW MUCH YARN around here.
yarn shelfyarn shelf
Yeah, that is only the pretty-packaged-looking skeins on a shelf too. The shelf below has a container with the smaller amounts hand wound – you know how unruly a skein gets after it is about half-way gone – as well as another container full of novelty yarns that I am such a sucker to get for a good deal.
ANYWAY – I’m not sure why, but insomnia crocheting hit me last night as a good idea. I decided that if I made a cover already, then maybe I would stop bitching about the floors being dusty, and I could figure out if making a cover was dumb as heck when I could fight with cutting socks apart and make a reusable cover that way. Crochet seemed like a much better idea, PLUS I loved the colors the pattern used. Yes, that is indeed comparable to liking a car based on color alone. OH PRETTY I WANT TO TRY. 
I decided to use stash yarn seeing as the point was to not spend money to help me achieve my objectives; try the pattern, decide if a handmade cover was a good idea, clean the floors better than my current routine. I chose a cotton yarn with the hopes that it would wash well, as well as hold up while being used wet. Now whether there is basis behind cotton being better for those needs or not, I will admit coming to that conclusion based on the fact that knit/crochet dishcloths were traditionally made of cotton yarn (kitchen cotton anyone?)  than something to mop the floors should be as well! 
From the start I should have read the post more thoroughly before plowing ahead. The link above goes to the site I used for this project, but which I have discovered was not the version I had seen printed previously. DOH. This single-page instruction style would have helped me much better as I had trouble getting the separate pages of the other site to load – which I have no patience for, we have FiOS!
I picked a cotton yarn that I didn’t think I would use for another project (because you know, that whole WHAT IF of a yarn stash!) Whatever right? I think I picked the one that has been here the longest and wasn’t the neat candy-cane color that I used a WHOPPING TIME OF ONCE for a custom project. (See what I mean about the considerations of what should be a simple task?) This skein turned out to be Peaches & Cream (because Sugar ‘n Cream was too cool for Walmart at one point, but not currently? Whatever) in Lilac Ombre, which turns out that spell check thinks is not a word even though I am reading it right off the label I retrieved from the trash. Ombre. Ombre. Ombre.
After some late night crocheting of the main portion (too tired and too cheap to consider the two-tone effect that made the original so appealing to me) and some time during a Law & Order disk from Netflix, I finished the center section. On to the part in the round, I made faces and fretted about stitch count and corners – you know, enough that I just fudged it and started decreasing at the corners as I saw fit. Had I read the pattern better from either source, I’d have realized THAT WAS THE POINT. I also should have gone with my first choice of a G-hook rather than the H since for some reason my stitches were pretty loose, as opposed to my norm with making plush. Oops. Also when a pattern mentions measuring to something you are trying to cover? You should do that front the start, because I would have noticed my chain being too open. As it was my oversight, I may need to add another row of decreases, which is simple following the pattern’s, well pattern in the same manner.
When it came time to try the cover on, it was a bit too loose. Better than too snug to fit? I tried it out anyway, with the loops side out (which I imagine would have been fine with a chain of three per loop if you are trying to conserve yarn, wait, why are you using it it make a mop cover??) It did a great job in the kitchen, seeing as our vacuum is like UUM NO I HATE YOU AND WILL SPIT THIS BACK AT YOU when it comes to bare floors. Now for the real test – the bathroom. We seem to have a dust problem in the bathrooms. Like the toilet area is a dust magnet. The toilet is not a place I want to be on my hands and knees trying to get at DUST. So it lingers. To a point that it bugs me. This silly cotton cover got it all, even what was stuck the the molding! (I tried typing moulding, and spellcheck hates it – so I looked it up – turns out molding is appropriate as the US spelling, even thought to me it looks like the process of mold growing, ick.)
IMG_2914Next step was to wash it, maybe see if it shrunk down to a better fit? Maybe because it had been near the toilet? Maybe because it was really gross? Lets just leave it as part of the testing process shall we? Washed nicely without shrinkage, became even softer (you know, in case you have nice floors and not rental linoleum) and still fit the Swiffer.
The whole project gets a thumbs up for being useful, free of cost, eco-friendly (no more mop pads in the trash, or the containers they come in), and money savings (no need to even consider looking to get more of the replacement pads), as well as being a good gift idea. Especially if you have four-pawed family members who don’t help with household chores, which I am confident we will someday. (Sorry it is dirty on the loopy-side, it gets used often!)
IMG_2915