Crochet Blanket and Eggs in the Pressure Cooker!!!

Alright, I caved and started another Crochet Mood Blanket.  Granted I shouldn't really call it a mood blanket as much as a colorful squares blanket because just like the previous one, I just went with colors that I liked and not really according to my moods.

I loved it though and it was one of the blankets I sold when I needed to make some money for the move from Idaho to Texas, so yeah, time to make myself another.

Actually there are a few that I want to recreate, 3 to be exact and this is one of them.  In the picture above you only see the orange block but a few minutes ago I finished a purple on using the yarn just underneath it.

I'm so excited to get on with this project, it's quite funny to realize I'm so giddy over a crochet project, but I guess this is what happens when you go a whole year without any crochet.

My day has been a good one, I've done a little shuffling around of some things in the Den and also finally took down my Christmas village, I just am so over the holidays and ready to put away any signs of Christmas.

There's just something about a productive day, it replenishes my soul.

Now let me tell you what else I did.  I had mentioned that I got a pressure cooker for Christmas, one of the digital ones from Gourmia.

I am so in love with it, I've tried a few things and they came out great.  Today I took the plunge and tried boiled eggs and not only was it so easy but they came out perfectly cooked and were so easy to peel.

So here's how you do it.  I placed my metal rack on the bottom, and then sat the eggs on top.  You don't want the eggs to touch the bottom of the bowl. 

Add 1 cup of water, and then set it on the rice setting for 9 minutes. 

I've seen online where some people use their rice setting and turn it to 6 minutes, but my pressure cooker won't let me go below 9 so I went with it and it worked perfectly.

As soon as the eggs were done, I used the quick steam release, and dumped them into a bowl of ice cold water.

They peeled off so well and were cooked to perfection as you can see below.

I used them to make Egg Salad for our lunch.  I'm thinking this will be so handy when I want to make Deviled Eggs for a big get together.

Can't even tell you how incredibly thrilled I am that I can boil eggs in the pressure cooker, how neat is that?

By the way, if you have any tried and trusty recipes for pressure cooking, please leave them below, I would love to try.

Matter of fact, I am thinking I need to bring back my Cooking Thursday and start sharing some slow cooking and pressure cooking recipes.  What do you think?

Well friends, I do hope you find this egg tip informative and helpful and if you give it a try for yourself, be sure and let me know.

I'm off to bed, as always around this time.  I can't believe this Tuesday is already gone, this week is whizzing by at turbo speed.

I'll be back tomorrow, for sure, I can't tell you how happy I am to have gotten my blogging mojo back, I feel like I felt when I first started my blog and that is such a wonderful feeling.  :)

And some more snow!!!

Woke up two days ago to everything covered in snow.  I didn't even know we were expecting any, such is the crazy weather here.

But it does provide us with such beautiful shots.  Matter of face, the minute it starts snowing, I'm making sure my camera is charged and ready to go.

A quick glance down our street, I love this neighborhood, it's so quiet.

Save for a cow mooing here or there....this photo just gives me the giggle, I don't know why, I think it's the white covered face, she was looking down for the longest time and then suddenly popped her head up to look at me and it just cracked me up.

It was the perfect snowball and snowman making snow...if you know what I mean. It's got to be just right or it doesn't work, and this one was just right.

Don't know about you all but I wouldn't want to be pelted with THIS size snowball LOL

There can never be a single snowman making session that comprises of JUST making the snowman, because there is always a sneaky someone throwing some stuff around.

Here is my Nicholas getting one to the noggin from his Uncle Miguel.....

The task at hand was eventually completed, and boy was that one big snowman.

The rest of the day was spent indoors staying warm, and I of course, enjoying my crochet.

And to quickly show you how my Crochet Mood Blanket is coming along...

The first week is already joined and I am so in love with it already :)

Right, well now I must get off, it's dinner time and then I'm taking a very hot shower to help my pulled neck muscle and getting into bed to binge watch Heroes with the hubster. My kind of Friday night.

A haircut, some baking and a little crochet!

It's been such a busy day.  I just realized as well that I tend to start a lot of my posts this way, but I am not making this up, it really is the way it goes around here.

I feel like some days I open my eyes and I'm already busy doing something and then I don't stop until around midnight.  Geeze!

We started off quite early this morning with another trip to base, this time to get my daughter's hair cut.  She has been needing one for a while and I just couldn't take her split ends anymore.

There now....much better and she is totally rocking the bangs. I love this child to death, she brings us so much joy. The haircut suits her but in a way it makes her look much older and I find myself staring at her and wondering where the time is flying to.

Remember when I started my blog back in 2006, she was this little munchkin with curly red hair, now she's an almost 15 year old. *sigh*

My boy also got his haircut but I didn't manage to snap his photo, he's been hiding from me all day LOL

After the haircuts, we came straight back home and I got right into laundry and house cleaning and dishes etc.  I also got dinner in the crockpot as today was and is still quite cloudy and cold.  I tried out a new recipe for a Slow Cooked Coconut Chicken Curry and it was delicious.  Got a big thumbs up from the whole family so it's on the list to make again, and so easy too.  I'll share the recipe tomorrow morning when I upload it to the blog.

After getting the crockpot going, I started two loaves of my Buttermilk Bread which I've posted here before, but nonetheless, if you missed it, here is the link to that recipe if you want to try.

While the bread was rising, I started a Date and Nut Loaf which is a big favorite around here, especially of my sister in law's, she just adores this loaf.  I do too, it's so good and even better when you slather on some butter.  Yum!

So most of my afternoon was spent in the kitchen, which I don't mind at all. I have to tell you that the past 6 months have been such a huge adjustment and one thing that kind of took a back seat was my cooking. I mean, I still cook every night but I haven't been trying new recipes or posting any on the food blog, and that is something that I'm now ready to get back into. I've missed it dearly.

Once everything was baked and out of the oven, I still had about an hour before dinner was ready, so I started my crochet square for day 7 of my Crochet Mood Blanket.

It's coming along very nicely already. I wasn't going to join any squares until the end of the year, but I've decided to just start joining every week and so far I'm loving it. I'm using the Flat Braid Joining method, you can find the tutorial for that through Google or on Youtube.

The squares I'm using are the Simple Filet Crochet Starburst.

Just love the colors. Today's color is grey though to match the cloudy skies outside.

I'm also thinking that I may do a few smaller blankets as I make this one.  It would be easier for me to just do 2 or 3 squares a day and make say, 3 blankets?  The main one is going to be for my bed and that will be quite a big one, but the others I may do lap blankets and give to the all the kids for Christmas.

Anyway, just a thought.

And now I think I deserve a cup of hot tea, a warm blanket, and a book so I can finally put my feet up and relax a little.  Yes, I think that is exactly what I'm going to do.

Sandra
♥♥♥♥♥

Sunday Outing!

Idaho!  Such a beautiful state.  I love that we don't need to go very far to be surrounded by beauty.

This afternoon, we packed a small lunch and headed to the Bruneau Dunes State Park.  When we were stationed at the base here, we had taken my mother and brother in law to the park and had stayed overnight in the cute little cabins.

We loved it so much that we've always wanted to return, so when we found out we were returning to the area we immediately put this one on the list of the first places to visit.

It was cold today, and even though we were all bundled up, one thing we didn't think about were gloves and I tell you my fingers were freezing.

So cold indeed that the lake was frozen with quite thick ice.  When we arrived we were surprised to see hundreds and hundreds of Canadian Geese, just walking on the ice and honking away......while others took turns flying up, circling around and returning to the frozen lake.

After hanging out around the lake a little and watching the geese, we had our little picnic and then made our way to the dunes.  If you've never heard of the Bruneau Dunes, they boast the tallest single-structured sand dune in North America with a peak rising 470 feet above the surrounding desert floor.

And of course, you have to climb them.

All the way to the very top.  It's not very hard, but if you haven't exercises in a while (like me), it does hurt the legs, quite a bit LOL

You get up there whichever way you can, and trust me we did.  You pull, you push, you fall, whatever it takes, right?

Of course the way down is the best part, if you ask two little boys who slid, climbed back up and slid down again and up again and so forth.

I was just happy with sitting atop the dune and looking out at the beautiful views below, and the dunes certainly provide plenty of camera worthy shots.

Can you see all the geese in the middle?  This was on the right side of the lake, if we had to go over by car to the other side, that is where all the other geese are.

Plans have already been made to return in the summer for a weekend.  We will stay at the cabins, we'll fish, we'll climb more dunes, enjoy the observatory, star gaze from the cabin porch and completely disconnect from the world.

Truly can't wait, and if you ever make it to the area, you should definitely check out the Bruneau Dunes State Park.

I also wanted to show you my progress on my Crochet Mood Blanket, below are the squares from day 1 through 5.  I'm really enjoying this challenge and matter of fact, I'm working on square 6 at the moment and will finish it tonight.

Well, it's late and I'm going to go sit with hubby and watch an episode of the show Alphas which we are enjoying at the moment.

Have a blessed Sunday night,
Sandra
xoxoxo

Crochet Mood Blanket 2014!

I'm so excited about this challenge, I've never really joined any challenge before as I don't like committing to something that I am  not sure I'll be able to stick with.

But this one?  Right up my alley, and besides, I think it will be a great idea to end the year with a beautiful crochet blanket.

Does it mean I won't crochet anything else this year?  Absolutely not, I have a lot of projects in my list and I'm also wanting to finally start selling my creations, something that I wasn't able to do before due to unforeseen circumstances.

Anyway, enough talking, I will be updating this post with photos of my blanket progress.

4mm crochet hook
Worsted weight yarn
Simple Filet Crochet Starburst Squares
Joining using the Flat Braid Method

Day 1 - purple

Day 2 - light blue

Day 3 - Pink 

Day 4 - Green

Day 5 - light brown

Days 1 through 5 complete!