Making plans

 Work was weird today.   I got a lot done and the one programming project that I thought I was going to sweat over today, turned out to be nothing I needed to deal with!  At least not yet.  I've put it on my "3 months down the road" todo list now.  *Thanks God!  You love to answer prayers!!*

I worked from my old office quite a bit today.  Ooops  - just realized I left the light on out there.  Eh - I'll turn it off in a bit.

My office still smells like cat.  It's more faint than it used to so there's that.  I've got little odor eater thingies set here and there.  It'll be a work in process.  And I probably won't work out there again for a few months.  You never know.

Since Leon and I missed our Kwik Star slushy lemonades last week on the cheap day, I took him today after I picked him up from school.  It was nice hearing about his latest expensive obsession.  He wants a 75 gallon tank in his bedroom that has a complete eco system with axolotls, crabs and a few other creatures that you pretty much put a lid on and it takes care of itself.  REALLY?!  I'm guessing there could be stagnant water in his room. again.  He's checking into the need for a bubbler.

But since it's still in the investigative stages, no one's forking over money yet.  He's starting baseball soon, so we need to invest in sporting gear this week.

There were children in the house today with Jen.  Some coughing, some rashes, fevers, etc.  I hope things calm down and the house is empty tomorrow.  Wouldn't THAT be nice!

The next quiet day, I'm going to dance around the house and sing.

I'll turn off the security cameras briefly. :)

Porky Pig Dreams

 Wow I missed blogging yesterday!  The week is getting away from me!

and don't worry, even though all the following paragraphs appear to be SO different, they do all relate.

I FINALLY finished watching that new Nicholas Cage movie, "Pig".  It took several weeks with a lot of Modern Family episodes in between.  Cage is a truffle hunter whose pig is stolen from him and he goes on a rampage to get her back.  All my life I thought truffles were made of chocolate and if your pig found one, you'd have to tackle it to the ground to make sure you get the little delicacy before it snarfed it all.  Why I thought chocolate balls grew underground is beyond me.

So anyway

YEARS ago.. OK, I'm pretty sure it was Maddy... , (Robb would have remembered which daughter)  (I miss asking him these mundane questions...)

But she would watch Diagnosis Murder with Grandma ALL the time and decided she wanted to be a Pathologist.  Because duh... Pathologist's solve mysteries and get their own tv shows!

The reason I brought that up was that I saw a post on some FB group about someone's 12 year old daughter, who wanted to be a mushroom scientist, and this was the cake she had made for her daughter's birthday.

Isn't it adorable??! And after looking at it closer, is so simple...

And the reason I loved it SO much is because last week, Leon announced to me that he wants to be a Mycologist when he grows up. ??? What's that?!

And yet, I knew, sort of.  He is fascinated by mushrooms and every time we go to the library he gets a new book on the subject.  He can tell you ANYTHING you never needed to know about mushrooms, their spores, where they grow, anything.

I'm thinking about making him this cake for his birthday in a couple weeks.

And buying him a pig.

Wednesday Wambles and Hobbies

After having this screen door to my office sitting in the garage for about 8+ years, I noticed it finally after pulling  a few bicycles off of it.  Hmm... It's bent a little.  

BUT I was determined to get it hung up last week.  My office has been warmer than usual because of the mini hot house out there and the garage has been nice and cool.  I might as well put up this door and let some of the cool air in without all the other things that lurk in the garage... (maybe mice, flies, etc)

That's when I noticed that it doesn't hang quite straight in the door frame.  Oh well.  Nothing else is quite right in my house either.  It matches.

I drilled the three holes required and got the door knob on a few days later.

HA!

done.

Eventually I'll add some padding around it to cover up any imperfections in the frame.

It's not a priority right now.

ALSO, JUST when Covid was hitting the states, I saw a bottle cutter as an ad on FB.  Cool!  "I" want to start a new hobby and make a bunch of glasses out of bottles!!!

So I ordered it.

Only THEN did it say it was coming from China.

uh oh.

Due to the "no-flights", it took the slow boat from China and finally arrived on Friday.

So I dug in and tried my hand at bottle cutting.

I failed miserably.  About as good as the instruction translation to English.

What the heck is a Botther?

I had to google how to do it and saw a video explaining bottle cutting.

But it still will take practice.

And lots of bottles to get a good one...

But just pouring boiling water, then ice cold water, then boiling again and POP!  It drops into the towel in the sink with no problem!  Except a few rough edges that even sanding won't help, but could cut a lip.  

I'll figure this out...

In the meanwhile, we're getting rid of Meri's old truck!!!  And it will be out of the garage today.  It might sit in our driveway for a while until my BIL gets it running, but eventually he'll drive it away.

YAY!  

I removed the personalized truck hood that Meri made and took it over to her house.  

It's gracing her patio.

We have to put the original hood back on but will wait until it's outside.

ALSO, Sonya's website is up and she's selling a book and blogging again!!!  Go check her out and give her some love.

sonyaannjames.com

Ok, that's it for today.  Have a glorious Wednesday!

Cheesy Beginnings

Sunday...  I sewed for a while in the afternoon, visited my bestie and headed home to get my act together for Monday while Robb picked up the boy.  We spent the evening getting the wedding invites and other things together to take with us on Monday.

Monday...  Robb and I left the kids to themselves for the day and headed north through wind, rain, sleet and ice to see Maddy and Matthew and visit with his folks to discuss wedding plans.  First stopping off and having a quick lunch with the two in ye ol' college town.  The moms took notes and I put mine into typed up form for a new Facebook group that has just parents and the happy couple.  In trying to come up with the least expensive way to do things, we've hit on lots of exciting things that if we play our cards right, just might be pretty cool.  

It's looking like a lot of fun and I can't wait to see all in it's glory.  Since then, I've been preoccupied with finding tents, tulle and wheels of cheese at discounted prices.  

And curiously enough, a cow.   

But not for the wedding.  Well, maybe...  ;)  

Last night, I had to get my mind off wedding stuff for a little while, so I asked Robb to bring home a couple gallons of whole milk.  For Christmas, he'd given me a cheese making kit.  

I followed the directions and paid close attention to the temperature and instructions.  heat milk and citric acid to 90 degrees, take off burner, add rennet, stir wait 5 minutes.  When it's custardy and cuts without the custard sticking to my finger, then put it back on the burner until it reaches 105 degrees.  Stir for 3-5 minutes.

and that's where things went horribly wrong.  I must have misunderstood how briskly to stir because suddenly the curd-like things disappeared and it became more akin to egg drop soup...

Ummm how is THAT going to be cheese??

So I drained it through cheese cloth for what seemed like an hour.  Probably more.  Finally got most of the whey drained off.  I asked Robb what we could do with whey and he said it's in the name.  You throw it a-whey...  For this batch I did, but I'm sure there is a purpose to it.  Seemed wasteful.

Microwaved the soft gushy cheese for a couple minutes until it reached 135 degrees and then kneaded 1.5 teaspoons of salt into it.  Then dunked it into a bowl of ice water.  

We sliced into it and it was actually pretty good! I'll add more salt next time.

And in looking back at the process, I probably did it correctly.  

The spoon is for reference.

Anyone out there make cheese before?  I'd like to make a cheddar but the recipe for it isn't for beginners apparently and is not in the instruction manual.  There is a colby that I'd like to try some time soon.

But that is how I turned $4 of whole milk into $3 worth of cheese.

Anyway... cheese is king!  Bring on the prunes...

I sewed for 15 minutes!!!

Do you know how hard it is sometimes to carve a few minutes out of your day to work on your hobbies?

My mom & dad are going on a cruise with my sister and her family the end of this month and my sister asked that I sew a couple pairs of shorts for Mom. Okie Doke! I got Mom's measurements this past weekend when we were there and started thinking about it. On Monday I had a few minutes so I went thru my stash and found this awesome purple fabric.

Oh yeah.. .I guess I need to iron it a little...

It's very flowing and looks nice. I also found some matching print fabric for a blouse. I found this blouse on Sewn Wardrobes blog last week and thought it would make a good looking top for a skirt or a pair of shorts. Luckily there's enough purple stuff for both skirt & shorts and I THINK enough of the print for the top!So yesterday over lunch, after I made sure the kids were fed and I had a little something to eat, I spent 15 minutes and cut out the skirt. Then made sure there was enough left for the shorts and pockets for both before I dashed back to my office in the garage. Maybe today I can cut out the shorts and pockets over lunch.

Baby Steps... Baby Steps...