Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Sunday Morning Waffle Recipe

One Sunday afternoon when I was hanging out with one of my sisters... she decided to make waffles.  So, we made waffles that afternoon.  I marveled at how good they were and the 2 of us ate the entire batch... and it has sort-ov become our Sunday thing.  I love Sunday waffles!


Here is:  Sister's Sunday Waffles Recipe


1 1/4 cup flour
2 TBS sugar
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt


Mix dry ingredients together.


In separate bowl mix the following wet ingredients:


1 egg
1 1/3 cup milk
3 TBS oil


Mix wet & dry altogether until lumps are gone, but don't overmix.  You can make waffles or pancakes with this mix.  


If you put left-over batter in the fridge it will thicken up, but you can just add more milk to thin it out again - it will be fine for an extra day.


I hope you make some Sunday waffles of your own and enjoy this recipe as much as my sister & I do!


Wednesday, March 23, 2011

My Geek Girl Day

This past weekend I was the lucky recipient of a scholarship to Geek Girl Cape Cod - their website is here.
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On arrival I was given a schedule that was jammed packed with different classes I could just walk into the classroom, sit down and learn!  The only problem with the schedule is that there were several different classes I was so interested in - all at the same time! Good news though - some of the classes repeated later in the day.  But sometimes the repeat was during a different class I wanted to take.  Oh, the decisions!  I had to be decisive and once I made up my mind what class to be in - I paid attention to that instructor.  I gave it my all.  And I did not wonder what was going on in the other class, was it better, would I learn more over there.  By doing this, I was able to really enjoy my day.
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A great area to check out - was the "help desk" center.  Ummm - see that photo in my header?  That would be the "help desk".  Just one aisle - there were more.  Each area had signs up telling you what the helpful persons area of expertise was - Blogging, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Constant Contact, PC Troubles - just to name a few.  Loved it! I was able to talk with a person about setting up a Facebook Page for my business.  There were some issues I was confused about - because a business page is different than a personal account.  Questions answered and I now have a business Facebook Page.  Many, many people were volunteers, all working to make a technology difference in our lives!
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Then I wandered over to the Constant Contact table and learned so much.  Really!  This is todays way of marketing (keeping in touch and maintaining relationships with your customer base) and if you have a business, this is all stuff that is good to know.  And if you are "old" in this super hip cyber age (like me - I am 40 and feel ancient), these  classes and help desks are invaluable to get you updated!  My sister sent her very first Constant Contact e-mail out yesterday for her business and got immediate results!  So now I am busy compiling my database for Constant Contact.


Lunch was provided!  So nice not to have go out and find lunch when you were hungry - just wander over to the eating area!  An assortment of sandwiches, popchips (haven't tried them - 20 chips/120 calories/4 grams of fat - a healthy alternative to regular chips), bottled water and mini cupcakes.  Perfect!  
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So, it has been a busy week for me here - working away on things I learned.  Trying to apply this technology while it is all fresh in my mind and building on it - stepping stones.  
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Don't fight technology.  My Nana used to always say "Change is Progress" - and she died before we were even faxing.  This is a lady who drove her 2 kids to the World's Fair in 1939 in her Model T Ford from Massachusetts to New York.  My Dad is still talking about that trip and about all the wonderful new "technology" that was unveiled there!  All this technology is common place (like color photography and air conditioning) or very outdated at this point in time.  But that generation learned it and gave it to us.  And we built on it.  Stepping stones.

Monday, March 21, 2011

A Geek Girl Ticket!

Geek Girl was on Cape Cod this weekend and you can see their website here.
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I really wanted to go!  I mean really, did you look at the schedule of all the 1 hour courses you could take?  E-mail Marketing, Blogging, Photo Editing, Website Design, Twitter, Facebook - and that is just for starters.  The tip of the iceburg!  But, alas, I did not have the funds to go.  I just knew I could benefit so much from attending, but a budget is a budget and right now I am on a strict budget.  But, did I mention how much I really wanted to go???  So, I called them and asked if maybe they had some scholarship money available.  Well, yes they did.  I was given the link for the scholarship application, filled out all my information, hit SEND, and kept my fingers crossed that I would be one of the lucky recipients.  And I was!!!
I will be blogging this week about my Geek Girl Boot Camp experience, so stay tuned!  I am so happy that I was given the opportunity to attend!!!  Thank you Geek Girl and Sponsors!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Sewing A Large Print Quilt

My niece is making this quilt and I was helping her square it up and put the borders on yesterday.  It looks a bit uneven in this photo, but it really isn't.  We measure the border through the middle and then move it out to the end to bring in any uneven-ness.  Because of the pattern it did want to "grow" a bit at the edges, but we fixed that.  It is a BIG quilt - covers her king sized bed.
A close-up of her fabrics.
She got the basis for her pattern out of this magazine - there is a wall hanging in here that she "grew".  I think it is a great pattern to feature a large scale print.
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We got the borders entirely attached yesterday and now she is on to making a pieced back for the backing.  Isn't it pretty!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Simplicity 2471 - Sew some sweet baby booties!

Are these not adorable?  Last week Simplicity patterns were $1.99 at Jo-anne's Fabrics so I picked up this pattern.  My niece-in-law is having a baby and I think that a pair of booties with matching flannel receiving blankets will be a great gift.  The blue pair has solid blue soles, the pink pair has solid green soles.  Soooo cute!  
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I have to say - I did go ahead and buy the 1/4 yard cuts for these (as stated in the instructions) but you can make MANY pairs with that.  You do need the 1/4 yard for the width, but say you want to make several pairs - you do not need to buy 1/4 yard for each pair!  I did because I wanted to make both pink and blue.  Now that the booties are done, I have to go back to the store to get 1 yard cuts of matching flannel for the receiving blankets.  I don't know about other Moms, but let me tell you, I loved the little flannel blankets when my son was a baby.
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I am over the moon happy with these!  What a perfect new baby gift!  Even though I am a fairly experienced sewer, the instructions on these had me stumped.  Lucky me - I had my expert sister standing over my shoulder explaining it all.  Because honestly, I would have been lost without her help.  But now that I've done it on these pairs, I know following pairs will be much easier.  
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Not an "instant" gift, that is for sure.  We try to get together on Wednesday nights for "craft night".  Last week I did a little bit on one project, a little bit on another... and cut out the pattern pieces for the booties.  Then on Sunday I was at another sister's and while she read me the newspaper I cut out the fabric.  I just LOVE that - having someone read me the paper while I work on a project!  And we visited.  AND, she made me home-made waffles.  Yum.  Tuesday night my sister invited me over to visit/sew for a bit, so I brought my machine over and started some of the 1st steps.  And then last night brought us back to Wednesday again and I finished them!  I am so happy with them!

If you are going to buy something from Amazon, please use my links. I would really appreciate it!

Monday, March 14, 2011

Irish Hiking Scarf Finished!

Ta-da!  I love this pattern and have made 2 of these scarfs now.  This is called Irish Hiking Scarf and the pattern is from Hello yarn.  The link for the pattern is here.  
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The yarn I used for this one was Patons Classic Wool (100% pure wool) and I used almost 2 skeins (a few rows short of 2 full skeins).  Each skein is 205m/223 yds at 100 g/3.5 oz.  It was $7.69 each skein at AC Moore - I bought 1 skein using a 50% off coupon, knit that up and wanted more - by then I had another coupon 50% off coupon for 1 item.  So - $7.69 for the entire scarf instead of just over $15!  Considering how many hours it took me to knit - I would say that is cheap entertainment!  I really like how well the pattern shows up with this yarn.
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I knit and knit and knit and yesterday when I was over visiting my 13 year old niece told me that she thought it was plenty long enough and I should end it!  So I did.  Here I am - holding the scarf which goes up over my head in 1 hand and her little dog Hope in the other. This scarf is a gift for one of my niece's.


Hope got a bath while I was over visiting yesterday...
Oh - and my sister made home-made waffles with blueberries.  Yum!  I am going over again next Sunday and we are going to make more!  They were soooo good.  Stay tuned because I have to get that recipe from her.  Mmmm mmmm good, I tell you!


Not to leave the other dogs out - here is a photo I took when I was out walking Sophie and Sadie.  Hope can't run off-leash - a hawk would make her into a quick snack!  As we head into Spring migration I have been seeing more and more hawks soaring up overhead.
Don't they look happy with their matching tennis balls?