I Like Thursday #177

Another good week here. I thank you all for the good wishes for my mother and our family. Mom had a follow-up appointment on Monday with NeuroSurgery for her back pain, osteoporosis, and back compression fractures. We met with Megan the nurse practitioner and she ran Mom through several tests. The conclusion? Everything we are currently doing for Mom is working and she is doing very well for a 92.5 year old with severe osteoporosis. While Mom is no longer feeling the bad pain she once was, if she does again we should do what we did before -- heating pad, Tylenol, and easy movement about the house. Above all, she is to continue with her PT as that will help her with balance and keep her muscle strength. Definitely no surgery, no deep muscle massage, no needles therapy, no twisiting, no bending down at the waist. This runs in line with her primary care provider and her Physical Therapist. We are so happy! Oh! And her blood pressure was 132/78, keep in mind she's not on any BP medicine. This doctor assessment was a BIG LIKE for this week! Mom had her own "like" too. She lost that pound that she gained from the last doctor appointment. Hate to tell her but that is not a good thing. Her PCP wants her to put on 10 pounds!!! Funny, he didn't tell me to do that! Lol!

Okay, okay, enough of the health report, even if it is a great like. I'm still enjoying playing with cross-stitch again. When Scarlett was last seen, this was my progress.

I'm happy to say that the stitching has been completed. Monday was Quilt Club at my LQS and I bought a linen for her back. I hope to get her completed this weekend. I really like the way she looks so far.

Speaking of Quilt Club, we had another Mystery Quilt finish shown. Isn't that green background pretty!!??!!

Of course, since Scarlett is finished up, I had to start another one. This one is called Sweetly Sayin' by Primrose Cottage Stitches. If you sign up for their newsletter, they will send you a free cross stitch pattern and a free quilt pattern each month. I liked that deal so I'm in. Here's my progress so far. I'm hoping for a finish before Valentine's Day!

This week I finished reading "Before We Were Yours" by Lisa Wingate. It was an amazing read and I highly recommend it. It's a based-on-true story about the Tennessee Children's Home Society and siblings that were stolen to be sold through the adoption agency.

Read What Goodreads Says About It
HERE

Now I'm reading the 9th in the Cormoron Strike series by Robert Galbraith, aka J. K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame. This one is called "The Hallmarked Man". I hope it's as good as the last book which I might have liked best so far.

Read about it HERE

When my company left after their holiday visit, I was left with several very ripe bananas. I turned them into a dozen banana chocolate chip muffins and a loaf of banana walnut bread. In particular, I searched for recipes using self-rising flour.  Our family grocery shopper accidentally picked up a large bag of self-rising flour so it needs to go! The baked goods are safely frozen in the freezer because we've got enough food laying around here. On second thought, maybe I should sit them out by Mom. She could use a little encouragement to put on a pound or two!

Recipe HERE

Recipe HERE
I Added Walnuts

Our prompt this week from LeeAnna is: "Do you ever sing in the shower?" and, if you do, do you have a favorite song in there? I do sing in the shower. I sound so much better in the shower than out in the open. Hahaha! I don't have a go-to song though, just whatever is in my head at the time. Another place I like to sing is in the car. I really belt out the songs if I'm driving solo -- thank goodness, eh? Hahaha!

Head on over to LeeAnna's blog Not Afraid of Color to see if I'm in the majority of shower singers. Also maybe we'll get an idea for a "shower songlist"!

I Like Thursday #174

Good morning, friends! It is very cold out here in the Midwest. Today's high temp will be 23 degrees F and currently (6am) it is 20. Our ugly low tonight is projected to be 8. Yes, ma'am, that's pretty darn cold.

Weather Captured as Leaving
with Gracie for our Walk
(Check out the Feels Like! Brrrr!)

Let's move on to our prompt from LeeAnna -- it's all about board games -- do you play them? Is there a go-to game at Christmas? Etc.

My family loves board games. Fred & I used to play board games just the two of us a long time ago. Scrabble was a good one. We also played card games: Rummy & Crazy 8s in particular. A good dice game is Kismet which is a Yahtzee-type on steroids. The Cribbage board was also a good one.

As we added members to our table, Scrunch, Pinochle, and Hearts were favorites. As our family gatherings grew, we added Parchesi to the mix. That was always a good time with players moving in & out. One year we even had 3 four-man teams competing in a Christmas tournament! Such great memories! A very big "Like".

This past Monday was our Christmas party at Quilt Club. Those of us that participated in the mystery quilt brought our tops to share. What a show!

These were all that had room to hang. Then there were many more shared at share 'n' tell.

Here's Me with Mine

Diann at Little Penguin Quilts reminded me HERE that Christmas decorating can start small. It could even include a Christmas coffee mug, so I brought one of mine out this morning. My coffee tastes so much better in the holiday spirit and that includes with a piece of Carole's Pumpkin Orange Bread! Carole shares a lot of her recipes and this one is definitely a keeper. You can find it HERE and she even included a PDF for easy download!

And that, my friends, is the end of another I Like Thursday post. Visit LeeAnna at her Not Afraid of Color blog HERE to see what others have shared. There's plenty to like there!

June Orange Coming to a Close

Time to start winding down RSC Orange for 2025. I did manage to get caught up on my LQS Mystery Quilt. Here's a peek at my Project Box. Oops! No orange ...

I finished the last two hexies for the Fishy Hexi project. Here's my layout. I think I've figured out how to fill it in. What a momentary nightmare trying to work with the fabrics I'd already bought and not having to buy more. Lol!

I'm also caught up on the A Quilting Life's BOM. I'm choosing to make the table runner size rather than the bed quilt size. Shocked, aren't you? Here is the final addition, RSC May's green block.

And here are all six blocks together.

Aunt Jane's Best moved forward this week also. The last of the blocks was embroidered and the fill-ins sewn up. I used my Caterpillar Glow lightbox to cut out the 3" embroidered blocks. I love this lightbox! Lightweight & portable plus one can rotary cut right on top with the mat!

Here's my scrappy layout.

Did you know I finished "Winter Garden" by Kristin Hannah? What a fabulously written book. I love her style, love her verbiage, love her stories. This one had some difficult passages to read as I had been warned by friends. I don't usually cry while reading books, but let's just say that a few tears were shed while reading this one.

My current read is definitely a lot lighter, "A Map to Paradise" by Susan Meissner.

GoodReads synopsis HERE

I also checked out from my library "Today Loves Food". It contains favorite recipes contributed by the staff and guests from The Today Show. The family recently enjoyed Siri Daly's Pull-Apart Monte Cristo Sliders and Jet Gila's Beef & Broccoli Lo Mein. Both of these recipes were easy and delicious. If you can get your hands on this cookbook, I'd recomment it.

Mom had a cookbook that I retrieved from her house called "Great Food Fast". Catchy title, huh? This week brought Indian-Spiced Chicken Burgers. They were served in pita pockets and the cucumber slices with the cumin yogurt sauce put them over the top! Yum! Yum! Enjoyed by all.

On my own, since I had pita pockets left over, I made a shrimp salad which were stuffed in the pitas along with some lettuce & Arkansas tomatoes. OMG! Another delicious dinner at the Hoover House!

I enjoyed the Shrimp Salad Stuffed Pitas
with Radish Slices and Chips

And that concludes my post for the week. How was your week?

Today I'm sewing with friends. I'll be working on the hexies and also taking an applique UFO (UnFinished Object). I would love to get this one finished up!

Please feel free to peek in on the other Rainbow Scrap Challenge participants. This is the last Saturday of June so there should be a lot of eye-candy being shared! Thanks to Angela for rounding us up each week at SuperScrappy.

Sunshine Finally!

We here in the Midwest have certainly seen our share of rain but this weekend -- Mother's Day weekend -- we have nothing but sunshine! What a joyful surprise! Have you noticed how a sunny day brings out the best in everyone??? Lots of smiles everywhere.

Not a lot of machine time for me this week. Truth be told, no machine time. So let me show you what handwork projects I worked on instead.

My take-along project when Mom has appointments has been this Lori Smith pattern that I've worked on for quite some time. I bought the kit several years ago from Lori's booth at the Paducah AQS Quilt Show. Here's the pattern and my progress.

Miss Jane's Best
Finished Size 14" x 17.5"
Block Size 3.5"

Working on the Last Block Here

Need to Embroider the Leaves
on the Bottom Left Block.
Forgot to Trace It Originally

While I watch TV with the family, I started another cross stitch project. It's a beautiful pattern but the pattern itself is not recommendable. It's itsy-bitsy and the symbols are similar and difficult to tell apart. At first I thought it might just be me. However, there are several of us doing this one and there are other similar complaints. Anyway, here's the pattern and also my progress.

Georgian Floral Basket
Beautiful, Isn't It?

My Progress So Far

While I watch TV on my own -- think Survivor which everyone else in this house BOOs! -- I started a hexie project. Nothing to really show so far but here's how I'm storing it. I think it'll accompany me on our next road trip.

This week we celebrated Cinco de Mayo. Mexican food is not a favorite of Fred's so I have to be careful. I made these Taco Stuffed Shells. I only used 1/2 the taco seasoning pkg and definitely no bell peppers. Instead of having salsa lining the bottom, I used 16oz tomato sauce. Then Mom & I smothered our shells with salsa for the "zip" that Fred doesn't like. Lol!

Cinco Yummy!

That's my world this week. I hope you have a sunshiny weekend too!

Sharing with my Rainbow Scrap Challenge friends even if I'm not actively participating right yet. Lol!

I Like Thursday #172

Welcome to my I Like Thursday post. This is where a group of us share things that have recently made us happy, gave us a smile, and/or just puts a positive spin on day-to-day life. After reading my I Like blog, please visit the others over HERE where LeeAnna rounds us up. OK? Got it? Let's go!

Last Thursday was the first Thursday of the month and that meant the three of us were headed over to the Senior Center for our monthly luncheon. March once again brought us the Irish dancers. Between performances, we were also entertained with Irish ballads.

Corned beef, cabbage, mashed potatoes, roll, and a fruit cup
Fancy cupcakes for dessert!

My west-facing dining room window is loaded with beauty. Three of the amaryllis plants are blooming!

Two of the blooming plants

See the other buds coming?

This starry-faced beauty is called Minerva

Hadeco was the first to start blooming
It's an orangy red

Meet Bolero who started blooming this week
She's a pinky-red

There is one other amaryllis in "the collection" that has a bud shooting up. I lost the tag so I have no idea what the name of it is but I'll bet it's pretty!

And speaking of flowers, Spring has started springing up in the yard!

Blooming purple & white crocuses

Twinkly purple crocus

The promise of my biggest show of hyacinths to come!

Flowers were not the only things making appearances in and out of the house. Look who stopped by for a visit!

I finished "The Quality of Silence". It really stretched out too long. I'd give it a 6 out of 10 stars so don't drop everything to read this one. I picked up my next book which was a recommendation from my daughter. Her book club read it. I'm about 70 pages in and it's interesting so far. This is a true story. Read about it HERE.

"Agent Sonya: Moscow's Most Daring Wartime Spy"
by Ben Mcintyre

In the kitchen this week, I made a strawberry pie for Fred. He loves pies! I followed this recipe since I've made it every Spring for years and it's a winner. Sorry no picture.

With St. Patrick's Day coming up soon, I'll be making Ina Garten's Irish Soda Bread. It is also a winner and I've made it in the past. Mom loves this one with a subtle taste of orange in the background. I don't use the called-for currants and instead substitute raisins. Scrumptious!

I hope you're still with me because I saved the best for last. Our family is growing! My niece announced that she and her husband are expecting a baby later this year!!!

We are all so happy and can't wait for the baby's arrival. Our family feels so blessed!

I hope you all have a blessed week and are able to keep a positive attitude. There are plenty of things around to appreciate ... sometimes you just have to look!

Thank you, LeeAnna, for continuing to host this weekly post where we can remind ourselves and others that sometimes you sometimes have to actually look around to find appreciable things.

I Like Thursdays #170

Is everyone as excited as I am at the temperatures that we are assured by the weathermen will be coming in the next few days? Here in the Midwest we will be having our warm-up this weekend and into the next week. YIPPEE! Walking the dog in minus-double-digits wind chill is not nearly as enjoyable as in the Spring, for sure.

Since we last "spoke", Valentine's Day arrived. My honey knows what I like. Flowers are nice but chocolate is my passion!

Not sure if I shared these pictures of the grandkids with you but, if so, they are worth repeating. I think the looks on their faces are priceless! Goofy boys!

Have you ever heard of a sirloin cap roast? Also know as Coulotte and Picanha? Well, Mom & I ran into some at our local Fresh Thyme store. We didn't know what it was but thought we could give it a go. After checking internet resources, I decided that the way to go might be with my sous vide set-up. 

After seasoning it with a paste made from minced garlic & salt, I cooked it for about 4 hours at 133 degrees. It was WONDERFUL! Tender, juicy, delicious!

Here's a picture of someone else looking for dinner.

Taken through my kitchen window screen

I'm still reading The Quality of Silence by Rosamund Lupton. It's another different kind of story by the same author of Afterwards. It's an interesting read and I'm trying to figure out the direction it is taking.

A glimpse at our weather. I really don't want to dwell on it.

Look at this face -- it's really cold, Mom, but you know I have to do "my business" out there.

And on that note, I'll sign off and check out what the others have shared today on our hostess's blog. There's sure to be some fun stuff HERE.