7QT: January Oddments

1.

Get ready for February 4th! This Wednesday the WWRW link-up is making a comeback! 

2.  Our library is offering the Hoopla app!

What's the hoopla? Hoopla is a free app that lets me download movies, television shows, audiobooks, and music right to my iPhone for FREEEEEEEEE!!!!

Jill has been watching Max & Ruby cartoons, which are not available on Netflix or on Amazon Prime (without paying extra) for FREEEEEEEE!

And I've been downloading music left and right. Specifically all the classical music that is recommended by the Little Saints Preschool Program we're using. More on that another day.

This week's pre-school theme is At the Zoo, and we've been listening to Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals while she dances each animal's part. For FREEEEEEEEEE!

Someday you might read Wee Gillis by Munro Leaf to a three year-old, and she'll want to know what bagpipes are. With Hoopla, you can download William Boyle's Bagpipe Virtuoso compilation in a flash and for FREEEEE! (Confession: I love the pipes.)

Libraries are the best.

3.  Grey Skies bringing you down?

Try eating peanut butter and banana sandwiches and listening to the Elvis Presley Pandora station.

You may call it inspired, I'm calling it history class.

4.  Knitting shizzle.

My 3 teen girls and their handmade swag.

I knit while I watch tv. I've been making mittens, and the bonnet I over-grammed on the Instagram. I usually get my patterns from books.

For the mitts, I used Vintage Knit Gloves and Mittens: 25 Patterns for Timeless Fashions by Kathryn Fulton.

Why is that hat green? Because I used leftover yarn from the matching sweater.  Why did I make a green baby sweater for my baby girl? Because I made the sweater before I knew the baby was a girl.

For both the bonnet and sweater, I used Vintage Knits for Modern Babies by Hadley Fierlinger. Can you tell I prefer the vintage patterns?

Jill really wants Elsa gloves, but I think she'll be getting Elsa mittens instead. #disappointed

5. What have we been watching?  Maybe this should be it's own link-up. WHWBW. Waddya think?

Our regularly scheduled programming includes:

Wallander

Pros: KENNETH BRANAGH! Gorgeous Swedish landscapes.

Cons: Dark and twisted crime.  My idea of Sweden is a now a mash-up of  Flicka, Ricka, Dicka books, Ikea, and serial killers/sex traffickers. Also troublesome, BBC=1.5 hour long shows. Mama gets tired.

All Creatures Great & Small

Pros: Netflix has really cleaned up the sound of this 1970s show. We are huge Herriot book fans here, and the television show does not disappoint.  I love Robert Hardy as Siegfried Farnon. I loved Robert Hardy as Professor Slugworth. I love Robert Hardy.

And Helen. I love her too. I covet her clothes. The midi skirts, the berets, sigh. I understand that she gets re-cast in the later seasons, but SHHH! I'm not there yet!

Bonus: This show is only an hour!

Cons: Could be totally acceptable for the entire family, if the entire family happens to be okay with footage of dudes with their arms up inside a cow's hoo-hah. (Remember my purse description?) Did these actors really DO that?  Did they use stunt animals too?  It is a puzzlement.

Foyle's War, Series 1

Pros: Police detective show set in Hastings, England during WWII. WWII is my preferred historical period. Gentle, quiet, yet brilliant Detective Inspector Foyle is often under-estimated, but always gets the criminal with some blinding stroke of genius.

Cons: Stupid 90 minute shows...too long...got work in the morning.

6. Netflix and Amazon Prime movies that have struck our fancy are...

The Castle

If you like Napoleon Dynamite and Aussie accents, this is the film for you. It could be a family film, IF there weren't a few Eff bombs dropping. My 18 year old recommended it and we've been quoting it ever since. (No, we're not quoting the eff words.) Decent message too.

The Hundred-Foot Journey

Everyone enjoyed it EXCEPT the 12 year old who may have said, "PLEASE let me watch another movie so that wasn't the last movie I've seen!" There's no accounting for taste. It is a teensy bit violent in the beginning, what with the mother getting trapped in a burning building set on fire by terrorists and dying. Other than that it's a clean movie with great acting and FOOD!

WHYBW?

7.  This Sunday starts the Seven Sundays of St. Joseph. (Thanks for the heads up, Mom!)

The Seven Sunday of St. Joseph is a seven day novena that takes place once a week, every Sunday (duh) until the feast of St. Joseph. Each Sunday, there are readings and prayers that focus on the different sorrow and joys from St. Joseph's life.

Selling a house? (Cari? Dwija?) Buying a house? Trying to make peace with the house you're in? Or just love St. Jose? It's only seven days! We can do this!

The hard part will be remembering every Sunday, because as I explained to my mother, I suck at novenas.

I always miss a day and have to double up once or thrice.  I even signed up for the Pray More Novenas emails, and every now and then Satan sends one to my spam box! But my mom says, "There's no time in Heaven."

Phew. Because picturing the OCD angel with a clipboard ticking off the boxes on my incomplete and/or tardy novenas wasn't encouraging at all.

So Seven Quick Takes in January, done. Boom. Pow. Linking up with the new hostess of the weekend fun, Kelly at This Ain't the Lyceum.

Don't forget to link up your book reviews on Wednesday. I'm bringing WWRW baaaack!

7QT: TGIO!

1.  You know you married the right guy when he busts out his electric guitar to learn the Strawberry Shortcake (Berry Bitty Adventures) theme song.

I cannot even describe the awesomeness.  We had one berry good jam.

2.  I'd like him to learn the theme for Franklin next.  We changed the words to "Hey, it's Polly!"  Maybe Edmund could learn how to play a jaw harp?

3.  Speaking of theme songs, I may have mentioned once or a dozen times that I came up with lyrics for the theme to Monarch of the Glen.

Love that sexy sax.

Problem:  Since they keep changing who the Laird is, I have to change the words fairly often.

4.  My wonder son Peter, who is in Pennsylvania this weekend for a national collegiate level golf tournament, penned words to the theme close to everyone's hearts, Downton Abbey.

"Dog is walking.
Open shutters now.
Bells are ringinging.
The mail is here, the kettle's warm.
Measuring the places.
Petals falling.
Lamps are on.
DUST, dust the chandelier."

5.  YES!  I used up 5 takes on theme songs! #winning

Time for a gratuitous baby pic.

6.

Last night, Lucy and I watched Sense and Sensibility with *swoon* Alan Rickman.

Lucy commented that it was remarkably like the movie, Scents and Sensibility on Netflix.

no words. #fail

7.  I beg to disagree with Mr. T.S. Eliot.  September is the cruelest month.  Maybe October.  There were snow flurries this morning.

Polly will not abide car seats or naps longer than five minutes.

I hear a baby crying in my head when I go to sleep at night.

This season of life is dang hard.  So many people with so many needs.

Sorry blog readers, but I blew off WWRW this week.  I chose to shower, walk the whole brood the whole way to the library, and stop at the playground on the way home.  I let Edmund and Jill play as long as they wanted.

I'd like to promise it won't happen again, but most days are difficult days.  Not a lot of reading is happening and even less blogging.

It's just going to have to be that way for awhile.  I know you'll understand.

Any bloggers wanna take a turn guest hosting WWRW?  Shoot me an email.  Or just leave a comment.

My troubles aren't really troubles.  All these people in my life to love are treasures.  I get that.  But here's to a day when I go to the bathroom and nobody talks to me through the door!

 

Linking up with Jen. A day late.  That's how it's gotta be.

7QT Sunday Edition

1.

One Pot Wonders Link up is still "clicking away."   Have a delicious and easy go-to recipe for a crazy family dinner?  Please share!  Old and new posts welcome.

2. I won an ebook from Haley at Carrots of Michaelmas!

It looks fun and family friendly with recipes for lots of different Catholic feasts.  What are the chances that I can get Patrick to make Pasta Pescatore on the feast of St. Maria Goretti this July 6th?  It looks sooo good.  All of the recipes do, especially the cocktails!  I want to make all of them.

You can get your own pdf of Haley and Daniel's Catholic cookbook for only $7.99, or buy a print copy for $21.99.  Bonus for all of you gluten sensitive people, all of the recipes are gluten-free or have a gluten-free version!

3. I went to a baby shower Friday night for this mama-to-be and gave these must-haves:

Chewbeads 

Where were these 18 years ago?

and the Earth Mama Angel Baby a Little Something for Baby Kit.

I got one of these after Jill was born and became totally addicted to the Earth Mama Angel Baby line of baby products.

That last ingredient is MYRRH!  Have you ever seen or smelled real myrrh?

Their Angel Baby Bottom Balm has myrrh in it.  The idea of Blessed Mother putting myrrh on 8.6 oz. Baby Jesus's diaper rash just tickles me.  That was probably not the best metaphor to use.

The Angel Baby Lotion smells like oranges and vanilla and holy innocence, as does their Angel Baby Shampoo & Body Wash.

I am so crazy about the Angel Baby Shampoo & Body Wash that I bought the 34 oz. refill bottle for $39.95.  Three years later, I have never washed Jill with anything else and I still have a wee bit left.

4. I also gave a pair of these hand-knit mary jane type baby booties, and I'm working on another pair. Seeing as how I am currently without a complete pair, I have no photo except this one that is copyrighted by the pattern creator Brenda Green.

The ones I made/am making are soft pale grey with pearl buttons.

So that is NOT my photo.  That is Brenda's photo.  Brenda lives in New Zealand and answered my super stupid questions via email immediately because she is totally cool with knuckleheads purchasing and attempting to use her pattern.  I blame pregnancy brain.

Brenda has lots of beautiful patterns on Ravelry.  I want to make all of them.

5. This happened.

Jill says, "Peter is a high-school graduate!"

He's headed for the University of Dallas this fall as a double legacy since both of his parents are UD alumni.

6.  Tomorrow is his 18th birthday, Selective Service and all that, kind of apropos for Memorial Day.

He wants Hobo Packs for his birthday dinner.

Hobo Packs are foil packets of food that you cook on the grill.  We are going to make the kind with potatoes, green beans and andouille.

There are dozens of different recipes for hobo packs out there, and this Art of Manliness article has one for a Pineapple Upside Down Donut Cake.  I want to make all of them.

7.  Last week, this knucklehead forgot to link back to the 7 Quick Take hostess, Jen Fulwiler of Conversion Diary.  I blame pregnancy brain.  This week I remembered.

GO SEE JEN FOR MORE!

7 Quickish Takes - Second Friday in Lent

1.

In an effort to wean Jill off asking for chocolate every time she goes number two in the toilet, I got these Sunmaid mini-snacks.  Teeny tiny boxes of raisins.

She got so angry when Edmund tried to tell her that raisins come from grapes (and are not chocolate), that I plummed a vintage Sesame Street clip from my own upbringing to explain it to her. She's watched it ten times at least.



2. I'm sharing this Meatless Meal Stand-by (Old Faithful) again, so I can hop on the Lenten Meal Plan Link-Up.

Lemon-Pepper Pappardelle with Tuna and Capers

All the three ingredients are non-perishable items, unless you want to get fancy with freshly chopped Italian parsley.

one 8 oz. package of lemon pepper pappardelle, cooked according to package directions
two 7 oz. can of tuna in olive oil, undrained  
lots of capers

Mix all ingredients.
The end.

All you have to do is boil pasta.  Open one can (The olive oil gets dumped in too.) and one jar and you're done! 

It only serves 4 or 3 of my pasta-loving people, so I have to triple it.  You can only get lemon-pepper pappardelle at Trader Joe's, as far as I know.  The Chef has made it with regular pappardelle, a drained can of diced tomatoes, capers, olive oil and garlic and no tuna, because he's my pickiest eater.  He likes to complicate things.  

I think it's fine served all by it's lonesome, or it's nice with a Caprese Salad and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc.  I recommend the Kim Crawford.

3. 

I finished knitting this lace shawl last night!   Technically, I have to complete the last row and cast off, but we are nearly there.  There are only one to three mistakes on average in each row of the lacy part.

I learned the hard way that I can knit tired in front of the tv if it's Once Upon a Time,

but not if I'm trying to watch/listen to Endeavour or Foyle's War.  Those Masterpiece programs are too engrossing.

I'm on Ravelry, an idea exchange site for knitters, crocheters, and other textile/fiber arts peoples.  Only recently did I realize that I am supposed to CONTRIBUTE my projects, patterns, etc. to Ravelry.  I have only been using it for my own selfish purposes, such as getting the pattern for my Leila at Like Mother, Like Daughter inspired shawl.  Imma try to change my wicked ways.

My next project is this baby cardigan in this yarn.

I love Debbie Bliss yarns.  They are so cumpy.

Cumpy is a word coined by Peter when he was wee small.  It means snuggly-comfortable.

I think we should incorporate cumpy into the English language.  We say it all the time around here.

4.  Don't miss my giveaway of ALBACFC aka A Little Book about Confession for Children by Kendra Tierney.  Rafflecopter away right here. And don't forget to check out the other literature-loving bloggers' book reviews!

5.  Did you read Dwija's fashion piece this week?  I politely disagree with #3.  Crisp woven tops keep me from feeling like a stuffed sausage casing.  However, I heartily concur with #1, long cardigans.  Not too long though.

I just got this jacket from Destination (The Only Bricks and Mortar Store in the US that is Dedicated to) Maternity.  It's sort of like a cardigan, but more of a super-trendy-classier-than-a-hoodie jacket.  I may or may not have worn it every day this week.  It matches every single one of my solid long sleeve uniform tees from Old Navy.  Unzipped, it hangs just right and looks tres chic.  I never zip it, mostly because they only had a size small in the store and it's a bit snug zipped.  It makes me feel verry fancy.

If you order online, don't forget to go through Ebates for free cash money!

6. I spent 75% of my grocery budget last week at Ulta.  I'm an expert at rationalizing things like $75 for four Clarisonic brushes is way better than spending $25 for one Clarisonic brush. Plus Ulta has those reward points, so every time I shop there, it's like I'm printing money.

I needed mascara.  I have long blonde eyelashes, and I love Bare Minerals Flawless Definition mascara. Flawless Definiton doesn't gum up my eyelashes like thickening mascaras do.

Also, I can wear the NOT waterproof formula and I don't get raccoon eyes by the end of the day.  Not waterproof mascara is important so I can easily remove those rows of tiny dots on my upper lid after I put it on.  #longeyelashproblems

It makes total sense that if I'm going to spend $20 on mascara, I might as well spend $39 and get this whole One Hot Mama kit.  Money well spent, because I love everything in it:  the blush, the gloss, the under-eye-brightener, my mascara, and now Jill has a new bag for her princess dolls.

For meals, I cleaned out my deep freeze and served that turkey I bought way back when, a frozen lasagna, grilled chicken breasts on a bed of Friday's leftover quinoa, peanut butter crackers.  This week I did the right thing and spent the money at food stores like I'm supposed to.

7.

Before I went grocery shopping, I de-gunked my entire refrigerator.  I magic erased all those weird red and blue skid marks off the walls and I scrubbed the dried olive juice off the door pockets.  It wasn't too difficult since it was nearly empty anyway.  Oh! And I threw away everything that expired in 2013.

No one can consume this much feta before the exp date.

Why do I buy industrial size containers of feta?  Why?

I'm counting this as part of my 40 Bags in 40 Days, even though the only "donations" were to the garbage man and the recycle bin.

Hopalong to Jen and Conversion Diary Rodeo and check out the ladies behind the Lenten Meal Plan Posse too.