The Cherry blossoms have come out earlier than usual and are beautiful. It's so warm outside, I believe everything thinks it's a few weeks later than it is now. I got a picture of the Cherry blossom tree again yesterday, about half the tree had blossoms. Then today, it was amazing how fast they came out, look at the difference between the first two pictures. Shazam!!! I also got another picture of my forget me nots, they always remind me of Tasha.
There's a story behind that tree, a few years ago the HOA, ~holding and shaking my head~, sent a letter to the realtor. They said the branches of the two trees in front were too close to the house and needed to be cut back. Soooo, he had a guy come out and I don't think he'd ever cut a tree in his life, anyway, he cut way too much. Oh, I was not a happy camper, I love trees and flowers, ya think? ;D
Here's my bobble afghan I finished. I didn't make it real big, it's about twice the size of the photo on the couch, it's doubled over and wider. The holes are bigger than I like, as you can tell in the chair photo, but it was better than the middle being bunched up. It was just a fun little afghan to work on, though, love the bobbles and everytime someone walks by they like to feel the bobbles. LOL
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Remember to view a picture better, right click on it and click "open link in a new window". You can see the bobbles better, than that picture viewer.
My yard is coming alive with flowers and tree blossoms, so excited about my violets, tulips, cherry blossom tree, redbud tree, some of my bird feeders,(Sunflower's fav to the left, :), forget me nots, pansies, Forsythia tree, and daffodils. There's more, but they're not blossoming yet. My ivy is coming along, but not sure about my morning glories yet. My deck is bare right now and needs power washing.
Well, although I love the Fall and Winter, I'm looking forward to Spring. What is it about this time,all of a sudden it's wanting to do spring cleaning and growing things? It's brighter colors and rearranging, wasn't it just Christmas? Time goes by too fast and I like to do as much as I can to enjoy each season. So bring on the strawberry patch, flowers, animals in the yard and especially the Cherry tree blossums that will be in my yard soon.
This weekend has been fun, yesterday I made bacon and french toast, I love coming back home to the smell of vanilla and cinnamon. :D I made brownies, but had to wait to frost them till we got home.
We went to our usual weekend with Costco, love the coupon book, but first Lowes and Target. I bought my first herbs of the season, rosemary and chives, and we needed more bird seeds. We love having birds in our yard and feel responsible for taking care of them.
We always run in the mall to grab cinnamon pretzel sticks at Auntie Annes when going to Costco. That's when we're not going to the bookstore in there, we're book fanatics. So when I got home I also had coffee with my cinnamon sticks.
I bought Chai tea at the Starbucks in Target, I had three different giftcards with money left on them and decided to use one. When she asked me if I wanted the remaining amount put on one card, instead of three, I said sure and was surprised I had $17 left. I love giftcards.
We came home, fed the birds, and then I planted my herbs in a pot for the kitchen. I'm not sure I'll be putting them back outside, I'll see how well they do inside. We seem to have a problem with whiteflies every year when I bring some back in during the Fall. I love having them in the kitchen. My oregano and mint do great outside, but rosemary keeps dying and the chives don't grow very fast.
We have rabbits in the back, which I love, so I don't hold much chance any lettuce would last long later. I'll be doing onions and tomatoes in pots on the deck. I could get chicken wire to put around the plants, we'll see.
Our squirrel, Mr Sunflower loves it when we get more birdseed. He helps himself and is nice about sharing with the birds, LOL, but we have to keep getting him out off the feeders. It's actually cute seeing him using his little hands upside down on the branch and can unscrew the "squirrel proof" feeder.
I call him ours, because he's adopted us as his family and is here all the time. He thinks he's being so coy when we go outside, he just stands motionless like we can't see him. LOL He loves it when the neighbor's sunflowers come out later in the year and he brings some stalk and seeds over to "his spot", in our flower bed corner where the azalea bush is located. He thinks noone will notice the trail from her yard to ours and probably laughs to himself under the cover of the azaleas that he's once again gotten away with it. :)
Then there's the rabbit that's come back to our back deck and lives under it, probably to have the babies later. It might even be one of the babies from last year grown now and knows the spot. I did see a couple of grown ones in the front yards skipping and hopping around at night playing while noone was around.
So here we have another Spring on the way and everything coming back to life, like my daffodils that are out now. It's time to start getting yards and decks ready for the season and I can't wait for strawberries, the Farmers Market and to see flowers on my deck again. I really don't like this time change thing, though, I like sleep and already stay up too late, but after a week it will be as normal.
I made another knitted washcloth in green and my daughter says the red and green together remind her of a watermelon. We had turkey and cheese sandwiches and she wanted me to take a picture of a couple of her chips that look like hearts. LOL
Happyone ,(thank you again), has given me such a great pattern to work on. My workpiece isn't as good as the pattern, I made a number of mistakes. But I was so excited working on it, because I learned how to decrease, increase and make a border. Also I'm not knitting as tight, and how much fun is it learning a new craft.
I have the "I Taught Myself Knitting" book, which I still had to go online for help. LOL Mine is smaller than the pattern, I got too excited and wanted to try the decreasing. I did two of the sides good on the pattern, but somehow I messed up something that didn't give me four sides the same. I'm going to make these in different colors so I can work on getting it more like the pattern.
Cast on 3 stitches.
Row 1: (RS). K
Row 2 : K1. Inc 1 st in next st. Knit to end of row. Rep last row to 53 stitches
Next Row K2. K2tog. Knit to end of row.
Rep last row to 3 sts. Cast off.
Milky Way Krispies
8 Reg. size Milky Way Bars
1 Cup Butter (2 sticks)
6 Cups Rice Krispie’s
1 12 oz. bag Chocolate Chips
1/2 Cup Butter (1 stick)
Melt 1 cup Butter and candy bars in pan, then stir in Rice Krispies
Pat down into a 9x13 pan…patted down
Melt chocolate chips and 1 stick butter, stir till melted
Immediately spread over bars. When cool,cut into squares, yum
I want to try these, but wanted to post them now. I think that sounds like a whole lot of butter, but we'll see when I do them and I'll post a pic.
My daughters love the classic Rice Krispies Treats, but here's recipe using Cocoa Krispies, instead of regular ones. Also you can make the chocolate chip frosting above with these.
COCOA KRISPIES TREATS
* 3 tablespoons butter or margarine
* 1 package (10 oz., about 40) regular marshmallows
* - OR -
* 4 cups miniature marshmallows
* 6 cups Kellogg's® Cocoa Krispies® cereal
To experience the timeless flavor, make your Rice Krispies Treats® squares with the original Rice Krispies® brand cereal.
1. In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. 2. Add KELLOGG'S COCOA KRISPIES cereal. Stir until well coated.
3. Using buttered spatula or wax paper evenly press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Cool. Cut into 2-inch squares. Best if served the same day.
MICROWAVE DIRECTIONS:
In microwave-safe bowl heat butter and marshmallows on HIGH for 3 minutes, stirring after 2 minutes. Stir until smooth. Follow steps 2 and 3 above. Microwave cooking times may vary.
Note:
For best results, use fresh marshmallows.
1 jar (7 oz.) marshmallow crème can be substituted for marshmallows.
Store no more than two days at room temperature in airtight container.
To freeze, place in layers separated by wax paper in airtight container. Freeze for up to 6 weeks. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving.
Last Mother's Day I got a Hydrangea, this is a picture of a bloom from last May. They're beautiful and was so happy when I got it. Here's the photo in my June Ramblings...
http://soundinthemulberrytrees.blogspot.com/2011/06/june-ramblings.html
So we planted it in the ground and I thought even up till last week, it was dead. But I held out hope that maybe it would come back. YAH!!! It wasn't dead, it's sprouting little shoots off of it. Here's a pic...
Okay, so I did say I wasn't going to make a habit of doing the hairclips, but I'm actually liking it. I made a rabbit hairclip.
I haven't knitted in forever and only tried it awhile, so minimal ability at best. But I love the look of knitting and maybe if I practice can work up to socks. It's actually fun and I'm just making a simple washcloth first. I'm using Bernat cotton yarn. I was lucky enough to find a big roll of it on sale around Christmas at Joannes. I like this cotton, I usually use Sugar n Cream yarn for washcloths.
P.S. (and no snickering from knitters). :D
UPDATE: I now have a little square, now what do I do? LOL Okay, I'm looking it up in my book. So, I see this uses my right hand pinkie and ring finger more, they're actually a little sore. Those muscles will build up and I'm working on not using the tip of my lefthand index finger and thumb to move the needle along when doing a stitch. So, crocheting with my right hand uses my wrist more and knitting my finger muscles get worked more. Also I can use the needles for defense if I'm taking my work out of the house, ha ha, jk. I always thought if I ever started knitting, I could use little needles and when not in use, could put my hair up with them. Then I thought it would be a bad idea, because I'd probably poke myself somehow. ;P
So, I cast off and have two left over, I wasn't sure what to do. I was afraid I had to do something special to end off these last two and my book only told how to cast them off, not how to work the last stitch. ~eyes rolling~ Do you see why I'm a googleholic? What did I do before the internet? ~sigh~
Alrighty then, so I find a binding off video, YAY! I got this now... (I'm sighing again), it only shows the binding off, not what to do with the last stitch. Finally a youtube video and...well hello, that was simple, just cut off from...wait a minute...she said, "just bind off the last stitch and cut the yarn and pull it through".
I'm now holding my head down and shaking it, she did it supersonic fast, I swear, I think she even sped up the last of the video. LOL Then another video and just how to bind off... sooo finally, a youtube that showed how, slowly and saw it through. Yes! I know it was so simple, but I was afraid if I just pulled off that last stitch, I'd lose the stitch and all that for nothing. I wanted to do it right. Note to self: Do not bind off so tight.
Now I have a curly piece. From reading around, I think because I, knit one, purl one, etc, it curled. I guess I'll just sc around it and see how that goes. Anyway, I had a good time knitting that piece and I'm going to do more, knitting is very pretty.
ANOTHER UPDATE... It's finished, I made a border, two rows of sc and it's good to go. I'm tickled with it. :D
