Go Cart!!

This week is spring break for my nephews and they are spending their last few days of break at my parent's house. My mom just sent me this picture:

It's my nephew, Trevor, riding the go cart my sister and I had when we were growing up. Oh the memories this picture brings back! And, to be honest, it does stir up a little jealousy, too! How I wish I could be out there right now riding that thing...and fit on it comfortably! 

We got the go cart from my cousins when I was maybe 7-8, and it never stopped running once we got it! Oh I had so much fun on that thing! I rode all over our yard and even made a license plate and driver's license for it! One time I remember mowing a path for the go cart instead of mowing the whole yard like I was supposed to...and I remember getting in trouble for that! 

I sure hope Trevor and Cody have as much fun riding the go cart as I did. I cannot wait to get out to their house and ride it again. I hope I fit!

After my mom sent the picture above, she sent this picture:

It's Trevor stuck waiting on Dad to fix the chain that fell off....which was typical of that go cart! I do remember it breaking down here and there, which was just traumatizing! I guess it's only fitting that this would happen to the boys, too! Have fun Trevor and Cody!

Encyclopedia Britannica

I heard on the news a few days ago that the publisher of Encyclopedia Britannica will no longer produce hardbound, paper copies of their reference books. They will continue publishing their information, but like most everything else today, it will be published online.

This news was kind of sad to me! I remember using our Encyclopedia Britannicas many times while growing up. Some of my teachers allowed us to get extra credit by simply turning in a report on something that interested us. I loved extra credit, so took full advantage of this offer. I'd think of a subject, look it up in the encyclopedia, write down the information, and turn it in for my extra credit. My method of research then (copying verbatim from an encyclopedia) makes me laugh now thinking about all the copyright laws that exist today! But oh how I loved my extra credit!

We had two sets of Encyclopedia Britannicas while I was growing up. One set was old, maybe published in the 1960s. I imagine it was my mom's from when she was growing up. The second set was purchased brand new in 1990 or 1991, and my parents might have purchased them from a door-to-door salesman. (Or I might just be getting that confused with the Jehovah's Witnesses that would come to our door and my mom would argue with on our front porch...but that's another story!)

Anyway, I remember the night the new encyclopedia set arrived at our house. We were so excited to get this brand new set of books were amazed at how current they were. They were so current that there was  a short paragraph about Operation Desert Storm in the "O" encyclopedia. This was pretty cool to us because the war was in its very early stages when we recieved the books. In fact, I even remember telling my teacher about this and she didn't believe me, so I brought the book in to show her! I don't think she appreciated that much.

The Encyclopedia Britannicas I used growing up.

I guess it makes sense to discontinue printing these books. Our world changes so quickly that most any piece like this is out of date the minute it hits the press. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned, but I wouldn't mind if they kept printing these books and I had a set on hand at my house. Something about that just seems comforting...

China Plates & Pizza

This year Ross and I decided to make Wednesday nights our "Dining Room Date Nights" where we turn off the tv and sit down in our dining room for a nice dinner together. We've been eating off of our china plates, too....I absolutely love the china pattern we picked out and was so thankful to receive a few place settings as wedding gifts.

Well this past Wednesday we were planning on having leftovers...until we saw a Pizza Hut commercial for $.50 wings. I don't like wings, but Ross sure does and $.50 wings is a good deal. Ross likes Pizza Hut's wings and I like thier pizza, so we decided, spur of the moment, to just get pizza and wings takeout from Pizza Hut for dinner that night. Since it was Wendesday, we ate in the dining room and we used our china plates to eat our pizza off of. I acutally suggested we just use paper plates, but Ross insisted we use our china plates!

I love that we're using our china more often, especially with pizza! Pretty things are meant to be used, not sit in a drawer or cabinet. I hope this inspires you to use your china or pretty things more often!

Lenox Opal Innocence - our china pattern. I LOVE it!

My First Knitted Hat

I recently came across a pattern for a knitted baby hat and decided to try it. This was a big deal to me because the hat is knitted on four double pointed needles and I had no experience knitting with four double pointed needles. I've wanted to knit a hat for a while, but was kind of afraid to because I didn't now how. Well, the cuteness of this pattern got the best of me and I decided to give it a try! 

I watched a couple of YouTube videos on how to knit in the round with four double pointed needles and found that it didn't seem to be that hard. I gave it a try and I am so glad I did. It ended up not being that hard, just a little awkward getting used to having so many needles in a small space. The hat didn't take very long to knit up and the pattern was quite easy.

I love this little hat! I think it is so cute and plan to make more. In fact, I'd like to make one to match this baby blanket I knitted and give it as a set to an expecting mom. I have also thought about giving these baby knitting projects away to the Pregnancy Care Center, or some place like that.  

The pattern for my hat is below, along with pictures of my finished product (excuse the lighting, it wasn't very good when I took the picture). Click on "knitted baby hat" in the first paragraph above to go to the blog posting listing this pattern and others similar to the hat I made. 

Pattern:
CO 72 sts and distribute to dpns. Join, being careful not to twist.
Work k2, p2 ribbing for 6 rnds.

Eyelet Version:
Rnds 1-3: knit.
Rnd 4: *k1, k2tog, yo, k3*; rep between *s around.
Rnds 5-7: knit.
Rnd 8: *k4, k2tog, yo*; rep between *s around.
Rep Rnds 1-8 twice more.

Continue to Crown Shaping below.

Crown Shaping (Eyelet, Heart and Diamond Versions):
Rnd 1 and all odd rnds: knit.
Rnd 2: *k4, k2tog*; rep between *s around - 60 sts.
Rnd 4: *k3, k2tog*; rep between *s around - 48 sts.
Rnd 6: *k2, k2tog*; rep between *s around - 36 sts.
Rnd 8: *k1, k2tog*; rep between *s around - 24 sts.
Rnd 10: k2tog around - 12 sts.
Knit one more rnd even.
Cut tail and thread through remaining loops. Pull tight and tie off. Weave in ends.

T-Shirt Shrug

Last weekend I made yet another project found on Pinterest... a t-shirt shrug! I saw this pin and thought it looked really easy to make so decided to try it out. You can find the instructions to make it here:  Cut Out + Keep.

Here's the basic instructions:

• Cut a t-shirt in half straight up the middle of the front side
• Cut off the neck band
• Turn the shirt inside out and fold the cut part in 1" to form the casing
• Pin and sew
• Pull the ribbon through the casing using a safety pin

This shrug was so easy to make and I plan to make more. I bought the shirt at Target for $8, but have a couple of shirts in my closet that I might just turn into a shrug instead of buying more t-shirts. The shirt is made out of stretchy cotton and that material is not the easiest for me to sew, so that was a bit challenging, but overall it turned out pretty good. I will definitely be wearing this shrug. It's perfect to go over sleeveless tops and dresses. I've love to make one for you...just let me know! 

Scrabble Board

Ross and I have a new piece of wall art in our house. A homemade, magnetic Scrabble board! I found this idea on Pinterest, and more specifically from this blog, The Twice Remembered Cottage.

I saw this pin and thought it would be so much fun to have in our house. It didn't seem too hard to make and I had the perfect place in mind for it. I showed it to Ross and he thought it sounded cool and not too hard to make, so we made it! We followed the steps in the blog posting above and found it pretty easy to make. The Scrabble board is now hanging on the wall between the man cave and our guest bedroom. The board was the perfect size for this part of the wall! It has been fun playing this ongoing Scrabble game together.

I modpodged dictionary pages to the sheet metal to serve as the background. I love it!

Kind-Of Pie

I've recently rediscovered a dessert that my mom used to make for us when we were growing up. I think she called it cherry crisp, but I like to call it kind-of pie. It's pie filling with a sweet and crunchy topping and she used to make it with cherry pie filling. I don't like cherries, so I would just eat the tasty topping and leave the cherries in the pan. I got in trouble for this. 

I call it kind-of pie because it doesn't have a real pie crust, just the topping. I make it with peach or apple filling. I like peach, but Ross doesn't. He likes apple and although it's not my favorite, I've found the apple filling is a nice compliment to the sweet topping.
  
Kind-of pie is really easy to make and only requires three ingredients:

• 1 white Jiffy cake mix
• 1 can pie filling (any kind you want)
• 1/4 c softened margarine (4 Tbsp)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pour the pie filling into a pie plate and spread around to cover the bottom. Cut the margarine into the cake mix until it's mixed together well. Pour the cake mix on top of the pie filling and bake for 40-45 minutes. Enjoy!