March Wrap-Up

I am wrapping up March a little early because we are leaving on vacation. Well Spring has officially sprung in our neck of the woods. We have put out the shorts and packed up the heavy sweaters. I gave up on the Matsuri scarf pattern. I ripped it out and started over 3 times and decided I was not having much fun with it. So I found a pattern I liked much better. It is the Malabrigo Waffle Scarf, you can find the pattern HERE. The picture above is my progress so far. It looks nice with the yarn. I tweaked the pattern a little and do 2 stitches of garter stitch at the beginning and the end of a row to help keep it from rolling. This pattern is soo much more enjoyable and I am so glad I switched. The book next to my scarf is “Water for Elephants” by Sara Gruen. This is the book I am bringing with me on our vacation. I know everyone has already read this one. It has been on my list to read. I saw an advertisement for the up coming movie based on the book and it looks like a good one. So I moved the book to the top of my list, wanting to read it before the movie comes out.

  I tried several new recipes this month. I tried the Biloxi Banana Bread recipe from Martha Hall Foose’s book titled “Screen Doors & Sweet Tea. This was the best banana bread I have ever had. I have used my old Betty Crocker recipe since I was 18 and now I am switching to this one. It is awesome. I also tried a Minestrone soup recipe that turned out good even as a left over. This one was from Martha Stewarts Everyday Food. Overall it was a good month for food and dinners in this house.

We are packing up and heading out on our vacation. I will be back with tales of our adventure and lots of photos. I will leave you with some photos of Chloe from the month of March.

Happy Birthday Chloe

Chloe is now 2 rears old. The whole day I kept thinking about 2 years ago and being in labor. I wonder if I will still be thinking about that when she turns 20. We are taking a trip for some much needed relaxation and plan to celebrate her birthday then. When we get back from the vacation I plan to make her a special cake and we will do presents when we get back. This has to be her best week ever. Chloe has been in the best mood all week, no tantrums, & no trouble. Hopefully she is not saving up all the drama for our trip. The older she gets the harder it is to plop her down and take some photos. I attempted to take some photos of her in a new dress. Looks like I will continue to try over the course of the next few weeks. All I need is one good shot so I can frame it to mark her second birthday. Here are some of the photos I have so far, as you can see I don’t have the best shot yet.

Chloe Meets Chuck E

We went for a drive and stopped at a Chuck E Cheeses for a little arcade fun. This was Chloe’s first time at one of these establishments. When I was growing up we went to Showbiz pizza. I was a little disappointed at Chuck E’s. There was no animatronics band playing music. There were a few things Chloe could ride on and play with. Of course we had to introduce her to skee ball. I think we spent 5 dollars and walked away with a handful of coins we did not play and had turned in our tickets for a sheet of stickers for Chloe. Not bad for a little cheep fun. Here are some photos of the fun.

Rub a Dub Dub

My Creative Space....

Every Thursday Kootoyoo does a My Creative Space linky for people to show whatever creative thing they are working on at the moment. I thought I would join in this week. This is what I have so far on my Little Zig-Zag blanket. I have completed 80 squares so far.

I started laying them out to see how I want to place them in the strips.

I think I will go with these four colors for the top and bottom border. I need to make at least 60 more squares and 20 half squares. Still a lot more to do, but I am very happy with the results so far.

If you want to showcase whatever creative thing you are working on or would like to take a look at what others are doing head on over to Kootoyoo every Thursday.

Happy Birthday Cosmo

Our tiger cat Cosmo turns 8 years old today. This photo of his face is my all time favorite. Today he will spend most of the day napping. I will give him a special lunch of canned food with a side of cat treats.

 I still remember the day I went to the local animal control and picked him out of a large litter of kittens to adopt. I think he had 8 sisters and one brother. I named him Cosmo after the Seinfeld character Cosmo Kramer. Even today when he is all wound up and running around Cosmo will make a crazy entrance and slide across the floor tousling the throw rug. Cosmo has lots of nicknames, like Bootsy, Mr. Boots, Jr. Mint, Fancy Pants, or Skitter Magoo. He is certainly my precious baby boy and hope he is with us for many more years. Here are some more of my favorite photos of Cosmo.

Tuesday's with Chloe