Wintermaggedon-2014 Edition

Hey Y’ all!
Wow. We are experiencing the craziest winter here at the beach! When I last posted, we were on the verge of a four day snow/ice/slush event. Yes. Four days. We missed four days of school! Here is a pic of our backyard….


Pitty Pat was not thrilled with all of the frozen precipitation. Luckily our portion of the beach melted quickly, but other parts of our county were not that lucky. It warmed up by Groundhog day and Pitty Pat and I took a trip to the beach just to show Mr. Groundhog what we thought of his predictions!


But late last week, I started tracking a storm and knew the news was not going to be good for us. Today we got hit with a HUGE ice storm. So far I have lost 3 trees in my back yard and one is very close to taking out my fence. The temps have warmed up to 32 degrees, but with melting trees are continuing to lose limbs.



They just announced that we won’t have school tomorrow either. Oh well. I will enjoy being home with Pitty Pat and working on my new hobby…. Loom  knitting!

Several years ago, when loom knitting was just getting started, I bought a set of looms and never used them. With losing Granddaddy, I just haven’t been able to pick up my knitting needles and concentrate. So the other night I went upstairs and picked up the smallest loom in the pack. Within 30 minutes I had made a preemie hat! I have so enjoyed making them and usually make at least one a day! If you follow me on instagram you have seen my progress. For now it is a great activity to do, especially while watching tv. It doesn’t require a lot of concentration, but you still get the satisfaction of making something everyday! And the hats are just precious!

I have found some great websites with some easy patterns. I plan on trying a cowl tonight. If you see a loom, pick it up… it is a great activity! Here is a video that helped me get started with making a preemie hat. Just grab some bulky yarn and a loom and go!



Alright, I am off to enjoy my night. Keep your fingers crossed that we keep our power!
Tootles!
JKP

Heavy Heart

Hey Y’all,

If you follow me on facebook, twitter or instagram, you know by now that last week my precious Granddaddy Abe passed away on Monday.

This past week has been very surreal. I took last week off from school and went back to work yesterday. I am having good days and bad days, but mostly I am still in a fog getting used to this change in my little world.

Today, believe it or not, we have a snow day! We have an impending winter weather event that is about to hit the SC coast very hard. I think Granddaddy knew that I needed a few days to stay in my pj’s, drink coffee, and snuggle with the Pitty Padster. I haven’t been able to pick up my knitting needles since I lost Granddaddy. I am hoping that over the next few days of being home, I can get my crafty rhythm back again. My heart is just kind of heavy right now.

I am currently trying to charge every electronic device I own just in case the power goes out. We are expecting almost an inch of ice and snow on top of that. I have my heat running on 75 just to get the house really warm in case we lose power once everything starts this afternoon. I have my ipod, ipad, kindle, laptop and phone full of books, knitting podcasts and music to keep us entertained. I also plan on catching up on some much needed sleep!

Every time I let Pitty Pat out this morning he keeps sniffing the air and pawing the ground. Yup. A winter event is coming!

Hopefully I will hop back on here with a weather update soon.

Tootles!

JKP

Crockpot Cream Cheese Chicken Chili and Thank You Baby Jesus… The Prednisone is WORKING!

Hey Y’all!

I am back today with one of the yummy crockpot recipes that I cooked up yesterday during my two crockpot Sunday! This Chicken Chili is one of the best things I have made this year… Hee, hee… well. It is ONLY January 13! No but really… this is so yummy. I plan on making it a staple in my freezer!

When I checked in yesterday with the ol’ blog I was still having some major issues with swallowing and ulcers in my esophagus. I am happy to report after being on prednisone since Saturday, I am feeling LOADS better. I am still having some pain, but I am able to eat most soft mushy things right now. I am hoping by tomorrow I will be be back to myself. I still can’t have carbonated beverages right now, so I am sticking to tea and water. But I am feeling so much better than I have been. Now if I can just get this sleep thing going… I was up at 3:45 a.m. this morning. Oh well. I will take eating over sleeping right now!

Now on to the recipe! I found this on Pinterest.. so you can go there and look too. I didn’t take my usual photos of me cooking.. sorry y’all. I just wasn’t up to it!

To make Crockpot Cream Cheese Chicken Chili you will need:

1 can black beans
1 can corn, undrained *You can use yellow corn or a mixture of sweet and yellow. I did the mixture!
1 can Rotel, undrained … if you don’t like Rotel you can substitute diced tomatoes without the green chiles. I had to do that this time. Rotel and esophagus ulcers REALLY don’t mix.
1 package ranch dressing mix
1 tsp cumin *I did not add this…. cumin and I DO NOT GET ALONG
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 8 oz package light cream cheese
2 chicken breasts *I added 3 this time. I was trying to get some more protein in since I haven’t been eating.

Drain and rinse black beans. Place your chicken at bottom of your crockpot, then pour out whole can of corn (undrained), Rotel, and black beans. Top with the seasonings and ranch mix. Stir all ingredients together. Place the cream cheese on top of the chicken. Cover with lid and cook on low for 6-8 hours. As it cooks, after about 3 hours, you may want to go ahead and blend your cream cheese into your mixture. After about 6 or so hours use tongs to remove the chicken breasts. Then  use 2 forks to shred chicken. At this point your chicken is really falling apart, so it won’t require a lot of effort to shred. Add the shredded chicken back into the crockpot and cook for 20 or so more minutes. Then serve!

It is really yummy! On piece of advice I would give is to double the recipe if you are cooking for more than 3. For me I got 6 Julia servings, which was about a cup and a half each. If you want to cook this and have leftovers, then I would absolutely double the recipe. When I added the third chicken breast it made it less liquidy, which is what I was wanting. If you want it more soup like and you are only cooking for a small group, then just add the two chicken breasts. But go ahead and print this one out y’all… It’s a GOODIE!

Here’s a my plate with a taste…. tomorrow I will be back with the Crockpot Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo… which is now tied with this recipe for recipe of the year!

 

Tootles!

JKP

Easing My Way into 2014!

Hey Y’all!
I hope so far 2014  is finding you well! 2014 so far has been a bit bumpy for me! After being on a strong antibiotic for the sinus thing I could not shake, then another antibiotic and then another steroid…I have found myself in the midst of a Crohn’s flare from the antibiotics. At least it is not my tummy… just my esophagus. Sometimes when I have to take an antibiotic or two, my esophagus will rebel a little and decide to throw a hissy fit. Boo. So I have ulcers that have decided to line the lining of my esophagus. So. NOT. Fun. And a wee bit painful. So I am back on prednisone as of yesterday. But as of today, it has helped tremendously and I hope to be back to myself in the next few days. It just has thrown a wrench in the whole swallowing and eating thing! Today has been much better and I have been able to eat mushy food and drink some tea. I actually had to take Wednesday off from school because I was feeling so yucky. I should have known this was coming! Anyhoo… Life with Crohn’s. You never know what you’re going to get!

This past week I was able to get our New Year’s Cards in the mail! They were delayed shipping slightly by the big winter storm last week, so the day they arrived, back in the mail they went! Here is this year’s card… I think it is one of my favorites! Of course I had to add a turtle too!





For the past few years I have used Snapfish. I have been very pleased with my cards and with coupons they are much less expensive than Walgreens. Also, the choice of card templates that you have are just fantastic! I really like the letter cut outs of “happy” this year.


Since I have been feeling under the weather, I have been hanging out at home with Mr. Paddington. This weekend between rounds of medicine, antispasmodics and trying to eat and drink, we hooked ourselves up with a 30 day free trial of Amazon Prime. I love it because I can stream shows like Downton Abby through my roku. Since I fell behind Downton Abby in season 1.. we are working our way through the seasons. It has been so nice to catch up. And you know anything English, I just love! We also had a free preview of Cinemax and HBO this weekend, so I have been restocking my DVR. I had to turn my old one in back in December and I was just crushed. But considering it overheated, I guess I was more than willing to give up all of the episodes of Castle, The Blacklist and my hoarded collection of Knitty Gritty. Not to mention all of the Christmas movies I had recorded from Hallmark. Also, I have been able to catch up on all of my network shows because of On Demand. So, it has all ended well.


I have done some sporadic knitting over the past week. I am back in a dishcloth phase right now. Dishcloths are the perfect knitting project because they are portable and you can finish one in just a few hours! And an added bonus is that dishcloth yarn/cotton yarn is cheap. And it comes in many, many, many colors. I have knitted dishcloths forever, but I felt like branching out a bit. So, here is the Lacy Round Dishcloth. She is just adorable! This cloth took a little under an hour to make.



I think my love of dishcloth knitting has come around again because often times the prednisone keeps me up and/or will wake me up at 3 a.m. During one of those nights I stumbled upon a great website with some great patterns. I am slowly making my way through all of the patterns on this blog. Check it out! I am currently working on the Into the Wind dishcloth.


Today I had to run a quick errand to Dollar General. I mean, come on… it wouldn’t be a day without a visit! I discovered that they had all of their Christmas ornaments on 70% off clearance. I had my eye on a few before Christmas. And even though they were originally just a $1.. I never made a purchase. I just love cardinal ornaments.. and low and behold.. they had a bunch of cardinals left. I stocked up and for $2.40 I have some new ornaments.



That is about all that is going on here! I am very sleepy, so I think I am going to head off to bed and sleep as long as I can. This week is a short one for us.. the kiddies have a half day on Thursday and we have a workday on Friday. Then school is closed next Monday. Ahh.. a three day weekend! I’ll be back soon… I did some crockpot cooking today… it was a two crockpot day at Casa de Pitty Pat! I have some yummy new recipes to share on the blog! I had the need for some mushy but yummy and fulfilling meals this week, so I can’t wait to share.

Have a great Monday everyone! Tootles!

JKP

New Year Round Up!

Hey Y'all!

Happy 2014! I found myself on New Year's Eve in my regular doc's office in more pain! It turns out I never really got over the sinus/ear stuff that hit me right Christmas. I left his office with a big antibiotic and another round of steroids. Pitty Pat and I rang in the new year in bed, trying to feel better! I am still not feeling great, but much better than I was. The insomnia from the steroids has hit me pretty hard this go round. In fact, I was wide awake last night with sinus pressure and insomnia. So I did what any normal person would do, I crocheted a scarf!  Here's this year's first finished object! Of course it is a ruffle scarf! The colors are so happy.

I used Bernat's Twist and Twirl yarn on this project. This was a quick an inexpensive project because the yarn is on sale for $1.99 this week at AC Moore. Plus my teacher discount, this came out to a great project! This yarn is mesh like and it was easier to use the "no crochet" method on this one. Do you want to make one of your own? Check out the video below!

That is not all I have been up to! Yesterday to get out of the house a bit, because you know if I don't Paddington will have a really hard time when I go back to school, I went and walked around Market Common. I actually went to see if Barnes and Noble had the Knitting Pattern a Day calendar, which they didn't. I can't imagine why, there shouldn't be a run on a knitting calendar! Anyhoo, many of the stores were open and it was nice to walk through. I stumbled into one of my favorite stores, Bijuju and they were having a SALE. One of the things that I have gotten really bad about lately is not wearing my jewelry. I love to wear bracelets and I have just gotten out of the habit. I bought myself some pretty arm candy yesteday... for all of $4. I love these bracelets! They also had a deal with their clearance stuff... buy one get one free and I loaded up on bangles too. I am so glad I did, I have missed my bracelets! 

Today has been COLD and rainy, so Pitty Pat and I have stayed in. I have tried to catnap through the day since I didn't sleep any last night. Also, our heat it out downstairs again.. so we will be sleeping upstairs tonight. My HVAC guy can't make it until tomorrow. So here's hoping for a full night's sleep and some rest for us. At least we will be warm upstairs! 

Tootles!
:) JKP 

Ringing Out the Year... With A Cowl and a Recipe!

Hey Y'all!

Well. Luckily the dentist was able to see me at 11 this morning. After a few x-rays it was determined that I have some nerve issues going on from clenching and grinding my teeth at night. I also have some Crohns issues going on with my gums. So the good news is that it is not a tooth, but something that is not easily fixable. Today I went and purchased a new night guard (since I chewed through my last one) and I have a few tricks up my sleeve from my dentist to help with  my gum issues. I also visited the natural health food store and stocked up on sulfate free, everything else free toothpaste as well. Drastic times call for drastic measures! So. There we are!

Today I wanted to share a quick recipe and an easy to make cowl accessory with y'all just in case you had big New Year's Eve plans! I have never been a big NYE party gal, but I do like to go out to dinner and then get home before all of the crazy folks get on the roads. NYE is one of those nights where I like to be in my house still admiring my Christmas tree lights.

First up... a Yummy Recipe! I don't know about y'all... but here in South Carolina we take our New Year's Day meal very seriously. You must have black eyed peas and some sort of greens. You also have a few other sides as well. With the peanut/nut allergy that I have had to face over the past few years, I have to be very careful about what I make. One of my favorite things to eat is a fruit salad or fruit ambrosia. But some folks put nuts in that and then I can't eat it! I found this great fruit salad recipe on Pinterest right before Christmas and Mom and I took it to a brunch we were invited to on Christmas day. It. Was. So. Good! Also. I didn't take any pictures when I made this!

For Cherry Fruit Salad you will need...
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed (Bonus points if you use the Extra Creamy version!)
1 (16 ounce) can cherry pie filling
1 (15 ounce) can pineapple chunks, drained
2/3 bag of  miniature marshmallows
1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional.. obviously I DID NOT INCLUDE THIS!)
Directions
First, completely drain the pineapple.Really get all of the juice out. You can save it and drink it later or add to New Year's Day drinks!

Then,  combine all the ingredients except the cool whip and the cherry pie filling. Make sure to mix well. Finally, fold in the cherry pie filling and then fold in the Cool Whip. Be careful not to over mix so the Cool Whip will not fall. Place in the fridge and let the Cherry Fruit Salad chill overnight.
Trust me, it will be hard not to taste this before it is chilled.... but OMG if you wait it is so DELICIOUS!

Note.. this is not my picture... it is from Pinterest. I had my spoon so deep in this concoction that I did not get any pictures!

And... finally a quick cowl for a night out on the town! As I mentioned in my last post, I was very, ahem, creative this Christmas and found a lot of quick to make, great looking presents for friends and family. And this one I promise, even if you are not crafty, you can make!

You will need one ball of Starbella Strata yarn. I found mine at AC Moore. It runs about $6.99 and I had a 50% off coupon and a 15% off teacher discount. This is the Raspberry Jam colorway.

Remove the wrapper from the yarn and pull out three lengths from your nose to the end of your arm extended all the way out. Cut the yarn tube.

Put your hand through the end of the tube like you are stretching out socks or a pair of panty hose.

Stretch the yarn fabric long wise and width wise. Place over your head. INSTANT COWL!

You can make the lengths you measure longer and get a longer cowl. You can get at least 2 to 3 cowls out of one skein of this yarn tube. Nifty!

If you need more help making this cowl... because trust me, I didn't get it at first either... check out this nifty two minute video!

This yarn comes in a few different colorways. I made another one out of the Shipwreck colorway and gave it to my Mom for Christmas.

My Mom promptly went online and ordered ALL of the colors to make cowls for all of her friends!

So that's it for tonight. Go forth and craft and cook! I might hop on tomorrow to do a best of 2013... we'll see!
Tootles!
:) JKP

A Belated Merry, Merry and Almost New Year!

Hey Y'all!

Well, the last time I hopped on the ol' blog it was right before Thanksgiving. And. What I like to call the 2013 time warp. It seemed like right after Turkey Day everything was on warped speed and things had to be done, done, done! Before I knew it, Girls Weekend Christmas Palooza was over and Christmas was a mere 14 days away. Whew. I was busy with school and then right before we got out for winter break, I was hit with the good old sinus infection, plus double ear infection. So. That is how I spent my time through Christmas, getting better! I have also had to go back on some prednisone for various issues, so that has added to the fun too. One of the things that triggered from my sinus infection was a tooth issue that I have been dealing with for a few months. It really hasn't been that bad over the months, but with my sinuses going crazy it has kicked my tooth "issue" and pain into high gear. I am hoping the dentist can fit me in sometime this week because this has not been fun. Tummy pain I can handle any day, tooth pain NOT!

Anyhoo. I am still enjoying my Christmas decorations. Y'all know how I just love the lights! I guess I will take everything down around the first. One nice thing about winter break this year is that we don't have to go back to school until January 6th! So I am able to really enjoy this next week. Except for being in pain, I have quite enjoyed the past few days of watching tv, napping (when I can) and piddling around the house. Here's a pic of the entertainment center with this year's decorations!

I also have a new addiction... no crochet/crochet scarves!

This year was a "pinching the pennies" Christmas. I have had a few expensive months! Mitzi Mazda had to have some service and then my heat went out over Girls Weekend Christmas Palooza. So I had to be really creative with my gifts this year. Since I am a "maker" I came across some really neat crafts on You Tube! I am sure you are well aware of the "ruffle scarves" that have been very popular with knitters and crocheter's over the past year. I think they are so cute, but LAWDY it takes forever and a day to knit one. One night while on Pinterest, I came across an easy way to make them and y'all... I had some great gifts!

I made a silver, gold and white one for my Mom...

This one for my Mom's friend Jean.... She hosted a great Christmas Day Brunch and I had to take something to her!

And a red sparkly one for my Mom's friend Pat... She loves the red and the sparkly!

I have some more colorways to work on this week. Would you like to make one for yourself or someone else? I promise, if you can hold a crochet hook, you can make this scarf! I started out by watching this tutorial on You Tube. I vary the stitches I pick up just a bit, depending on how flouncy I want the scarf to be. If I want it really flouncy I will pick up 12 stitches, less flouncy and I will do 9. I can make a scarf in about 20 minutes. Not bad for a new accessory. The yarn runs about $4.99.. but AC Moore and Michael's usually have it on sale for $3.99. Check out the video to get going on your own scarf!

This is a second video that I watched that really helped with beginning and ending the scarves. This video is very thorough with the demonstration and shows you what the scarves look like with different loops added.

I'll be back tomorrow with hopefully a tooth update (keep your fingers REALLY crossed) and another easy craft and recipe for New Year's!
Tootles y'all!
:) JKP