Tuesday, June 29, 2010

REAL WATER BED

This is not in English, but it is funny and you don't really need the words to know what is happening.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

COOKIE PIE

One of the favorite treats Mom used to make for us when she was baking pies was Cookie Pie.
It is very easy and a nice treat.
She would take pie crust scraps and sprinkle them with Cinnamon sugar and bake them.
Last weekend when Hunter & Jordyn came I made a batch. It was still a hit.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

GEOGRAPHY LESSON

This is a clip of one of Peggy West a County Commissioner from Milwaukee. She is speaking in favor of Milwaukee boycotting Arizona because of SB 1070.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Monday, June 21, 2010

FATHER'S DAY CHERRY PIE

Dad loves Cherry Pie.
For Father's Day we made a cherry pie.
It started with a trip to Sprouts for
Jordyn worked at pulling off the stems, Hunter manned the cherry pitter and Leanne checked the cherries to make sure the pits were really gone.
The result was
a bowl of pitted cherries and
red fingers.
While they were doing that I did the bottom pie crust. Gluten free crust can't be rolled out, it is stretched and pressed like pizza crust.
Leanne cooked the filling
Poured it into the crust
and stretched the rest of the crust over the top of the pie
While the pie was baking it was ice cream making time.
Jordyn watched the ice cream while it was freezing and sang to it to encourage it to freeze.
It worked.
And it was delicious!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Amigurumi

FROM WIKIPEDIA:
Amigurumi (編みぐるみ?, lit. knitted stuffed toy) is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures. The word is derived from a combination of the Japanese words Ami, meaning crocheted or knitted, and nuigurumi, meaning stuffed doll. Amigurumi are typically animals, but can include artistic renderings or inanimate objects endowed with anthropomorphic features
Amigurumi have no practical use; they are created and collected for aesthetic reasons. The pervading aesthetic of amigurumi is cuteness. To this end, typical amigurumi animals have an over-sized spherical head on a cylindrical body with undersized extremities.

An online fad for creating and collecting amigurumi began in 2003. By 2006, amigurumi were reported to be the most popular items on Etsy, an online craft marketplace, where they typically sold for $10 to $100
Amigurumi are usually crocheted out of yarn using the single crochet stitch. They can also be knit. Typically, crochet hooks or knitting needles that are slightly smaller than normal are used, in order to achieve a tight gauge that retains stuffing.Stuffing is usually standard polyester or cotton craft stuffing, but may be improvised from other materials. Plastic pellets may be inserted beneath stuffing in order to distribute weight at the bottom of the figure. Amigurumi are usually worked in sections and then joined, except for some amigurumi which have no limbs, only a head and torso which are worked as one piece.

I love making Amigurumi critters. I started making them about 3 years ago.
My very 1st project were Easter Bunnies for the Nursery kids.
A friend saw the bunnies taking shape on my desk at work and asked me to try my hand at some for her grand kids.
Amis are done in a lot of small pieces that are stuffed and assembled.
These bags of parts became
The angel and the animals were gifts for my extended family last Christmas.
The Complete Nativity will be a 3 or 4 year project.
Amis are small so children can hold them in their  hands and carry them easily.
And you can make a lot of the little critters in a short amount of time.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Leanne's Birthday

Today is Leanne's birthday, so we had a birthday dinner at Dad's house.
We played Uno Attack for a while and then everyone went to play tennis on the Wii, while I went to the store to get the rest of the food we needed for dinner.
When I got back all of the adults were napping.
Jordyn took this picture.
Jordyn has been anxious to learn to crochet, so I brought pink yarn and a purple hook for her. She will need to be a little older before she masters it.
Jordyn & her stuffed friend of the week.
Sometimes when the kids come to visit I let them take pictures. Here are some of their best shots.
Dinner was steak with blue cheese crumbles sauteed onions &  mushrooms, sweet potato fries and, of course, chocolate cake. Sorry no pictures.
Hunter loves his chocolate cake.