Celebrating her Daddy’s birthday

Dan’s birthday is today, but we celebrated with cake yesterday.

It wasn’t just  any cake. Dan isn’t a fan of traditional cake and icing. He doesn’t like sweets in general, including chocolate. (This quirk of his is one of the keys to our happiness; he doesn’t raid my stash of chocolate).

Instead of a butter cake, I made him a cheesecake with a shortbread crust. (Neither I nor my neighbor had any graham crackers).

Elly, who is always thrilled to try to feed herself with a spoon, had a blast mashing the cheesecake, smearing it into her hair and getting the occasional mouthful.

Yum!

Protesting the Cold

It snowed yesterday. It rained the day before that. It might snow again over the weekend.

If it’s cold enough to snow, it’s too cold to garden.

Walking Jake in this weather is only fun for Jake.

Elly stays warm with the handmade wool blanket she received from a colleague of my MIL. The blanket was made from wool that the woman, also named Elizabeth and thus the reason for her wanting to make something for my little girl, hand-dyed and handspun.

Riding the bike only makes it feel colder so that’s out too.

This house is starting to take on the shape of a pumpkin shell. Why hasn’t Spring sent Old Man Winter packing? Elly and I want to go out and play!

Laundry Day

It seems like every day is laundry day.

Elly’s cloth diapers have to be washed every other day. Then there are the towels, sheets, Elly’s clothes, and our clothes. With all the trips I make up and down our basement stairs going to and fro the laundry room, I’ll never need to buy a StairMaster.

Our washer and dryer are ancient. They came with the house and the gnomes only know when the previous owners bought them. It sounds like I’m complaining, but I’m actually shocked with their durability. They have taken on the extra load and presumable wear and tear without a hiccup.

Frankly, out of all the appliances that came with the house, only the refrigerator sounds like it’s on its last legs. It started making a horrible rattle months ago, but thus far the darn thing refuses to die. Perhaps it hangs around because it loves all the attention it gets from Elly.

Knitting at Elly’s Pace

On a swatch that will probably only measure 8 inches wide when blocked, I have knit a whopping 6 rows in 3 days. At this rate, I might finish it in 2 months.

I could increase my knitting time, but that would just decrease my time with Elly. If given the choice, I’ll pick Elly almost every time. (A mom needs a break every once in a while).

Soon she’ll grow up and I’ll have oodles of knitting time. Until then, I’m happy with my 2 rows of knitting per day.

Effort equals Results (in a perfect world)

This is the first year in 3 years that I expect high yields from my vegetable garden.

In order to thrive, gardens require a lot of time and effort, both of which have been in short supply. I have some pretty good excuses though.

2 years ago I became pregnant with Elly. Since I felt like death warmed over the entire 1st trimester, not much besides my tomatoes got planted. Preparing Elly’s room took priority once I did start to feel better. When the tomato plants got too big for their cages, I just let them lop over and take over the walkways. Though my yield was high that summer, many of the tomatoes rotted on the ground out of reach.

Last year revolved around the birth of Elly. The garden was basically allowed to grow wild. The tomato plants that did grow did not bear a lot of fruit. But I was thrilled to have anything at all.

This year shall be much different. I’ve already put in more time and effort than the past two years combined. Not only did I manage to plant 65 onion plants, but I managed to plant them on time.

Between now and Mother’s Day in May, I’ll be adding the following veggies to my raised beds:
lettuce
carrots
zucchini
tomatoes, of course
butternut squash

It doesn’t look like a lot, but it should keep me busy during harvest time.

Elly will be happy. She loves it when I have an excuse to take her outside.

Yes, she’s eating dirt again.

Creative Juices are Flowing

Though I feel like my mind has been muddied since Uncle Willie’s death, it must have woken up the creative side of my mind. After months of not coming up with any good knitting designs, I’ve made a list of 8 not too shabby ideas in a week.

Two days ago I cast on for a new project that will hopefully become my next published pattern.

I’m using Eos by Unique Sheep to test out the pattern.

I had some leftover from the Something Blue stole that I designed for them 3 years ago.

It is good to be back in the saddle again. I had missed the rush of dreaming up a new design, crunching the numbers, picking out the perfect yarn, feeling the yarn slide through my fingers and watching the pattern take shape.

To Uncle Willie

Thank you for so many things: for giving me a childhood home to come back to; for complementing me on my cooking even when it didn’t come out so well; for laughing when I laughed; and for swooning over Elly.

Mostly, thanks for your unwavering love and support. It meant more than you know.

I’m going to miss you, Uncle Willie.

Making Doughnuts

Last Tuesday was Fastnaught Day. Since moving to Pottstown, I have embraced the local tradition of eating the traditional square doughnuts. I can’t turn down good food.

This year, I decided to try my hand at making them. I had some leftover mashed potatoes in the fridge and I always keep yeast on hand. After running a quick search online, I followed this recipe though I made the following changes:

  1. used leftover mashed potatoes with butter, milk and yogurt mixed in
  2. increased mashed potatoes to 2 cups, since that is what I had on hand
  3. added 1 cup of warm water
  4. substituted butter for the lard
  5. substituted bread flour for flour

I may never go back to store-bought Fastnaught Day doughnuts. They were delicious.

My only problem was inconsistency in the deep frying process; some of the doughnuts didn’t get cooked through. Next time I’ll use an egg timer to make sure I’m cooking them long enough.

A New Fan of Mc Donalds

Although she doesn’t associate the name McDonald with delicious french fries and tasty hash browns, it’s just a matter of time. We are raising her to love the occasional meal like we do. To increase the odds that she will cheer at the sight of the golden arches, we took her to their playroom on High St in Pottstown. Most everything was too advanced for her, but that didn’t stop her from having a great time!

Elly’s 1st Bike Ride

No, despite being a toddler, Elly is not old enough or coordinated enough to ride a bike by herself. But, she can tool around town with Mommy in style now.

Check out her new bike trailer!

No longer are we dependent upon the bus schedule. We can come and go as we please.

Though I would love to take her to the mall, I think our first trip should be closer to home. I haven’t ridden my bike in over a year. I was breathing heavy by the time I got us home after picking the bike up from Tri County Bicycle Shop on High Street.