I made this up yesterday.  I needed some mindless knitting because I was so extremely exhausted but wasn’t able to take a nap.  So, I tested out a new colorway and got a charity project out of the way at the same time.

It was pretty dark in the house today (it’s really dreary and overcast) but the colors are a pastel rainbow that I am absolutely in love with.  Have some on the drying rack so look for it soon.  And another new color way as well…..it’s a secret for now, but I tell ya, I am in love.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. 

Applesauce Drop Donuts

3 TBSP butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 cup applesauce

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 1/2 cups all purpose flour

3 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 to 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 cup milk

oil for deep fryer

additional sugar

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well with each addition.  Beat in applesauce and vanilla.  Combine flour, baking podwer, salt, and cinnamon; add to the creamed mixture alternately with the milk.  (This will make a super thick batter and a stand mixer is highly recommend)  In an electric skillet or deep fryer, heat oil to 375.  Drop teaspoonfuls of batter into oil a few at a time, turn with a slotted spoon and fry until golden (about 1 minute each side)  Drain on paper towels, roll in sugar (or sugar cinammon mixture) while still warm.

** WARNING **

These are highly addictive.

Here’s the most recent socks…..Do you love ‘em?  Hate ‘em?  Not inspired by ‘em?  Let me know…please? This is a new colorway I created.  It’s very pastel and I am going to go a little bolder.

 By the way, I guess my server had been holding emails hostage and released them over night.  I have about a bazillion emails that for some reason where held up in customs or something.  So, if you have e-mailed me over the last month or so and haven’t heard from me….well….I may now have your email in a holding cell and will get to it ASAP.  If you have written and not heard from me by this weekend, please write again and accept my apologies for whatever is going on here.  Thanks

MEME TIME

 Read Proverbs 3:11-12

1.  When bad things happen in your life, do you think of it as discipline? Not always.  Sometimes things just happen that have nothing to do with what I have done.

2.  Does it feel like love at the time? Um….NO!

3. I’m sure that sometimes our children wonder why they are getting a spanking or getting yelled at for something, but many times they know they are still loved. Sometimes those seemingly bad things that happen in your life are the Lord’s discipline.  Does it feel like love? Sometimes yes, sometimes no…just as with my own children.  My son told me yesterday that sometimes he likes when we punish him because he knows we are doing our job to keep him safe and make sure he is doing the right thing.  (ok…he was probably totally sucking up to try to get off his restriction a day early but that’s another story for another day) Sometimes I can recognize the Lord’s hand in my disicpline as a gentle reminder that I am straying off HIS course and he is just steering me back to where I need to be.  Sometimes I need HIS very hard hand thwaping me in the head (DOH!) to show me were I have gone way off course.  After all is said and done, I know that it was done out of love though.

From the vacation division

Onesome: Packing– What type of packing do you do when you travel? Are you one of those who carefully does the “traveler’s roll” with each peace of clothing and tucks it carefully away? …or does everything more or less just find its way into the car somehow? Can we just say with 5 kids, a husband, and a dog (oh and don’t forget me) packing for a trip must be done carefully and methodically.  Packing clothes tightly in a roll in the bag is a must.  Careful count of the clothes and alloted sundries is also a must.  Then to fit it in the car carriers (yes a roof top and a tailgate hitch) is important as well.

Twosome: for a– change of pace how about a guided tour of any building or place you’d like to visit: where would you go if you had that opportunity? Now if it were just me, a nice room with an ocean view would be nice….hey it could even be a padded room with a view and today I think I would be just fine with it.  As long as I could sit and knit I am ok.  The kids on the other hand want lots of room to run and play and NOT be cooped up watching me knit.  Can’t image why they would want to spend their vacation NOT watching me knit, but that’s another story.

Threesome: Trip– Where are you off to on your next trip? …or if you’re stuck in place for a while, where would you like to go? Well, had it not be for the most recent surge in gold for the car, we were going to head back to Ohio to visit family and see the new alpacas on the farm.  But since I am one of those road hogs that drives a **big gas guzzling SUV spending somewhere in the range of $500.00 to drive home isn’t in the works right now.  We are hoping to go to the Grand Canyon later on in the fall when it’s a little cooler and perhaps some of the summer spectators are gone.

** I would love to have my little Toyata Paseo back that got 52 miles to a gallon.  However, strapping the children to the roof has been outlawed in most of the states we have lived in and chaining them to the bumper just seems cruel.  (I am so kidding people)

…the sight of your husband sitting on the couch watching TV wearing his gas mask is a normal event.

In all seriousness, this doesn’t happen all the time…he was just preparing his mask for his trip to the “chamber” this week.  Needed to make sure all the seals were tight and the air filter was on right.  Let me tell you, it’s a really scary feeling of trying to breath in the mask and having that air filter blocked.  Yup, I tried it on last night and hubster was trying to show me how to make sure all the seals were working and tight.  He put his hand on the little filter and boom…near instant panic when I couldn’t get in a breath.  The things he has to do for training and to be constantly “ready” amaze me.

On a different front, our little Bear-Kat loves to help me drink my protein shakes each day.  Normally he waits on the side lines for a quick lick of the straw after I am done with my drink.  Today he jumped on my lap and just stuck his head in my cup….while I was still drinking.  Here’s a quick picture of him sharing my drink this morning.

Still plugging away on the German lace shawl.  Am to the point where it seems like it takes forever to complete one row.  Also working on the rainbow socks.  I am not including pictures today because it’s just at the boring repeat stage, but I will post pictures this week.

WOW!  We had such a great weekend together.  Seriously folks, we spent time together….all of us!  How awesome was that?  There was actually some family time in there, some quiet time in there, some shopping time, and some eating out time.  Amazing.

We visited a new church yesterday…twice.  We went for the early service and then went back for the evening service.  It was great.  We have never been big on big churches….you know we want the small country church setting….but I think lately we have found that to be not where God wants us to be.  So we visited this church, and let me tell you it’s huge!  They have a building just for the kids…they have video games (the huge arcade type), a gym, ipods, and all sorts of stuff.  Yes I know…seems rather “worldly” but what a great place for the teens to hang out on the weekends instead of parking lots, back seats of cars, back roads, and various other places teens hang out at these days.  They have a coffee shop (oh yea) and a book store all right there.  Very cool.  The people were incredibly friendly, and the music and the preaching were great as well.  I know my heart was not only touched but pierced a few times.  We will be visiting again next Sunday.

My daddy leaves to visit Puerto Rico today.  He’s taking my niece with him (and let me tell you I am trying really hard not to be jealous about that).  I think he is really excited and nervous and all kinds of things.  He’s going to see various places like where my abuela and abuelo (grandma and grandpa) were born, family he’s never met and stuff like that.  It’s a great trip for my niece who will turn 16 next month. Have fun guys!

On the fibery front, I am nearing completion on my lace shawl.  Ok, I still have a bit to do, but I am well over half way through.  I joined another Lace shawl knit-a-long that starts May 1st.  I am really excited about this one too because not only with this be a shawl I will most likely wear to the military ball in October but also because the ladies in the group will all be praying for Dale as we knit this.  She is in need of a bone marrow transplant.  Over the last few years of searching for a donor for her, they have only found one match. Now that she’s in need of the transplant they locate the donor. So if you are so inclined, please pray for Dale and her family and also the donor and his family.

Kids are waking up so I better get breakfast going. Sausage biscuits this morning if you can make it here on time and you want to fight with my oldest (who never thinks we have enough food on hand) we might be able to throw one your way.

Name 5 Things that:

 1. Make you smile: My husband, my children, babies, puppies, and rainbows

2. You can see on your desk right now: ummm not sitting at a desk since I have the laptop on my lap…but I see my oldest and youngest children sitting at my feet, my bible on the couch next to me, my spinning wheel, my knitting basket, and the cats.

3. Kept you busy this weekend: my 5 children…does that count for 5 things?  ok..so I will add laundry, shopping, knitting, and errands as well.

 4. You’ll be doing this coming week: start canning, household chores and errands, the family, knitting, and spinning

5. You’ve said to make someone else smile: I love you to my family, talking about gross body sounds to my boys, you can stay up and watch extra TV tonight, hello, and have a great weekend.

Wanna see my new handpainted yarn? I already sold out what I had on hand so if you want a skein email me and I will take special orders for now :) 

100 grams/440 Yards 100% wool (not superwash) Fingering weight

The variegated incorporates every color in the rainbow with the solid in lilac.  Hence the name, Rainbow Sox : Purple.

No big plans for the weekend.  Will probably scour a rather large amount of wool I acquired the other day when I went to The Elite Fiber Mill.  I left with wool to “play” with.  Woo hoo.  So be on the lookout for some new roving coming soon.

It’s time for another Foodie Friday Recipe.  I haven’t tried this one yet, but it looks good.  We will be trying it next week.

Crockpot Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti

Ingredients:
16 oz. dry spaghetti, cooked
1 lb. Velveeta Light cheese
12.5 oz. can chicken breast, drained and flaked
10 3/4 oz. can 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
10 3/4 oz. can 98% fat free cream of chicken soup, undiluted
10 oz. can diced tomatoes and green chilies (Rotel)
4 oz. can mushroom stems and pieces, drained
1/2 cup water
1 small onion, diced
1 medium green pepper, diced
salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:
Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray.

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker and stir to mix well.

Cook on LOW for 2-3 hours. Stir again just before serving.

Just a big thank you for all who bought my new rovings.  Yup, they are all sold and I have a few special orders out of the deal.  And one of my new yarns has been sold as well.  It keeps me sane and off the streets so that’s a good thing.  I was playing at the dye pot today. I will keep you in suspense a bit longer as I want to try to do one or two things a little different, but it will be a keeper for sure.

A cold front came through and we had temps more seasonal today.  Didn’t even get to 75 degrees today.  WOW.  There’s even a possiblity for rain in the upcoming days.  Woo hoo.  We are in need again so that’s a good thing too.

I posted new yarns and rovings on my etsy shop (see left side bar for the link).  Here’s a sneak peak at the rovings.  Mermaid and Rainbow Sherbert are wool/mohair blends.  Cherry Cordial is a silk/mohair/wool blend and Java Infusion is silk/alpaca/wool.  I had fun mixing these up and I know they will spin up just great.

We have two new yarns posted too.  They are self striping yarns that have solid and variegated stripes.  They are nice if I do say so myself (and I just did )

Remember, any purchase from my etsy shop this month puts you in for a drawing of a skein of our handpainted commercially spun yarn.

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend.  We spent a very laid back holiday spending the weekend doing family stuff.  It’s rare that we get to do that, so it was nice.

I am amazed at how hot it’s been here.  Yesterday it reached 101.  In APRIL!  What’s up with that?  Everyone tells me that this is not normal for this area.  Who knows what’s going to happen this summer.  At least we are seeing green grass and leaves on trees and that’s the bright side of it.

Tomorrow I am running by the alpaca mill and hopefully I will get to see the new felting machine in progress.  I am sure I will be bringing home more fiber if nothing else.

I know I was doing something called Friday Feasts, but I joined up with the guys and gals over at Dreams Of Dogwoods and jumped on the Foodie Friday bandwagon.  So I will still be posting a recipe on Friday’s, just the name has changed. 

CROCK POT ITALIAN SAUSAGE, PEPPERS AND ONIONS2 lbs Italian link sausage, browned
1 jar of spaghetti sauce
1 large green bell pepper, sliced into thick strips
1 medium onion, sliced
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oreganoPut all ingredients in slow cooker.Cook on low for 4 hours.Serve on hard rolls or hoagie rolls(for my family, we doubled the recipe and served with shredded mozerella cheese on top…yum)