Sandy's Knitting

184. letter from a cat

Dear Blog,
My family has abandoned me and gone to New Hampshire to something called a lake. If it thunders, you can find me under the chair.
So, cat party at our house. BYOT (Bring your own tuna) I do have a small number of catnip flavored treats to share but I'd appreciate you bringing me a host gift of more. Or ham. Yes, ham is good.
This is a secret from my family. Please keep it to yourself. No posting of pictures on youtube or My Space or even FaceBook after. I had better not see anyone here on LOLcats. I'm serious.
For now? I'll be snoozing, getting my beauty sleep. I'll leave the door open and the light on.
Fig

183. Green thumb or careless housekeeper?

I noticed these forgotten sweet potatoes in a bag on the counter today. They want to be planted so bad. Perhaps I will take them up on that offer. I have never grown potatoes, sweet or not. How can I just kill off those green leaves? All those stems? They want to be a plant so bad, not dinner! Perhaps it's like a motherhood urge, a ticking biological clock. When they were not being roasted for dinner, they decided the time was right to procreate!
And while we are talking about green thumbs?

A craptastic picture of Little Dougy II. I thought he wouldn't have a chance either when his needles stuck together in the seed pod and it would not let go for a couple of days. But I left him alone to work out his problems, like a good mom should do.
I guess this means it's another Green Day:

182. A word about pectin (and I'm wondering if I used enough parenthesis in this post) (let me know if you see a spot where I can add more) (I'd hate to miss an opportunity) ( )

So, if you are thinking of making freezer jam and are wondering if you can use any old pectin, I have your answer. (Stacey, I'm looking at you!) (Poor Stacey has been combing the grocery stores in California for freezer type of pectin to no avail) (see the freezer pectin here)
First of all, the process of canning jam (or canning in general) is now referred to as FreshPreserving. Who knew. Of course, they have a website, which may answer some of your FreshPreserving burning questions if I do not cover them. Which is likely. See all the pectin products here.
To make freezer jam, you can use regular pectin by combining 3/4 cup water with the pectin and bringing it to a full rolling boil for 1 minute, stirring. Then add the boiled pectin to the fruit/sugar mixture, ladle into jars, screw caps on and put in fridge/freezer.
This is the recipe I used, which is a fairly basic no frills strawberry freezer jam recipe:
4 cups of crushed strawberries (I used the food processor because we don't like big pieces of fruit in our jam, but it's a personal thing. Perhaps you like huge chunks. Go for it. Use a potato masher)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 package freezer pectin or regular pectin boiled with the water
~~
Stir together well, put into jars.
It's that easy. It is.
Then take this recipe and plug in whatever fruit you can dream up. Fig? Sure (not the gray kitty kind), strawberry banana (this is my next one, I would add some lemon juice to that one), peach, blueberry, kiwi. Really, if it's a fruit, you can make a jam.
~~
So there you have it. All you've ever wanted to know about making freezer jam and probably some things you did not want to know.
If you're up my way, stop in for some biscuits and jam.
~~
Yesterday I received a package in the mail. Bethany warned me that it could be a bomb. And she might have had something because it was a small package, from a mystery person that did not put their name on the label. I opened it up, kind of throwing caution to the wind. I mean, what if it WAS a bomb? It did not explode. Good sign. Inside? A heart box filled with chocolate chips and some cute cute stitch markers but not a card or a note to see WHO sent it. The bomb sender WAS from California though, so that narrowed it down.
Then I noticed that the chocolate chips were not all melty and it was about 120 degrees F (Sure, I exaggerate) and then I realized the WHO and WHAT (I am a regular Nancy Drew myself. Reading those books obsessively when I was younger paid off finally)
It was:
Stacey
with the
Hollyhock seeds
in the
Sandysknitting blog.
Am I right? Do I win??

Not chocolate chips

181. A list for a Tuesday (it IS Tuesday, right?)

~My father in law is still in Beth Israel Hospital awaiting more tests and most likely an operation to remove a tumor from his common bile duct. Awaiting the biopsy, nobody has said the C word to any of us yet but secretly we feel the writing is on the wall. The internet is a blessing and a curse in this way.
~My heart aches for him
~But I am still hopeful that it is just an obstruction. I will keep hoping until the last minute
~Driving home from Boston was spectacular. The nighttime view on Storrow Drive is breathtaking. I appreciated that.
~We had many thunderstorms tonight, one viewed from the solarium at Beth Israel
~I missed the final episode of Hell's Kitchen (gawd, I love that show!) I did DVR it so I'll watch it tomorrow. But curiosity is trying to get the best of me. Who won? I bet it was Petrozza. (Don't tell me) (It WAS Petrozza, wasn't it?) (It would be so easy to do a bit of a google search to find out) (But I won't)
~Today is July 1st.
~Wow, the year is flying by, one blog entry at a time!
~I believe tomorrow marks the mid year point of the 365 blogging. I am amazed that I am still blogging every day, even if some days like today is just squeaking by. Barely but it counts.
~I'm more amazed that you are reading every day. I'm impressed with you
~I am extending a huge apology to you because I most likely owe you an email. You probably left a great comment or sent an email and I read it and it meant a lot to me and I commented on it (in my head anyway) and then never got around to writing that out in actual words that you could read. Yeah, sorry about that.
~It was Petrozza, wasn't it?????
~I got some great questions about freezer pectin vs. regular pectin for jam making. And I even researched this a bit. I'll let you know the findings tomorrow. Same bat time, same bat channel.
~Did I ever tell you how much I loved the show Batman when I was little? I had batman stickers all over everything including my doll carriage. Robin was dreamy to my younger self. Now? He's just kind of creepy.
~I saw a 3 pack of Nancy Drew books in BJ's the other day and I pined to buy them. Bethany advised me to let the past live in the past because so often the reality is never as good as the memory. She may have a point.
~But NANCY DREW!!!! And it was the first 3 books of the series.
~I did not buy them
~Yet
~Do you Plurk?
~Must sleep now. Nighty night

180. Toast some bread, it's jam talk

3 jams: Left to right, strawberry freezer, kiwi traditional and strawberry kiwi traditional.
Knitty Otter wanted to know my preferred method. Let me say here and now that I am not a jam expert but I will play one on this blog. And as I've said, I have a jam guru which helps.
I have previously always made freezer jam which could not be easier. I use my food processor (even though the pectin insert specifically tells me NOT to) because we only like small bits of strawberries in our jam but this is a personal preference. Plus as a bonus, it takes a minute and no effort. I put them in a large bowl and add sugar (tons of it too) and the pectin. Mix well for 3 minutes and put into clean, boiled jars. (Insert does not say anything about boiling the jars but I do it as a nod to the germs that I am avoiding) (it's a thing, what can I say). Cap them and put most in the freezer and a couple in the fridge. The next day, toast some bread and plenty of it. You will need it to make believe you have a reason to eat spoonfuls of jam.
Now, previous to yesterday, I had never made traditional jam that is processed. I had let myself be intimidated, like Terry by all the equipment and stuff needed. But it dawned on me that all I need is a tall pot to cover the jars by 2 inches (guru) and something to handle them with: in my case big salad tongs. They worked.
With that fear avoided, I went ahead. I put kiwis in the food processor and then into the pan, added a ton and a half of sugar (for some reason the cooked jam takes more sugar than the freezer kind), the pectin and the juice of one lemon, sans seeds. Boil for a minute, skimming off foam. I noticed that the green kiwi color boiled entirely out of the jam so I added a drop (or so I intended) or three of green food coloring which honestly made the jam an electric green color that is not natural in nature. But it works for us. Into hot, boiled jars, caps on and set aside while I make the strawberry kiwi in the same manner.
All this time I have my huge stockpot (the one that Andy started his beer brewing in long ago until we kicked him out of the house because of the smell of the brewing beer. He now uses a huger pot on a propane burner outside) trying to come to a boil on the stove.
I placed the jars in the pot, boiled them for 10 minutes and then took them out. The most fun part of the jamming? (besides the eating? ) is listening for the popping of the caps as they vacuum seal. That made me ridiculously happy. More happy than caps should ever make and adult woman but there you go.
This morning, the freezer jam was ready to go. It has been consumed. By spoon and on some toast. The other jams have not set yet. I am thinking that it is because I halved the recipes and should not have. Perhaps I did not have the exact ratio of fruit to pectin. One in the fridge has thickened a little bit but it is still too liquidy to spread on toast. But? It would be some GREAT ice cream topping.
However, in a tasting of the freezer vs. traditional jam I tend to prefer the freezer kind. It has a fresh fruit taste and frankly? Much, much less sweet. For some reason. Well, the obvious reason is that the freezer jam has less sugar. Duh. But that fact makes the jam better on my taste buds.
Not that I am dissing the traditional kind.
I will try kiwi jam again with the freezer method and I think we will be very happy toast eaters.
I'm thinking: english muffins, fresh biscuits, wheat toast, white toast, oatmeal toast. Well, you get the picture.

And that's all I have to say about that.
(any questions?)

179. I'm in a jam

A jam kind of mood! I awoke thinking of strawberry jam. So, I consulted with my jam guru and off to the farm stand we went. We planned on picking strawberries but as often happens in my world, I'm a day late (and very often a dollar short but that is not related to the strawberry story) and there are no more strawberries to be picked. But there were still local ones so I snapped them up along with some kiwi (not local but Bethany really wants kiwi jam because her host family in Germany made homemade kiwi jam and she loved it) and some blueberries.
I made our favorite freezer strawberry jam and cooked kiwi jam and cooked strawberry kiwi jam. I have never done the boiling of the canning jars because it always made me nervous for some reason but I'm over it all of a sudden.
Pictures tomorrow.
~~
This morning, I watched Darjeeling Limited which was a wonderfully, quirky, beautiful movie. I recommend it if you're into the quirky movies like Li and I are.
The men in the family are home again, the girls weekend is done. It was great while it lasted.
Remember to keep fingers, toes, eyes, needles crossed Monday at 2pm for my Father in Law. Prayers accepted.

178. What's with today today*

I planned on doing a Philosophy give away today but I can't drag myself to the other room to take pictures and string some thoughts together so that you will want to try them.
Seriously, though, when I DO have the giveaway? You should really put your name in for it. I rely on their products to cleanse, moisturize and refresh my face. I can't say enough about them and I'd even get all melodramatic and say that Philosophy changed my life. Or certainly the way that I view myself. And that is BIG people. Big. There is nothing better a person can for themselves than take care of oneself, she says as she sips her diet coke. (Just so you know that I am not getting all preachy and stuff. )
I love to hear your weekend plans, all of you being all productive and all. I planned to be productive myself. Andy went away on a golf weekend and Derek is canoeing the Saco overnight complete with pup tent and peanut butter sandwiches and Bethany had to work today (not at the new wonderful EMT job but the old job) and I had BIG plans. Clean, organize, scrub, put laundry away, do some crewel, read, cook a nice meal. None of it materialized itself when all of a sudden I was struck down with a severe case of sleeping sickness. I have taken naps with a vengence today. One after another and frankly? If I go sit on that couch right now? My head will droop and I will be drooling and snoring within minutes. So I will force myself to roam the house doing this and that for a couple of hours and then put in a movie tonight. Then? All bets are off. When I get like this I figure it is for a reason so I try to snooze away. But enough is enough, you know?
There is always tomorrow for plans. I would like to go strawberry picking tomorrow and make some strawberry jam.
Most likely the snooze activities is coaxed onward by extreme worry. There is some big worries about my father in law right now and I'd appreciate more than ever if you kept him in your good thought especially on Monday at 2 pm when he will be in Beth Israel Hospital having a biopsy and a bile duct stent put in. Honestly as many good thoughts as can be mustered need to be floating his way. This is some bad stuff, potentially. And I can't even mutter it aloud just yet.
~~
And on a tangent to brighten this place a bit, I am reading 2 pretty good books right now.
The first is Digging to America by Anne Tyler. I just love Anne Tyler and this book, while not her best is very good. The other is called The Sister by Poppy Adams. So far I love the story and the writing is excellent.
What are you reading?
~~~
*A quote from one of my favorite movies, Empire Records

177. The name is Daisy. Shasta Daisy.

A picture for a Friday.
What is going on in your weekend?
Do tell.

176. Versus

New hair color:

(I wonder if I look that tired in real life or if it's a photo fluke)
~Click it~
Old hair color:

~~~

The lupine is a very tall flower

I think I found the inspiration for Marge Simpson
~~
I cannot get over how wrinkly my eyes are in that picture. Wait. I was probably squinting. WAIT. I am embracing the wrinkles. Yes. I love that picture.
{gulp}

175. Is your hair gray? Did you earn every one?

I have been thinking a lot about Jamie Lee Curtis lately. I am, all of a sudden a big fan.
She has decided to embrace her gray hair and aging body. To "age wisely and well". I applaud her. Granted she has good genes but to see her looking beautiful in her short, gray haircut makes me proud to be a woman.
I always thought I would age au naturale. Embrace my inner gray. And now that it's here? I can't quite pull it off. I want to. I see woman sporting their gray and I am a bit envious. Some woman can really pull it off. Me? I have these sproingy, coarse grays that have a mind of their own. So I dyed. And I keep dyeing. Once you go blonde you can never go back. Or something like that.
I think of letting my hair do it's thing and look my age but when it starts coming in with a vengence, I run to my wonderful colorist. And she is wonderful. A couple of people at work could not believe that I color my hair, they thought it was natural and that I did not have a gray hair on my head. That is the best compliment a hair stylist can get, I think.
Tomorrow? They will all know I color because I requested a darker brown today instead of blonde. I love it but it is dark. Going blonder is so predictable with people of my (former) hair color.
Maybe when I hit 50 I'll get up the nerve to look my age. For now? I'm fighting it with all I have.
Gracefully, though.
~~
Swiss Chard Cam: Or: My future dinner:

~~
Ebay auction of Alice Starmore's Aran Knitting. I will be donating 10% of the proceeds to the Red Scarf Project.

174. 10 things

Seen at Terry's: Thank you, my friend for tweaking my brain today!
~~~
10 inventions that make life easier:
1. computers: I remember when Derek was younger, a Sunday night 4 pm and he blurts out "Oh, I have a 10 page paper due tomorrow on Australia". I remember we went to the local bookstore and sat on the floor and did research until the store closed. No necks have to be wrung now with the World Wide Web at our fingertips 24/7. (I still reserve the right to wring necks, though)
2. Once again, a computer thing: The keyboard in general or word processing specifically. When I was in college, we had to type our papers out. Handwritten was unacceptable. If you did not have a typewriter, you bartered to find someone that could type it for you. I did laundry for a week for a typing roomie.
3. In house washer and dryer: When we were first married we had to lug every stitch of clothing except for the "wash day outfits" to the laundromat and spend hours washing, drying and folding. It is so much easier now to throw a wash in and let it do it's thing while living the life. If only clothes could march themselves back into the drawers, then I'd be a truly happy person.
4. Tilt windows: How much easier to clean our windows with this little nugget of the 20th century. Remember standing on tall ladders once a year (heh) to clean the outside glass? Now, just tilt and wash anytime you want. The thing is? We still have to actually wash them. They are not self washing. So, I do not HAVE cleaner windows than I did 10 years ago, pre tilt windows. But I COULD have cleaner windows if I WANTED.
5. Rotisserie Chickens: Too busy for cooking dinner? Pick up a rotisserie chicken or two and some carrot sticks. Done and done. No one complains either.
6. Key fob door locks/unlocks for our cars: Remember how we had to put the pesky key in the pesky keyhole? Fumbling around, sometimes it got frozen in the winter and you'd have to heat the key with a match? No more.
7. Caller ID: No more answering calls that waste our time.
8. Cell phones: How good is it if we are driving along a dark road and our car breaks down that we can now call for help from the relative safety of our car. No more walking the streets looking for a phone. And? Those phone booths were just RIFE with germs. You do NOT know where that thing has been. But? On the other side? We cannot be left alone with our thoughts. Don't you hate it when you are in the grocery store and someone says something (they are wearing those bluetooth phone thingys in their ears) and you think they are talking to you and you snap your head up at the ready to take their heads off before you realize they are on the PHONEEEEEEE. I hate that.
Hmm. Was that a good thing or a bad thing?
Either way. It changed our lives.
9. Afterschool Activities. Some kids have so much to do. They should be able to sit under a tree gazing at clouds or reading Nancy Drew books at their leisure. Kids must be scheduled now. That's kind of sad.
10. 500 count sheets. This has changed my life, honestly. No more pills on the sheets (not actual pills, but the fuzzy kind) (pills in the sheets would be another kind of invention, would it not?) Crisp, cool sheets. That's what makes life great.
and a bonus:
11. Honestly, the thing that has changed my life the most? (I know that you are expecting BLOGGING. And it HAS. But that is not my answer today..) AGE. Yes. My age has improved my life immensely. I do not feel self conscious or inadequate just because I am standing there like when I was younger. I don't care what people think of me as a rule which makes it much easier to go out in the world or not. Either way. I can let things slide a lot easier than when I was younger and more intense. Sometimes it's just not worth it. Knowing when to fight about something that matters. This is a great one too.
Yes, aging has been a great thing. I would not go back to my teen years for anything. 46 is where it's at.

~~
Well, that turned into a raving "I remember" session. Let me just ease myself down into my rocker and rub some ben gay into my arthritis for cripes sake. Let me pick up my knitting.
Oh, wait. That's a GOOD thing.
~Inventions. Love them. Hate them. Love writing 10 things about them.

173. A short story

Seen in our local paper:
I kid you not:

At approximately 4 pm a Washington Street man called police, complaining that someone had stolen his shorts. "He was asked if he knew of anyone who would want a pair of his shorts," reads the police report by patrolman So and So. He was "unable to come up with any possible suspects." It was suggested that he look in his other drawer, which he did, locating the shorts. He then reported that "someone broke into his room and moved his shorts from one drawer to another". At this time there are no suspects or witnesses.

~Salem Evening News

~~~
And a celebration!
Bethany got hired as an EMT with the local ambulance company full time. This called for a celebratory dinner. Unfortunately my wallet was not ready for a celebratory dinner tonight so we went ahead with the planned meatloaf dinner. This celebratory loaf sported a ketchup CONGRATS on the top. But the meatloaf was a bit short for the ketchup writing so it ended up saying CONG. In Ketchup. On a meatloaf.
It's the thought that counts, right?

~~~
EDITED TO ADD:
I am cleaning out and putting some things on ebay. The first one is up. It takes me a while to add things but check back.
Alice Starmore's Aran Knitting <-------click

172. Fig says Hi

He's lost a bit more weight. I call him skinny. Bethany says he is just trying to be "America's Next Top Model".
I think he's a shoo in to win.
But then again, I could be prejudiced.

171. Summertime

There was an arts festival in town today which is always a fun thing to do. I really enjoyed perusing the booths. I fell in love with a girls paintings which were 6 x 6 oil paintings of things that caught my fancy. Like a hot dog or a cupcake or cookies. I could envision a couple of them hanging in my kitchen. But the price was a bit too steep for me. $100 each. I understand that they are paintings but I'm sure she did not sell one of them. It really is a fine line between what you deserve as an artist and what people will pay, isn't it?
The picture is of a random little girl doing chalk drawings on the sidewalks.
And the sky? It's Saturday after all.

It was a gorgeous day. One that makes me break out in song. Not out loud though, that would just be downright embarrassing for my family. Or anyone in hearing range. So, I sing inside, where it counts.
Hope your day had some blue sky.

~Every moment of light and dark is a miracle.
Walt Whitman

170. Wow! 170 days of posting! *(Again! I used this title about a week ago when I was numbering wrong!) : OR: Lights, camera, action! MOVIE TIME

Today is the day before the summer solstice. I know it's not a popular position, but I for one am glad that the days will start to get shorter. My internal clock does not let me sit and relax until it gets dark and that leaves precious time to myself in the summer. My eyes close like on an alarm at 10 pm. and if I am not sitting until 9 pm that leaves not a lot knitting/crewel time. And frankly? I miss it.
On the other hand, I seem to be wishing my life away a lot lately. So, for this weekend, I am going to work on being IN the moment. Enjoy the time. Leave the dishes or laundry or whatever. Sit with the family, whether they like it or not, watch a movie! Or two! (Speaking of movie, Bethany and I watched Sweeney Todd recently. We loved it but it is not for everyone, especially the wee ones. How much do I love Johnny Depp? That is one great actor!)
And while I've gone off on the movie tangent, there's always my all time GO TO movies.
Sleepless in Seattle
It Could Happen to You
Family Man
Empire Records
Home Alone
Little Miss Sunshine
Christmas with the Kranks *I love Christmas movies year round*
Hocus Pocus
Edward Scissorhands
Ratatouille

~~~
Off the top of my head those are the movies that I WILL watch, guaranteed if I come across them on tv. The family question goes something like this: "haven't you watched this enough the last 100 times?"
Apparently not.
Do you have favorites?
~~~
Watch this:
It's Wonderful Life, bun style <------CLICK