Renaissance Faire Weekend

Well hello folks!

I had a pretty decent weekend. I didn't do much as planned but I got to do some fun things. The things I wanted to do wasn't all that important but I still need to do them! LOL!

Saturday evening I went to a crop with some friends and brought limited scrapbook supplies. I did work on a few layouts. My outcome was good and I had a good time as always.

Sunday was the fun day for me. I went to the Bristol Renaissance Faire in Wisconsin on Sunday. I like going to the faire and people watching. I usually sit around amazed at the costumes people wear to the faire and wonder how they don't faint from heat exhaustion. Some of the costumes are very heavy materials. I mean very heavy for 80 degree weather! Geez! But they wear them proudly. I saw several shows I enjoyed. The first one was Washing Well Wenches. They were a duo of funny ladies who invite audience participation (or demand it) and sing songs and joke around. They were fun. Here are some photos of them!

You have to be a good sport and enjoy the silliness of the whole act.

I also think I ate a lot too. I love to have the garlic mushrooms they serve from a big cauldron fire. They are so good. The mushrooms are cooked with garlic and onions and are delicious! I always get a big bowl of them!

I also had something called Spanish Fries which were steak fries with nacho cheese, onions and jalapeno peppers. I liked them too!

Another fun show to watch is "The Swordsmen". My friend Becky has a major crush on Dirk Perfect. He is the one without the glasses.

Each time we go Becky sits and enjoys watching Dirk in his tight pants.

We watched many shows including the insulting man you get to throw tomatoes at for a fee. Another show called Moonie which is very funny I wouldn't know where to begin to describe his show. The Mud Eaters and yes they do eat mud as well as dive into it. There is a joust and many parades too. A good time for all ages!

While we were there we got rained on too. During the Moonie show which was a drag. I ran under one of the vendors awnings and tried to watch from there. But one thing was good. I found a dear friend I haven't seen in a while. Her name is Kathy! My little buddy. Even sitting I was taller than her! LOL!

Well its time to cut this post off before I really get on a roll. Someone already told me my posts were too long (PATRICE). LOL!

Smooches!

Home from Texas

Hey!

It's been one of those weeks for me. It's good to be home. I worked in San Antonio then I had to drive from San Antonio to Bellville, to Victoria to Port Lavaca then finally Houston. It was very hot in Texas (of course it's August) and I have many mosquito bites on my legs (where they came from I don't know!). It's great to be home with my kitty though. He always greets me with a round of loud "meows" when I walk in the house. He really hates it when I leave poor baby!

Anyway while I was away I didn't get as much accomplished personally but I did find some cool stuff. In Humble Texas there is a quilt shop I got to browse in called It's a Stitch. A very nice store with lots of cool quilts. For some reason I am getting into quilts. I have no real plans for doing one anytime soon but I like to look at them. This store is also a Bernina dealer so I was excited to browse around. I am always impressed to see embroidery machines and the quilting machines these stores offer. Boy you could blow several thousands of dollars on these babies for sure! I better stay away from these stores if I want to stay within budget! LOL!

I also popped into JoAnn's and bought the latest Sew Stylish magazine. It has instructions on how to make a sloper with a friend over the weekend. I actually e-mailed a sewing friend and asked if she would help me make this for myself along with a duct tape dress form for myself. I have too many rolls of duct tape not to make this for myself instead of purchasing one! LOL! She replied she would help me now we just need some time to do it. I am hoping for sometime in September. Wish me luck! I will definitely show the progress!

Also on the crafty front I haven't touched my cardigan sweater since I left for San Antonio. I packed it but I never got a chance to do any of it. I just need to finish one sleeve and then sew it together and do the edging. I am really getting excited but I have so much to do I don't know if I will have the time this weekend. I may do it Monday night while watching "The Closer". I love that show! LOL!

While away on this trip, I did a lot of reading. I like to read mysteries. I like a good "whodunnit" to get my mind working. They are tons of fun to read and to listen to in the car. I had two books on CD to listen to while in the car. One was Lillian Jackson Braun's "The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers" and I am still listening to John Sandford's Phantom Prey. Both are series. I love series. It's fun to read about a character you are familiar from past readings. The book I began reading this week was by Maggie Sefton "Knit One Kill Two". It's a knitting mystery! Isn't that too funny! I like this one so far. I also found a crochet mystery called Hooked on Murder. The knitting and crochet mysteries are series with these books as the first. I think Hooked on Murder is new and more will be coming out soon. The Maggie Sefton novel has some books out already. I can't wait to read more. I also read Monica Ferris' "Crewel World" series too. Her books involve all needlework aspects. All of these books from knitting, crocheting and needlework have patterns in the back for you to try. I have yet to try one but the possibility is there. Overall I think there is a mystery out there for every crafter from scrapbooking, knitting, crocheting, cooking, sewer and more. I think its so kewl! LOL!

Well I am off to the library to renew my books and return some others. I don't want to get fined for having these out past my due date. I frequent the library for most of my reading. I did buy the crochet mystery from a mystery bookstore in San Antonio called "Remember the Alibi". I love cute names of stores. Just dandy! LOL!

Here is a recipe for a Thai dish I promised Sheila. I hope you all enjoy!

Spicy Thai-style ground chicken with basil

1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil

12 ounces ground chicken or turkey

3 green onions, chopped

juice of 1/2 lime

2 cloves garlic, minced

1-2 hot peppers, seeded if desired, minced

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 tablespoon chili paste with garlic or to taste

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped

cooked white or brown rice for serving

1. Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. When it is hot, add chiken. Stir fry 45 seconds. Add garlic and hot pepper; continue cooking until chicken is no longer pink, 2 to 3 minutes.

2. Add green onions, lime juice, fish sauce, chili paste and sugar. Stir-fry about 30 seconds longer, adding basil just before it is removed from heat. Serve over rice.

Bon Appetit' Sheila!

See you in the funny papers!

Sitemeter issues

I don't know how many of you know this. But yesterday I had a hard time reading my own blog entry due to an error which would not allow me to open my blog. I looked for help and found that Sitemeter was having some issues and you need to remove it from your website in order for people to view it. This includes web accounts from typepad and other blog servers. It's the Sitemeter feed that is the issue. Check to see if you can view your own blog.

Here is a link http://groups.google.com/group/blogger-help-troubleshoot/topics.

I hope this helps!

Keeping it real!

Friday evening

Well! I got home from Houston around 6:30pm and I thought I would read my e-mail and watch some television. No problem. I like to read e-mail jokes and stuff and I get plenty of them. Reading the jokes can be quite relaxing. I need to laugh after a long day at the airport.

Well I was sitting here in my chair in front of my computer and I started reading my e-mail. I had a funny new one of the "Maxines" and some jokes ones. But mainly I had ones I checked while I was away in Houston. One I didn't read in Houston because it was a video and I wasn't sure if I should watch it while I was in one of the broker's offices. The title was "and all they found was the camera". So I watched this video below. Check it out.

Please tell me your reaction in the comment section. I have a major headache now and I need to find some tylenol or some wine to calm my nerves. DAMN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Peace and Strength be with you!

Things I do when I work out of town

I eat pretty good food! I love Houston. Anytime you are this close to the gulf you can get some seriously delicious seafood. I went to a restaurant in Sugar Land called Razzoo's and had this wonderful jalapeno fried catfish, with rice and green beans. Delicious! The green beans have been cooked with spicy sausage and are delicious! If you are ever in the Houston area try this place out! It is good!

I found these at JoAnn's they are only $1 a set. I love them. I can't help but buy crafting stuff when I am out of town. These were a steal and I can't wait to use them making cards and scrapbook pages! Besides they are very easy to pack too!

I also purchased the latest "Sew Simple" magazine. I love these magazines. I have yet to try making anything but I love the articles. Great tutorials for sewing. If you never tried sewing I suggest these magazines. I believe they come out quarterly and cost around $5.99. I wait for a coupon from JoAnn's to purchase mine. I haven't been able to find them in the library around me.
I found this quilting book at Borders for $5.99. I like it a lot. I am considering making a quilt for myself. I haven't decided if I will but it's a thought. I thought an instruction book might be great. This one has some cool easy patterns too. I can't wait to read through it.

What a great day! I am packing to go home tomorrow. It rained today in Chicago and I hope it holds off to late tomorrow night for more. I don't need my flight delayed. Nothing is worst than sitting in the airport when you are ready to be home.

This weekend it looks like I will be spending at my mother's home. My brother will be home the weekend so I will be there to help with him. I plan on taking my crocheting to work on. Hopefully my projects will be completed by next weekend. Keep your fingers crossed for me. I have already uploaded some photos today so I am getting back into the groove. I just hit one of those little bumps in the road along the way. LOL!

I'm back!

ROCK ON!

Crochet and photo news

Hello there!

I knew I forgot to post something earlier this month and now I remember. I finally joined Ravelry! My user name is mskasey. I like it so far. I have visited the Ebony Elite group, updated my profile, added two new projects and my crochet hook collection. I have yet to venture many other places but I hope to do so soon. I have so much on my plate so it will take some time. But I am glad to be a member now.

On another note I have made a decision regarding my crochet cardigan project. I am going to continue to do the back in solid yarn. The old back will be frogged and I wil finish the sleeve as well as the trimming around the edges with this yarn. I think this scenario works best for me. I know sometimes I have self doubts. I just needed to vent I think. Thank you for all your wonderful suggestions.

As for the picture issue, I think I have come to a conclusion. Stacey offered a great idea of switching to html to upload photos and suggested I try that so I will. I may also limit the amount of photos I upload per post. It's just a very time consuming activity for me. I will find a way to add them again. So don't worry. I will not continue with the long no picture posts. LOL!

Have a great day!

Catch you on the flip side!

Feelin' Flaky

Hello out there!

I have come to realize something about myself. I hate uploading photos to my blog. I mean I really hate the slow tedious process. I always want to upload pictures but I never do because it is so slow and arranging them drives me crazy. Hence one of the many reasons I don't blog very often anymore. Also photobucket gives me the flux sometimes. I hate it too. If anyone has any good suggestions please let me know.

This month has been a good one so far. I made my way to my local quilt shop for an "Escape to Sew" day they have once a month. One of my resolutions for the year was to go these events and I finally made it there this month. I was about to cancel when a friend I haven't seen in a while and I were trying to get together. We had decided on this day but I called back and rescheduled. I needed that day! I don't quilt but they offer space for you do any of your sewing projects. I met the ladies which meet there and had a good time. I mostly talked though. I ended up possibly offending a Creative Memories consultant but I don't care. I didn't agree with something she said and voiced my opinion. I didn't start any trouble but I shared my own personal opinion. I tend to do this with people which try to act like their opinion is fact.

Anyway, I took one of those one hour patterns to work on and I cut it out and started sewing but I am not finished in the least. I think I have about 33% left to do. I realized quickly that I talk too much. But that's me! LOL! I was there from 11am to 5pm. I am looking forward to going again but I might cut my fabric out in advance and just work on stitching when I get there.

I was also on vacation for a week. I took time do things around my home and I went to a scrapbook retreat in Central Illinois with six friends. We had a blast! But we always do. I worked on 22 layouts. I think I did a terrific job! I was very pleased. We had such a good time we decided to go back in November. I can't wait!

My other projects from the month include my cardigan I am attempting to finish. This is where the flakiness comes into play! The pattern called for 48 ounces for the large sweater. I bought 60 ounces and I ran out. I also realized the sweater was way too large. I was about 80% finished with it. I decided to frog it and start over. I did a swatch to test the gauge and I found using a smaller needle and a smaller size would work. Well guess what! I don't have enough yarn! Either the pattern is way off or its me. I think its the pattern! Really I do. I am about 90% done at this point. I ran out of yarn on the second sleeve! Yes that's right the second sleeve. I have about a third done (which is better than my first attempt with only one partial sleeve). RATS! The yarn I am using I cannot find any to match. I already threw out the labels because I was sure I had enough(note to self DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!"). So I have been to many JoAnn's stores and compared yarn and there is nothing. The yarn available is too washed out and dingy looking. Too much of a difference to use. I have completed the back of the sweater, the two fronts and one sleeve. I have about a third of the last sleeve completed and its just sitting in a basket. I finally came up with a solution. I will frog the back piece and do it in a solid color and use the yarn I am frogging from the back to finish the sleeve and edging. I have completed about 60% of the back but now I am having second thoughts about the whole project. Not one but three people have told me it still looks a bit large (which it does) but it does have drop shoulders. I am beginning to wonder if I should finish it or frog the entire thing and start with fresh yarn all together. I am so confused. I am feeling very flaky! Give me strenghth! I need some good mental vibes so I can complete the darn thing. I had a finishing date of the end of this month and it would have been completed two weeks ago if I wouldn't have ran out of yarn. What's a woman to do! But on the other note do I want to complete a sweater that will be too big for me? I just don't know right now.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Later!