Kristel's Blog

You were in a box, upstairs, labelled something weird all this time.  Hooray! 

On a side note, there’s a fly in my living room and Pepper’s quite sure she’s going to catch it if she keeps trying.  So the little dog is jumping over just about everything in pursuit, all the while the tail’s wagging, and when she does “catch” it, she doesn’t know what to do with it, and it gets away before she decides.  Oh well.

Pepper wants to send her penpal, Chloe, a sweater.  Chloe sent Pepper a very cute collar, so we’re sending something back.  It’s going a little slow right now, but ruffles always do.

Our neighbour next door is suddenly friendly.  It’s weird.  Also, they have a new puppy.  It’s a shirky — I’m thinking shih-tzu x yorkie cross.  Certainly looks like it.  They’re all about the “teacup” thing, but there’s really no such thing.  Yeah, they’re small and fit in a teacup now, but bad news guys, this little puppy is going to grow to the standard size of the breed.  (In case you’re wondering, my vet & trainer both agree with me.  i checked.)  Anyways, it’s certainly very adorable.  Her name is Mandy, and they attached a little bell too it so they can find it easier.  I want a puppy for pepper to play with, unfortunately, this one is soooooo small, even full grown, I’m not sure it could stand up to Pepper.  I’ve emailed my trainer for suggestions.  There was a puppy for free on kijiji exactly like Pepper, but I’m thinking free dogs go fast and it was posted a week ago.   Though I did send an email to some guy who has a beagle terrier cross of some kind that posted almost 3 weeks ago.  It’s so cute, and just a little puppy, and with Pepper being so much better behaved (despite what 2 of you think!) I think we could get a second.  Shhh don’t tell my mom, she really won’t go for it.

Anyways, really should get back to work.

I finally found the secret to getting perfect ice cream out of my ice cream maker.  Step 1: freeze the tub in the chest freezer (fridge freezer’s not cold enough!) for several days.  Step 2: Make sure you actually have enough of the cream mixture to fill at least half the tub.  Step 3: Chill the cream mixture in the fridge for several hours.  Step 4: Use the machine as directed.  If I don’t do any of those, it comes out kinda soupy, but still good enough for putting it in a different container and freezing  for hard ice cream.

Anyways, so I made some strawberry banana ice cream.  It was perfect.  It’s also almost gone.  But tasty!  Mmmm. 

Next, I tried lemonade.  Good idea, bad, bad, bad execution.  I found a recipe that used frozen orange juice concentrate, and I thought, “Hey, I can use lemonade and just add a bit more fluid and all will be happy.”  It’s soooooooooooooo tart, even I am having a hard time enjoying it.  Also, there wasn’t enough fluid, so it didn’t freeze well.  And, the cream separated from the juice and kinda curdled while chilling.  Which considering it’d probably do the same with the orange juice, I can’t help but think part of the problem is the recipe.

So lesson learned?  Well, stick to fruit.  Oh, or the dark chocolate ice cream I made.  It came out very well, but a little grainy, next time I try it, I’m not going to follow the recipe and use the cocoa, but actually use dark chocolate and then leave out the sugar.

Next up: Papaya.    If we’re lucky, I’ll have it ready for the weekend.

On a more somber note, I’ve got an update on Great Grandma.  (I believe Grandma was going to call Marlene, Tracey, so I’m not sending out an email because surely by the time you read this, you’ll already know.)  Good news: she’s recovered from the pneumonia.  Her colour’s back, she knows when people are in the room and can have a little bit of a conversation, and she has an appetite.  Bad news: a lot of her standard body functions are slowly dying off.  From what my mom told me, if they take her off the IV she’s probably going to die.    Also, even if they keep her on it, she probably only has a few weeks.  :,(  So we’re all sad, though we all realize that she’s lived a good, long life, and we’re lucky to have her for this long.

Changing the subject….

Currently making my own caramels.  Ok, I already finished and now they’re cooling.  But still.  It doesn’t look like I burned them, and I watched the thermometer closely, so if we’re lucky they’re soft & tasty.  Certainly when the spatula cooled down enough, the caramel on that was tasty. 

I really haven’t spent all my time cooking though.  I have also worked, and knitted.  I haven’t finished those mitts yet, just can’t find the motivation.  Started a new hat though.  It’s cute, but the ear flaps probably should’ve been longer.  Am I going to take it out to lengthen them?  No.  I don’t take anything out that’s for me, if it still works the way it is.

Well, better get back to getting ready for you guys.  If it makes you fell better, Uncle Ron’s coming over tomorrow to fix my tub spout, so there should be no issues with showers.  Well, unless we run out of hot water, but even then.

If you’re reading this post, I’m in the process. Hang tight. By the way, the new link is simply http://www.theqdesk.net/Kristel

Yes, I’ll be setting up a redirect temporarily.

Update: It’s been moved. Hope those 10 minutes weren’t too stressfull for you!

ok, so there’s some issues. I’m working on it, should be fixed soon. if we’re lucky, they weren’t caused by my awesome new theme.

I think I fixed everything.  There’s probably some photos and other media that doesn’t currently work.  I personally don’t care at the moment.

Consider yourself warned.

No seriously, this is your last warning.

**Picture update:  It should be here, but it’s showing up on the edit post and not on the actual post.  I knit now and figure it out later.**

Ok, before you say it, yes, I’m knitting in July.  I don’t know what came over me.  One day I’m happily enjoying reading instead of knitting, the next it’s reversed.  Good news is, i don’t think there’s any way I’ll have the urge to actually wear the knitting for a few months; at least not outside of photos for ravelry.

Do you recognize the yarn, Vicky?  It’s the one you sent me for Christmas.    I like it very much, thank you!  Knitted a beret with it.  It looked kinda funny until I blocked it, but now it’s slouchy and I’m happy.  There’s so much yarn left over though, might have to make some mittens to match.  Or do something completely different, we’ll see.

Anyways, so in addition to working on my beret this week, I’ve been doing a KAL with one of my groups.  It’s for fingerless mitts, and it’s got stranded colourwork.  And not necessarily something I’d decide to do on my own.  It’s not that I can’t do colourwork, it’s just that I’m lazy and it takes longer.  So back to the KAL… she didn’t tell us the size was for kids, so I’ve restarted like four times, trying to get the right number of stitches and right size of needles for me, because let’s face it, 90% of the kids I know it’d be inappropriate for me to give a gift to, and the others are Joanna’s kids and if you give something to one, you better have something for the other two as well, plus they all have to be the same, or the same size, or look like the same amount of work went into it…  My brother and I have this competition thing going on when we were kids too.  Now it’s more jealousy, and not fighting about who got more, just the simple fact that the other has something we’d like for ourselves, but still happy for the other for having it in the first place.  (Did that make sense?  It’s like when I bought my house, and Jeff wanted to own his own house too, and then couldn’t, and then we were both disappointed for him, but happy that at least one of us could.)  What was I talking about?  Oh yeah, the KAL.  So I’ve been working on it for 2 weeks now, and the final clue is out today.  I’m not really impressed with the yarn I’m using, it’s a little splitty and while I expect the two strands to get tangled around each other, they really shouldn’t be curling on themselves while they’re at it.  I’ve never had this curling problem with any yarn I’ve ever used, and it’s very annoying.  That being said, I’ve restarted enough times already just trying to get it to fit.  So we’re trucking though this mess.  (In case you’re wondering, I cast on 60 stitches, on 2.75mm needles and I’ll probably end up doing more stitches for the gusset than it calls for too.)

Did I tell you I got a ball winder?  yeah, an electric one.  It’s freakin’ awesome.  The mohair ball of yarn I wound would’ve taken hours upon hours to wind by hand, and that’s not including the time I would’ve spent untangling the giant knot.  It couldn’t handle an entire ball of the dream in color yarn though.  I had to wind the last 20 yards or so by hand, which wasn’t that bad.  I went a little nuts and I think I wound, oh, 6 balls or so.  I do have several more that need winding, but figured I should use up what I wound in the first place.  Like that yarn I used for my beret.  It’s so pretty.    Weird blocking something round though.

On a non-knitting note, my Great Grandma is still in the hospital.  She’s really out of it, and they’ve done all but strap her to the bed.  She doesn’t like the feel of the gas mask or the IV, so she’s been trying to pull them out/off.  So Mom said they’ve got mesh things around her IV to keep her from taking that off, and they’ve been watching her very carefully so she doesn’t take the oxygen off.  She’s also on a drip, and a ton of antibiotics which are keeping her comfy, or at least as comfy as she can be.  Grandma’s been going up everyday to see her.  Though my mom still went to her quilting class this week.  So the situation’s still bad, but it’s not like she’s on her death bed.  That being said, she’s just a few weeks away from being 99, so I’m thinking pneumonia isn’t a good thing to have when you’re that old.

Well, back to knitting.  You know, actually knitting, not blogging about it.

Actually came back Sat. night.  It had cooled off enough, plus I needed clean laundry.

So I’ve done laundry.  Little bit of cleaning.  Working, of course.  And some knitting.  I know, knitting. In July.  I don’t know what came over me.  For weeks  I didn’t touch a single project, then one day one of the groups I’m in on Ravelry ran a KAL, so now I’m hooked and scrambling for projects inbetween clues.  New projects I might add.  For some reason finishing off a wip, doesn’t seem like fun.  Currently working on a beret from yarn Vicky sent me for Christmas.  (Thank you!)  The yarn didn’t look so bright on the ball, but once knitted, oh man.  Good news is, I like wearing bright winter hats, so this should be right up my alley… at least when it cools down enough to wear it.

Mom & Auntie Trev just left for Acton to pick up my grandma to go to Georgetown.  My Great Grandma is having a hard time breathing, has very high blood pressure, and running a fever.  They think it’s pneumonia.  The prognosis isn’t good. 

Pete came over today to look at my broken tap.  Turns out it’s not broken at all.  After he pulled down the drywall, insulation, etc. in that corner, took a look at the problem.  Turns out there’s a drain on the tap to the outside, but on the inside of the house.  So when we turned the water on, instead of going outside, it was going out the drain because it was open.  It’s now been closed.  We found very little mold, and it’s on the other side of the vapour barrier, so I’ve been told it’s nothing to worry about, just to redrywall over.  Um, ok.  So Pete’s coming back tomorrow to help me clean up.

Pepper’s been doing a ton better since we switched to Bark Busters 2 weeks ago.  I redid their little test thing, and Pepper’s improved 70%!  The best part is, the house has never been so quiet.  It’s a lot easier just to think.

Speaking of thinking, actually having a hard time (though you may not have noticed.  Been rereading and taking several breaks just to finish off this post.)  So I think maybe I’ll go find a quiet spot in my house (not as difficult anymore) and maybe try to distract myself from worrying about Great Grandma.