Welcome to 2016

Ah, a new year and all the promises of a fresh start. Yeah, who am I kidding? There are, however, one or two things I would like to start doing. The first sounds rather disgusting but it won’t hurt and, if it helps, that would be awesome.

The internet is, of course, home to all the medical cures known to man. And we know that everything we read on the internet is absolutely true. Right? Well, some things do make some sense. I read an article about gelatin, plain gelatin not the sugar-laden flavoured stuff that comes in a box. The article explains where gelatin comes from and the health benefits thereof, which include reduction of joint pain in aging bodies… like the one I happen to inhabit.

Both John and I are experiencing more than our fair share of aches and pains these days so I thought we’d give it a try. Or I’ll give it a try. The article suggests using 2 tsp. of unflavoured gelatin dissolved in 1/4 cup of water, every day for one month, to be repeated every six months. It’s gelatin. I like Jello; I don’t want all the sugar and artificial flavours. What have I got to lose? I’ll try it; if it works, I’ll get John to try it. If it doesn’t, I’ve lost nothing but some unflavoured gelatin (which I buy in bulk at my local bulk food store).

The second thing we need to start doing is eating better. Too often, we get home from work with nothing planned for dinner. Often, neither of us feels like cooking so we end up eating bacon and eggs for dinner. Again. Both of us are feeling the effects of not eating properly, even though we both usually enjoy cooking… and eating.

With all of the post-Christmas sales happening, I decided it was time to break down and purchase a crock pot, something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. I drove out to Canadian Tire yesterday and picked up a 4 quart Crockpot for $29.99. All morning, I’ve been scouring Pinterest for interesting, appealing, crock pot/slow cooker recipes and have found a few that look promising. I’ve also posted on Facebook, asking friends and family for their favourite crock pot recipes; that’s given me a few more suggestions.

What about you? Any suggestions for good crock pot meals? Any favourites?

Last night, before going to bed, I set some steel cut oats so we can have ready made oatmeal in the mornings. I’m not normally an oatmeal kind of gal but if it’s made right, I’ll eat it. I’m one of those weird people who likes their oatmeal with some crunch and textural interest so I add grains (a mix of chia seeds, cracked buckwheat, and hemp hearts) and raisins or cranberries to mine. I must admit that it was nice to wake up this morning to a hot bowl of oatmeal just waiting for me. I had some even before I poured my first cup of coffee.

Right now, I have a pot of Green Lentil Soup in the crock pot (here’s the link if you’re interested). It should be ready for a warming, comforting kind of meal by dinner time. Served with some warm crusty bread, it should be a great alternative to a heavy meat and potatoes kind of meal which I don’t mind but not night after night after night. Besides, how many nights in a row can one eat leftover prime rib and Yorkshire puddings?

Don’t answer that!

White Christmas Indeed!

We did, indeed, have our forecasted white Christmas. And it hasn’t stopped snowing yet. Here are a few images we took yesterday (by “we”, I mean Ethan and I; he stayed the night).

Our back yard. It doesn’t look quite the same this morning as the kids played back there later in the day. And there’s more snow there now.

My car, before Ethan and I cleaned it off. There’s about 8″ of snow on there. We used a broom to clear it off and, even so, it took nearly half an hour to clear off the car and the snow immediately around the car!

My helper. The two things they forgot to bring were his snow pants and his boots. He definitely had fun, though. He did have mittens but when you’re playing with a remote control car (all weather vehicle), mittens just don’t work!

The guys who belong to the trucks cleared the driveway for us, thankfully. John was under the weather and barely got out of bed all day. Charlie was having a blast, looking for her (imaginary) ball.

One Week Later

Last week’s snowfall is now a memory. It was one for the record books; the last time this school district had a snow day was 40 years ago, when they closed the schools for one day. Last week’s snow resulted in two snow days for our school district! We also broke a long standing record for the most snowfall in a 24-hour period, one that had been standing since some time in the 1890’s, apparently.

The following three pictures were taken within a 24-hour period. And, for those of you who live in areas where you get a LOT more snow than we get? I know this doesn’t look like a lot; it really isn’t. We don’t really get a lot of snow here. Up in the mountains, yes, we do; but down here at lake level, we do get some but not like you get in the prairies or out east. You have my sympathy.

I do have other things to talk about, including knitting. Where do I start? Well, after buying my Samsung tablet last weekend, I knew I needed to buy a cover for it. I looked at the covers in Future Shop, London Drugs, and various other locations but was appalled when I found out the prices. I cannot see paying about $45 for a cover so I went online. I found one at Amazon for less than half the cost of what I saw in the shops. Even with the shipping and taxes, it was less than the pre-tax price of the covers I could find locally. And it’s red. I love red.

I’m also waiting for a set of screen covers to arrive, probably next week. Incidentally, since I got the tablet, I’ve read two murder mysteries and am well into the third. I haven’t read this much in….. well, I don’t know how long. It’s no wonder I’m not getting much knitting done! One of my sisters turned me on to BookBub and I’ve been downloading some of the free books available there. As well, I’ve finally figured out how to download books from the library to the tablet. Right now, I’m reading “The Camel Club” by David Baldacci.

There has been some knitting, too. I finished a pair of fish lips kiss socks for myself. They look rather Christmas-y; that wasn’t necessarily the intention. I found a partial ball of red DK weight yarn, enough to make one sock, or the foot portion of two socks. Then, I came across a ball of white DK weight acrylic and decided to use the white for the heels. I could have used white for the cuffs, too, but it’s acrylic… not the nicest acrylic I’ve ever worked with. It even squeaked on the needles! I went back to my stash and found two balls of green DK, the same brand as the red. Both the red and the green have wool, possibly even 100% wool.

The socks are a touch big on me but I’m hoping that a wash will solve that. I know that the heel won’t shrink but I do hope it will at least tighten up the socks a bit. They are, however, nice and warm and cozy. They’re meant to be worn around the house, in my slippers…. which need replacing soon.

One of the main reasons I wanted to knit these (other than the practical reason of keeping my feet warm) was to test the Fish Lips Kiss pattern on adult sized socks. I’m very pleased with the result, even though they’re a bit large for me. Realistically, I should have used a smaller needle (I used 3.25 mm, I think); that would have made the knit a little tighter; and for next time, I know to make the foot portion a little shorter before starting the heel.

Now, on with the day. There are letters to write, postcards to send out, dishes to be done, knitting to get to, a book to finish…. you get the idea.