review.....

Ruth Marie

asked me my opinion of the book I showed in the last post

as I said I was a little

disappointed in it

I saw the front cover and thought it would be more

me

than it is

This is MY opinion

and I have absolutely no reason to tell anyone

not

to buy it

but for me

UH HUH

or however you spell it

!!!!

:) :) :)

All the designers may be masters of their craft

but I don't like any of the projects

I will never do this

and you can't make me!!

hair pin lace

wrap around

goes so well with what she's wearing don't you think?!!

looks like the '60's and '70's are coming back

I don't want them to if we have to look like this!

there was this bead crochet

but they chose to offer this

example

crystals and a pink jumper 

seems she forgot her other sleeve

or ran out of yarn

and just tied it all together

 this is so '50's

it's for bullion stitch

and it looks like

MY

grandmothers

so beyond vintage

it's out

!!!

Irish lace

never can go wrong with this and I'll read through it

maybe learn something

this is the only thing that has my attention

it is done with 6 strand embroidery floss

of which I have none

it's overlay crochet.

I LOVE the knitting book I got

just so you don't think I'm a

gloomy gus who hates everything

Ruth

Your taste is different from mine

so you may love the book

I know I can probably learn something from it

there is Bruges Lace

and

Fillet

and wire crochet

and a few other things

....

if you lived closer I'd let you borrow it

really I would

I showed it to the hubs and he just looked at it

no expression

nothing

when pushed

he said

well

it's not you!!!

so I consider this the free one

because I wouldn't buy it if I had been able to see inside

and I did try

sorry

I wish I could be more enthusiastic about it

and as I said you may love it

don't know!

does this make me look fat

you know a chunky cabled wrap around sweater

............................

:{

verrry interressting....

first of all

thank you all for commenting

and making me realise I'm not the only one

Not that I thought I was

I get over myself very quickly

so just bear with the rants every now and again

I have absolutely nothing to complain about

not when so many are suffering horrible real tragedies

around the world

I know about them and I feel for them

always

!!!

I got up and did what was necessary

warmed up and felt all the better for it

the Christmas things are put away

twelvth night and all that

I kept the stars out

they look sweet sitting around

and I put some with the paper balls I made last year

that are still out

think a bit of rearranging needed there!!!

The Christmas plants are still going strong so they stay

until they die!!

I don't try to keep them going all year

like some do

it makes me sad to see them try to hang on in conditions that don't suit them!

I watered the houseplants too

and found new shoots growing in the little

succulents

hi piggy!!!

and I think this one is going to bloom

it doesn't look like new leaves

so we'll see

when I saw this photo it looked rather alien

so

I posted it

my African Violets are all sprouting buds too

must be all that food I'm force feeding them

I found this delicious little goodie

and have plans for it

rugelah with nuts....

it comes from Croatia.....

love it when it isn't china!!!

:) :) :)

and there in the background is something I forgot to put away...

always one more thing!!!

the hubs bought me my Christmas cake, as I call it

we didn't go to the only store that carries it

 before Christmas

so I have it now

it isn't the original or even the best

but it will do

it smells right and I love the opening of the bag

and getting that first

whifffffff

the mail came while I was futzing around

and my free book arrived

I belong to a book "club" and at the end of last month they were trying really really hard

to get me to buy something

:)

so I held out until it got to the

buy one get one free stage

and then I pounced!!

told you I am frugal!!!

:)

This is brand new and I had high hopes of learning something new and exciting

but

I won't

and it isn't

(IMHO)

there is one project in it that I may try

when I restock my embroidery floss

and I mean

when

but the coffee table is clear of the mess!!

I tried to get all the tidying done in the

roomontheleft

but ended up

winding a few balls of yarn

aren't those colours yummy??!!

I put all my hooks and bits in a cup that belonged to my Mother

and now hopefully I can find them

I had some beads hanging and forgot I had them

so there they are right upfront and visible

may play with them soon

the other book is this one

knitting

lovely lovely knitting

fresh designs and crisp ideas

have played with it for a few days

trying to figure out what I can do

I'll show you more later

and then     and then

the place I bought the ball winder from

sent me a catalogue

damn them!!!!

:)

I didn't know you could buy yarn that cheap on the Internet

I haven't let myself look

because I want everything I see

I'm like a child

a spoilt one

but at these prices

I can have

a few

some

one

or

six

!!!!

What was it George Costanza's Dad used to say

Serenity now!!!!!

(not quite sure that fits here

but I felt like saying it)

So

here we have a clean desk

books at the ready

hooks and needles

too

I am no longer in a funk

and I hope the same

for you!!!!

I would like to again say thank you for  the comments on the last post and the cooking one

I always visit you as soon as you comment

to "see" who you are if it's your first time

 and

yesterday I had trouble leaving comments

so know I came to visit

but ended up a

lurker!!!

I'll bee baaack

unlike a certain Govenor

wonder if he'll make movies again

hope not!!!!

:}



I'm bored!!!

On the fourth day of the

New Year

I feel very restless

I want to clear the house

throw it all outside

hose it off

spruce it up

paint it

cover it
re-cover it

re-stuff it

un-stuff it

change it all around

and put it all back

in different places

I want to turn our bedroom into the living room

I want to clear all

and I mean all

the junk

unwanted

unloved

useless

bits

and

pieces

out of

roomontheleft

re-paint

buy a new bed
cover it in quilts and down pillows

get a bigger desk

buy more storage

to put it all back

in an organised

sensible manner

where
 when I want something

need something

I don't have to go through

umpteen boxes or bags

looking for it

I want turquoise paint on the walls

and off white furniture and trim

I want pretty curtains at the window

a fabulous squishy carpet on the floor

with an old hooked rug on top
a comfortable chair

that has pretty cushions on it

a little table next to it

big enough to put a couple of books and a cup of coffee or tea

I want to house all my little bits and bobs on shelves

and make it look like a designer came and did it

but they made it look like I had done it

almost like the make-up artists who spend hours

making you up to look like you aren't wearing anything

!!!!!

I want the living room re-arranged
to be cosier
another chair to sit crossed-legged in
wide enough to hook or knit
without the needles getting hung up
a coffee table that isn't covered with yarn and books and cups
more surfaces to put stuff on!!
re-painted and re-furnished
a new kitchen
with cabinets that look old but aren't
a new table and chairs
more counter space
all new dishes and bits
more storage
a lot more storage
new bed linens
and
lots of fluffy white towels for the bathroom
another bathroom
all white
and new
wood floors throughout the house
covered in yummy carpets
and a cat that won't pee on them
I want to keep the cat
always and forever
even when she pees on the freshly laundered rug
:(
:)
but
I'm a realist
and not one of these things will be done
except one or two tiny things like
cleaning the
roomontheleft
and
putting it all back where it fits or belongs
I have NO pictures to show
there is nothing to shoot
it's cold and grey outside
it feels cold inside
because I am sitting here
lamenting
for no reason
other
than
I'm
bored!!

Are you?
and if yes
what do you do to get out of feeling like that??
See ya!!

:)

cooking

Mia Self

a Flickrfriend

asked me how I learnt to cook

if my mother didn't teach me.

Well, she did.

When I said she couldn't bake

I meant just that

baking.

Her cakes were like hockey pucks and I don't remember her ever making cookies

she grew up in very cosmopolitan surroundings

and everything she ever wanted was there in the shops

like in any big city

you have groups of people

who stick together

and

make their own things

In Toronto

Little Italy is full of  little short  men

strutting around like Mussolini

knocking women off the sidewalks

and just being

MCP

I know

I was the one knocked off!!!

but you can get just about anything

they have in Italy

including the cow milk jugs

that look like they are vomiting on your food!!!

LOVE those things!!!

:) :) :)

And in China Town

there are live animals there ready for slaughter

or dead ones

still looking at you

with their little beady eyes

When my oldest son went to visit my sister

she took him to the markets

and after seeing all these animals

dead and alive

he vowed to be

vegetarian

sweet boy!!

You can get lots of lovely things there

cheap

so, my Mum taught me to cook

and my Dad

on Saturdays at lunch time

when he and I were the only ones home

Mum was at work and who knows where the sister was

up in London being a London dolly bird I guess!!

:p

so Dad and I had to fend for ourselves

and we used to make all sorts of things

we used the grill (broiler) a lot

on the tiny little stove we had

 in the even tinier kitchen

that was always cold

we made Welsh rarebit

and grilled tomatoes

we fried eggs and bacon

and chips

he taught me how to cook rice for

salmon kedgeree

we used to have fun coming up with whatever we could think of

those were the days before pizza joints and take out food

if you were hungry

you cooked it!!

there was a Wimpy's on the High Street

but Dad wasn't a fast food type!!

Wimpys was/is a hamburger place where the hamburgers have tiny onion bits on them

and when I was a college we would go there and flick the onion bits off at each other!!

and the boys would squirt the ketchup and mustard bottles so hard the contents would hit the ceiling!!

If my father had known.....I would have been in big trouble

He expected better behaviour and I was a young lady

wasn't I?

He was the man who lived in the desert in Iraq
and ate cheese and jam....

and only had water to drink

so we had to too!!

he never let us forget it!!

I also learnt at school

all those wonderful stodgy English foods

that stick to your gut

brown stew

sponge puddings and custard

all sorts of cakes

that we then took home and our families had to eat.

Dark fruit cakes at Christmas

mince pies

YUMM

and I also taught myself

once I was married and had to keep us fed

I like to cook

but baking I like more

so there you have it

my life as a chef

!!

do you like to cook and bake?

(the pictures here are mine and off the net
I made the stew and the bread and the piragi and the biscotti in the bag in the dark picture!!


the cow the ducks and the kedgeree
I found through Bing!!!!)

bon appetite !!!

SO...here we are

on the other side of the calendar!!!

It is officially the

New Year.!!!!!

two thousand

and

eleven!!

How did we get here so fast?

and

what I wonder

is this new year

 spread out in front of us

 going to bring?

I wrote a whole bunch of stuff

yesterday

sitting and thinking about the past year

and I deleted it

all

the year is over and gone

this new one is a new beginning

a fresh start

let's go with that!!!

I found all these photos on the camera

this morning

taken over the past few days

put down and forgotten

so when I loaded them I found

these that I post

(obviously!!)

in with the new

the amaryllis

finally bloomed

in between Christmas and the New Year

love it

it's white!!!!!

out with the old

the Christmas roses

dried up and died

so out with the dried up and dead!

in more ways than one!!

this blurry shot was yesterday morning

first thing

the moon and a bright star

with the sunrise beside it

the last day of the old year

but still so lovely

this heart is for the hope that you had a great time over the past few weeks

getting all the things done that you planned for

that you were surrounded with love of family and friends

and carry that feeling into the new year

I did a tiny bit of baking on Christmas Eve

I used to spend three weeks in the kitchen

baking my little socks off

when my Mother was still alive

she would watch from the sidelines

and tell me how much I reminded her of her mother

someone I never knew

but was somehow like and connected to

my mother couldn't bake

for all the tea in china

so I got the baking gene I guess

I had to get something

!!!

my sister got so many other genes.....

a good brain... the ability to reason and do things right!!!!

Organisational skills up the kazoo

me

I bake and make a mess!!

in more ways than one...

but I love it so all's well!!!

I have gone back to drinking tea these past few weeks

I haven't had a cup of tea for so long I don't remember

I have a cup in the afternoon and obviously this one came with the best

butter cookies I ever made!!

I got the mug in the grocery store because  it was on sale and I like the faces!!!

and I have lost my Christmas mugs

note to self

charity shop visit added to list of things to do!!!

or a really good sale at the other shops

were things are 80% off and another 25% at the check out

and they still make a profit!!!!

:)

this is here because the husband pointed it out

the sun is shining in the lamp

and we have

solar powered light!!!!

:)

I made myself some fingerless mittens

and

you know what

they DO work

you just have to get used to the

fingers being out there and naked!!

and I put them on in the early morning in

theroomontheleft

until they annoy me and I take them off!!!

and finally

(I hear the cheering)

this is what I made yesterday

a whole pile of

piragi

Latvian style

(also now called bacon buns")

they are a staple at celebrations in Latvian culture

(little yeast dough buns stuffed with bacon and onions and nothing like the Polish ones)

my husband doesn't get to partake anymore and he sorely misses them

so out of the goodness 

of my little cotton socks

(an expression my father used to use)

I made him some

the husband not the father!!

this is what I left him with

he ate them

and was happy

and now I really did it

and will have to make him more

more often

because now he knows I know how to make them

..............................

:o