Thursday Thirteen #1

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Thirteen Things I Would Rather Not Be Without

1. WW friends...Glenda, Joan, Barbie and Merlene

2. Hot tea in the morning, especially Earl Grey Creme from Teavana

3. MY feather pillow, of course we have tons of pillows in the house, but I want mine.

4. Air conditioning in the hot Texas summer.

5. Good books to read.

6. My Community Bible Study group

7. Ravelry

8. Knitting

9. Bobbi, my hair color genius. Because I am not ready to admit I am gray.

10. Baseball....there is nothing worse than trying to find something to watch on tv after the end of the World Series until opening day in April.

11. My laptop...what did we do before portablity?

12. My sweet boys

13. And last but not least my dear sweet husband.







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Works for Me - Hasty Pudding

My boys and I were studying early American history this year and kept coming up against the food hasty pudding. The boys finally asked me "just what is that?" and I must be honest I had an idea, but wasn't quite sure. A quick google search told me that it is cornmeal mush. For fun, I thought I would give it a try. Not too hard just cornmeal, water and a touch of salt.

Well, believe it or not, my boys loved it! Even my picky youngest asked for seconds. I did have some leftovers and it triggered a food my grandmother loved, fried mush... or in classier circles polenta. I took the leftovers, put them in a loaf pan and then in the fridge. The next day, I sliced it and slowly pan fried it in a touch of olive oil. Again, another hit.

With gas and food prices soaring, I am always looking for a quick, easy and CHEAP way to feed my crew. While we wouldn't make a steady diet of hasty pudding like our forefathers, it is an economical option for a side dish or different breakfast.

Hasty Pudding

Bring 6 cups of water to a boil. Slowly add 1 cup ground cornmeal, stirring constantly. Cook and stir until the mixture begins to thicken and boil, approximately 5 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon salt. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 35 minutes longer stirring occasionally. Serve as is, or add gravy or syrup.

Side note...this is called hasty pudding because in the days of cooking over wood fires 40 to 45 minutes was a microwave meal!

For other great ideas head on over to Rocks in My Dryer.

Which Austen Heroine are You

As I sit up waiting for the pain meds to take effect, surfing the web, I found this fun little quiz. Since I am a fan of all things Austen I thought it quite fun.

Take the Quiz here!

Shoulder pain

This weekend I have been fighting a pain in my shoulder. At first it was only if I moved my shoulder a certain way. But by Sunday, it was a nagging to throbbing constant pain. I have an appointment with the doctor this afternoon and at this point I just want to say "give me pain meds!" Please understand I don't even like to take tylenol, I have a very high threshold of pain. So for me to say uncle and even go to the doctor, my husband knows I am in severe hurt. Hopefully, this too shall pass and soon.

An Introduction

Simply stitches....why that name? Well, I love to knit, am learning to do machine embroidery and attempting to make some clothing for myself. All of these things take patience and "simply" doing the next stitch.

I tend to do way to many projects at one time resulting in very few completed objects. Currently, I have two major knitting projects: a shawl and a sweater, several socks under construction, a dress and jacket that I am attempting and more embroidery designs than I have time. What can I say? I "simply" love to start new things.

A bit about myself... I am a Christian homeschooling mama for three delightfully busy boys. They like one another MOST of the time. Speedy B is the oldest, he just turned 12 and lives for baseball. Cowodie is 10, he enjoys the piano, cub scouts, baseball, nature, you name it...he takes after his mom, can't decide on his hobby of choice. The "baby" of the family is Smoda. He is six going on 25. Where my other boys left the TV alone, he will go hide in the other room and turn the sound off to get his fix. If he is not attempting to watch TV then he is getting on the computer or hiding in the cabinet with his gameboy. If it sounds like I don't have much control over the youngest child, I don't! Go figure, he was raised with the same rules and regulations as the other boys...but he marches to his own beat. The leader of my happy crew is RacerDad. He and I have been married thirteen years. He is a wonderful husband, father and provider for our family...though he does drive me a bit nuts sometimes! In his defense, he has to put up with me...

I would like to think this blog will display beautifully made items quite frequently. But as I already stated, I have crafter ADD and so always have more projects going than finishing up. I would also like to think that I will have somewhat witty sayings from time to time, but I know from reading others blogs mine will not be as entertaining. I wish I could offer wonderful spiritual insight as so many women do, but I do well to read my bible (I strive for daily but it doesn't always happen).

This blog is mainly for my own musings. The repository for my words that often fall on deaf ears in my all male household. I used to use my mother as my sounding board, but I lost her two years ago to cancer.

So from humble beginnings I will simply begin stitching entries from time to time.