Diva and the Rolling Stones

I've branched out into a different area of crafting - rock painting!  There is a movement going on in our community, as well as other towns, where you pick up random stones, paint them, then plant them in various places for others to find.  And that's it!  Doing something to express yourself just to allow strangers to smile or to think. I must say it's a fabulous idea!

I joined a Facebook group, Cowlitz County Rocks, to get inspired.  People post their creations then let others know where they have "hidden" them. Others, often with children, post the rocks they have found, oftentimes while they are out rock hunting.

Not sure if I will get that intimately involved but I do plan on placing my rocks in various areas as I go through my day. The gas station, the minit mart, a parking lot - wherever the urge strikes.

Here are a few of my rocks that will soon find their way out in the world.

Dinosaur, Driftwood and Draggin

Awww Sunday, better known as Day 2 with no shower!  Yesterday I cleaned up, fixed my hair and face and took care of business. Today ended up being a stay in your pajamas all day event.

Cleaned the kitchen again then painted a driftwood walking stick for Jordan. I've had the stick for awhile and it screamed out dinosaur or alien. Ended up painting one side as a dinosaur and the other side as a snake. I think he will like it.

Sam and Jimmy stopped by this afternoon to visit. Once they were gone I finally made myself put away all my clothes. Ugh. I watched You've Got Mail for the hundredth time while I hung my wardrobe. The end gets me every time - I was a sobbing puddle at the end.

It's now 830 pm and I'm in bed. Hitting the hay early as I have to be at work by 8 for a teleconference.  I'm saying my prayers tonight that the roads aren't icy!

Chilly, Chili, and Chillin

Nothing better than sleeping in on the weekend. Woke up about 8:30, got my coffee, and hung out thinking of my plans for the day. Soon received a text from Sam and he became my plans. Picked him up from his friends house, hit the bank so he could start a checking account, ran him back home to get cash, picked up Jimmy, deposited his money at drive through, and headed over to Starbucks.

Bank called - forgot Sam's license in the drive through container (my fault!)  Got our Starbucks by pooling our random gift cards, then headed back to bank to pick up license.

Headed to DMV; Sam called insurance place to get that first. Found out he hadn't added enough money to bank to cover deposit. At that point the bank was closed so back to bank to put his additional cash in to night deposit.

Finally time to drop off Sam and Jimmy then to my house.  Cleaned the kitchen, took down Christmas decor from the front porch, then put up my new Seahawks flag that Sam gifted me for Christmas.

That done, I whipped up a batch of chilli for the crockpot.  Turned it on high then made another batch of the no knead bread and set it aside to rise.

Bread rising, my next task was to whip up some pastry dough for a pie. Rolled that out, dumped in canned berry filling, and covered it. Had some extra dough so made some grape and leaf clusters for the top. Brushed the leaves with green food coloring,  the only one I had. Needed red or purple for the grapes so ended up mixing a bit of cranberry jellied sauce with sugar to make a sort of pinkish color for them. What the heck - whatever works in a pinch!!

The bread is now in the oven as I sit here relaxing waiting for the big snow and ice storm to occur.  Lord knows I won't go hungry if I'm housebound!!

Let Them Eat Bread!

There's nothing better than doing something extra special for people who work hard for you every day.  Last night I mixed together a batch of no-knead yeast bread and let it rise all night long.  Getting up early this morning, I plopped it into a bread pan then cooked it until it was brown and crispy on top, risen and fluffy in the middle.  Packing it up along with butter and strawberry preserves, I brought it in to work to surprise my team with fresh, warm goodness on this very cold morning.  It was a big hit!  Too much for us to eat so I spread the word for fellow employees to partake in the carb goodness.  So happy it turned out - making bread is always a moving target!!!

No-Knead Crusty Artisan Bread

 

Yield: Makes 1 loaf

 

Ingredients:

 

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons kosher salt (not table salt)

1/2 teaspoon dry yeast (active dry or highly active dry work best)

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

 

Directions:

 

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt and yeast. Stir in water using a wooden spoon until the mixture forms a shaggy but cohesive dough. Do not over-work the dough. The less you "work" it, the more soft, fluffy air pockets will form.

 

Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Let dough sit at room temperature for 8-24 hours*. Dough will bubble up and rise.

 

After dough is ready, preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Place your Dutch oven, uncovered, into the preheated oven for 30 minutes.

 

While your Dutch oven preheats, turn dough onto a well-floured surface. With floured hands, form the dough into a ball. Cover dough loosely with plastic wrap and let rest.

 

After the 30 minutes are up, carefully remove Dutch oven. With floured hands, place the bread dough into it. (You can put a piece of parchment under the dough if your Dutch oven isn’t enamel coated.)

Replace cover and bake for 30 minutes covered. Carefully remove cover and bake for 7-15 minutes* more, uncovered.

 

Carefully remove bread to a cutting board and slice with a bread knife.

 

NOTE – Okay, I have no Dutch oven.  I made a double batch of the dough, using the dough mixer on my Kitchenaide, let it sit to rise overnight, then plopped it into bread pan and cooked it at 425 degrees for about 30 minutes (if it was a single batch, I’d cook it for 15 minutes.)  I took it out when the top was crispy and golden brown.  Turned out perfecto!!

Heels and Ducks

One of the employees at work surprised me out of the blue with a late Christmas gift. She said she found something that made her think of me and she thought was perfect for me. It was a high heeled stiletto cell phone holder!!  Totally me of course!!

I have my shoe obssession and Steve has his. This morning he was out in the very, very, very cold weather duck hunting. Today was a good day as he got his limit.  Aren't they gorgeous?  Crafty girl that I am my first thought when I saw this picture was "hmmm...what could I do with those green feathers??"

Can We Just Skip This Phase of My Life?

So, I'm just not looking forward to menopause!! Outside of my period stopping, I'm not digging all these other symptoms.  My doctor told me it's like going through puberty again with all the hormones running rampant.  Ugh.  I've had a few moods lately that I've chocked up to menopause knocking on my door.  I'm just over it already and it hasn't even started!!!



 

 

Grandparent Once Removed

It's almost like time traveling or a form of parallel universe whereupon my son Jordan can become a grandfather before me, his mother, has become a grandmother.

Congrats to Jordan and his wife Candy who became grandparents (again) on January 1.  Candy's oldest son's ex-girlfriend gave birth to a baby girl; Candy's youngest son already has a 1 1/2 year old baby daughter.  But make no mistake - this does not make me a great grandmother!!!