purge!, Elsie & Cookie a duex, cat purse

Quilting was cancelled on Thursday (1/31); the driveway up to the church is very steep and in the shade, so everyone figured it would still be icy, since the temperature when we got up was only ELEVEN degrees!!!  Since Jan was already up and dressed, she came for a visit J.  While she was there I put together roll dough (for 20 rolls) and a broccoli/cheese/rice casserole to take to Sally’s for dinner tonight.  She already has a ham and another neighbor is taking beef stew and another neighbor bringing chocolate chip cookies, so they should be all set for the 12 – 14 people who will be there tonight.

The PURGE has begun…..soon our kitchen table will be piled high with things that will be leaving our house, but for how we have:

20 pillow cases (10 princess & 10 buzz lightyear) to a local church
that is making beds for kids that don't have them

40 computer games (courtesy of Michael)

foreground - 4 table cloths, one Christmas damask, one lace, 2 ordinary
background - 2 glass pie plates and 2 glass bread pans

3 storage bins for CDs (like the computer games)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is one of my New Year’s resolutions, so I am glad to be making a dent in it.  Michael and I spent some time downstairs in the afternoon…and the whole family was there:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After running food over to Sally’s in the late afternoon, we got cleaned up and picked up Gale & Phil and headed to Villa Antonio’s for dinner.  A friend was having a seminar and had 4 extra places and graciously asked us for dinner…and our dinners were wonderful.  Gale & Phil both had the French Onion Soup, while Michael & I had the Caesar Salads.  For entrees there were 2 filet mignons, one chicken/asparagus/crab with a Dijon mustard dream sauce, and one scallops & Shrimp over pesto angel hair.  Dessert was split evenly, 2 crème brulee cheesecakes and 2 chocolate mousses….YUM!!!!  We were home around 8:30 and lay on the couch like dead things until it was time to go to bed.

Here’s a pic of the newest purse:

 

Elsie & Cookie, snow on deck

Michael and I spent the morning with Sally on Tuesday (1/28) finding out all of the details for the funeral and letting her talk about whatever she needed to.  We headed out to a very late breakfast and grabbed a Papa Murphy’s pizza on the way home.  Jan & Walt introduced us to their pizzas, which you take home raw and bake yourself.  They have a $10 Tuesday special and the guy HAS to be losing money on it!!!  We got a chicken/artichoke/bacon/spinach STUFFED pizza for 10 bucks…and it will probably feed us for 3 meals!!!  I feel like I haven’t been doing much of anything else except for reading and thinking about Jimmy.  Michael took a shower in the afternoon, while someone napped under the comforter:

We made the pizza for dinner and it was incredible…then we split up to watch TV separately and I got to knit in the evening.
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The snow started Tuesday night and we were worried what we would wake up to on Wednesday (1/28), but it wasn’t too bad:

 

Even so, many ,many businesses were closed and events were cancelled.  I worked on a new small pocket purse for most of the day (pics soon) while Michael read and did a bit in his art room.  He felt like he had been stuck in the house forever, so he went to the movies Wednesday night and “Miss Marple” and I stayed home where we both knit  J.

daffodils, Barrie with yarn, Elsie & Cookie a duex

Another 22 degree day when we got up on Sunday (1/26), brr_r_r_r!  We had a leisurely breakfast, after which I headed to my studio to work on a few things while Michael cleaned up the kitchen.  He took a picture of what we think are daffodils coming up outside:

They’re gonna get CREAMED by this weather.  Michael took Cookie for a short walk and left at 1 PM for golfing here at SCCL with Phil, while I continued to work on a knitting project.  I got cleaned up and changed in the late afternoon and Ann Mary picked me up at 5 and we headed to the Terrace Café in Ballentyne.  There were 8 ladies there, toasting Sandra McCalister who is returning to Texas.  She has been a GREAT addition here at SCCL and we are very sorry to see her go.  She was in "ARSENIC & OLD LACE" with Michael, so he had someone to carpool with during the long drive into Charlotte for rehearsals.  I was home by 8 and relaxed and read for the rest of the night.

I got cookie dough done early Monday morning (1/27) in preparation for Barrie to come and show me how to work with royal icing, but I got a call from Sally at 9 AM letting me know that Jimmy had died in the wee morning hours.  Although Michael and I are both tremendously sad that Jimmy is gone, we are glad that he didn’t suffer a lot at the end and that his family was with him.  I headed downstairs to send out the notice:

It is with both sadness and joy that I write to you to let you know that Jimmy Aurigemma died early this morning, surrounded by his family and loved ones. Sadness of course because we will never see his smiling face again...talk to him about Panthers football...watch him enjoy a meal...or whack a long drive from the black tees. Joy because he struggled a bit at the end and now he is at peace with God.

No one could have put up a better fight than Jimmy did against his horrible diagnosis and he retained his humor and good nature and fight until the end.

Plans are still tentative at this point....the family is hoping to have services on Friday...I will send out details as I get them. Please continue to pray for the family and for everyone who knew Jimmy...the holes in our hearts due to his passing will not soon be gone.

Somehow Barrie & I didn’t really feel like doing cookies at that point, so we sat and knit and talked about yarn.  She said she wanted to be in my will for part of my yarn stash J…and that gave me an idea.  I have had red, fingering weight alpaca for about 30 years…..I think about it a lot because it is a beautiful yarn, but I am not sure I’ll ever knit it, being that I live in South Carolina and I am always hot!  So….down to the yarn stash we went…and Barrie went home with 25 skeins of yarn!!! 

alpaca on your left and red/black cotton on your right

The purge has begun and I feel good about it….I had 10 skeins of the alpaca (her favorite) and found 15 skeins of a cotton that she could make up in a sweater for herself….I think she was thrilled and so was I.  She is a FABULOUS knitter and I can't wait to see what she comes up with.

I worked in the studio in the afternoon and had company (still trying to keep warm):

 

 

We had soup for dinner and watched TV in the evening.

Elsie & Cookie a trois, in front of the fire, shower caps, bread & pies,

Even though it was 10 degrees warmer when we got up on Saturday (1/25) the wind was blowing something fierce and it just never felt warm in the house.  There was a lot of snuggling-for-warmth going on:

Elsie says 'I'm cold....can I come and snuggle'?

ok....I'm goin' in....

ahhhhhh!

We had a visit from Matt at 10 AM.  Matt is our computer repair guy…he’s young (21) and a more self-possessed, great-head-on-his-shoulders, hard-working young person we have yet to meet!  On a personal level, it is always nice to see him and find out what new things are going on with his life.  The ITUNES program on Michael’s computer was totally locked up and my computer was running very slowly…it took Matt less than an hour to fix both and then off he went.  Michael and I read for a bit in the early afternoon with the fire going, and Cookie & Elsie really enjoyed that:

 

 

Finally at 2 PM I got my butt in gear…here are pictures of some shower caps in action (since several of you asked what I do with them):

a cover for my bread as it rises

pie dough, ready to go back into the fridge to chill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

along with the finished results:

sandwich bread that I also served with my soup



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 'berry' (cherry, strawberry, blackberry & blueberry) pies

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also made Chicken & Corn Chowder soup and our 5 guests showed up at 6 PM with crawfish salad and sausage bread.  We ate everything and left for Fort Mill Community Playhouse for their membership kick-off party.  I won a door prize of 2 tix to the dinner theatre, and Michael had the winning bids for one of the silent auction items and one of the live auction items.  We read for a bit when we got home before falling into bed.

Elsie & Cookie a duex, amaryllis

YIKES!!!!  It was only 12 degrees when we got up on Friday (1/24).  Our babies always lie in the sun for some warmth (although Cookie tends to squeeze out Elsie L). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the 3 blooms on our tallest amaryllis stalk are now all open:

I left early for a quick stop at WALMART, and then went on to south park for a visit with my sleep doctor.  I got home around NOON with B1G1 pot pies from KFC (and they were yummy!) and spent the afternoon reading and knitting.  Michael watched TV in the evening and I continued to knit on the newest baby sweater.

Jan picked me up for quilting on Thursday (1/23) and she worked on a green quilt while there and I alternated helping Willa a tiny bit to baste her HUGE quilt, and knitting.  We were home around 1 and after a bit of time reading many of my cooking blogs, I settled down to work.  I have numerous papers on my desk that I can’t file because my file drawers are too full!!!  So, I started the purge…it wasn’t all bad…I found an envelope with many letters from my mom & dad, and spent some time reading them.  In the end, in about an hour and a half I had cleaned out and thrown away or recycled 1/2 of the papers in the drawer!!!  Tomorrow I hope to get all of the new stuff filed. 

Michael and I met Jan & Walt & Mark at the golf club for dinner at 6 PM.  Jan and I had the shrimp & grits (this version is in my top 5 meals ever eaten!), Michael had eggplant parmesan, Mark had a blackened salmon wrap and Walt had salmon cooked on a plank.  Jan invited us back to the house for her famous rum cake for dessert…and it was yummy!  After that, it was home to TV watching and knitting.

Wednesday morning (1/22) it was 22 degrees when we got up, so Michael’s golfing here at SCCL was delayed until 12:30 PM.  I headed to my studio to knit and was still knitting when Michael got home (from just 9 holes….too cold to golf any longer) at 3.  Larry stopped by with a plate of cookies from Joanne….my big mistake was in not trying them right at NOON when he stopped by…that way I could have had three….four….FIVE!!!!  and Michael would have been none the wiser J.  Instead, I didn’t have my first one until 4 PM when I was looking for a little nosh before our late dinner….OMgosh was it great!  They are pecan pie bars and I immediately called and asked for the recipe J.  And she gave us so many of them….I’m not sure they kept very many (any?) for themselves….but YAY!  Anyway, around 6:30 Michael made mac & Cheese for dinner and we settled into TV watching and more knitting on a new baby sweater.

Stitch & Chat window

OMgoodness…..when I signed on to make my blog entry Tuesday morning (1/21) I had SIX comments!!!!!!!  I was so excited….that really made my day!  You know, I sit down here at my computer and and some days feel like I am toiling in obscurity, writing and writing, never knowing who’s really reading or if they think about what I have written….I LOVE getting comments, it totally motivates me to keep writing, so THANK YOU!!!!!

Michael had leftover waffles and I had leftover pancakes for breakfast on Tuesday before heading off…Michael to BJ’s and me back to knitting!  Joanne picked me up at 1 PM for Stitch and Chat where I just had to take a bunch of pictures.  There are windows in the lake House that the various clubs decorate every other month.  My friend Paula and another friend Lynne were responsible for the window this month, and it is hysterical.  We all decided to do a UFO (unfinished objects) window…and that would be funny enough.  But Paula wrote little sayings with each object and they are truly a hoot.  I couldn’t get good pictures of all of them…but hope you enjoy the ones I did (try to make them bigger if you can't read the signs):

When I got home, I put together a new biscuit recipe.  I’ve had this recipe for at least 5 years, and when I decided I wanted to make bread to go with the soup for dinner, I went looking for a new recipe in my files.  I re-found the biscuit recipe and viola…it took minutes to put together and cut out and pop into the freezer.  I’ve been looking for some kind of bread that can go directly from freezer to oven, and this fit the bill.  Unfortunately, I patted them out TOO thick, and some were gooey in the middle….yuck!  Enter my friend Joanne’s husband Larry.  I gave him a call to ask for some pieces of wood so that I could roll out a consistent thickness and determine an appropriate baking time.  I swear….10 minutes later, Joanne & Larry show up at our front door with exactly what I need J.  I can’t wait to make the biscuits again and check it out.  Michael and I spent the rest of the night watching TV separately….and I continued knitting while I watched.

new baby sweater

My honey left early for golfing at Regent Park on Monday (1/20), while I had a not-on-my-normal-day 1 hour phone call with Janice….HEAVEN!  After that it was visiting with Sally & Jimmy for a bit (and dropping off some nut bread that Jan had made), then a quick trip to the grocery store and then home.  I spent the early afternoon knitting and watching TV until Michael got home around 3 PM with an 88 for his efforts…he is really loving his new driver.  I made a new soup Chicken & Potato Chowder for dinner and thought it was excellent!  I scored 10 pounds of potatoes for $2.49 awhile back and have been looking for recipes to use them up.  We split up to watch TV for a bit, then got back together before 9 to finish out the night upstairs.

Here’s a picture of the latest sweater:

 

Elsie & Cookie, amaryllis

We made a terrific breakfast together on Sunday (1/19) consisting of blueberry pancakes, potatoes and a tiny bit of leftover bacon.  We had a couple of hours to complete a few tasks around the house (for me it was cutting a few more tumbling blocks strips) before leaving at 1 to pick up Lisa & Dean to head into Charlotte for HEDWIG & THE ANGRY INCH at Actor’s Theatre.  Our babies were sharing the sun while we were cooking:

 

And we finally remembered to take some pics of our amaryllis, which is finally starting to bloom:

5 days ago....

Sunday morning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The play was certainly interesting, not one we would go and see a second time, but not bad….still don’t understand why the vast majority of season ticket holders voted for this one as the show they wanted to see again for the 25th anniversary of the theatre!??!?!  Anyway, Lisa and Dean took us out to a pub for dinner afterwards and the food was EXCELLENT!  I had a burger (something I haven’t ordered out in a restaurant probably in 15 years) and it was yummy!  Lisa had fish and chips (the other item I was thinking about ordering), Dean had a luscious looking porkchop and Michael had chicken & dumplings where the dumpling were gnocchi.  We were home by 8 and veggied on the couch with the TV.  I finished a baby sweater….hopefully picture tomorrow.

beginning of tumbling blocks strips

My honey made me an onion, tomato and cheese omelet Saturday morning(1/18), while I finally got caught up on my blog entries.    I spent the afternoon starting to cut fabric for a tumbling blocks wall hanging.  And though I am loath to admit it J, for the first color blocks I am doing the BG/Mary Jo method.  I’m too unsure of what I am doing to cut all of my strips at once, so I’m  just going to make the blue/green cubes and make sure they work before heading on to the other colors.  Michael looked at the 6 colors and helped me to pair them up….so I’m officially on my way.  After I started cutting, I decided I needed some way to keep them all neat, so got out my smurf ladder to corral everything.  For just the blue/green cubes, I need to cut 6 different fabrics:

3 down & 3 to go

 

At 5:30 we picked up Joanne & Larry and headed to Café Monte for a Charlotte Restaurant Week meal.  OMgoodness, our meals were spectacular.  The meal started with 2 Cheese & Charcuterie plates for 2, for appetizers we picked 2 spinach salads (with warm bacon dressing), one French tomato bisque, and one endive salad with green apples/bleu cheese/candied walnuts.  For our entrees we were evenly split between scallops with sundried tomato/asparagus/wild mushroom risotto and a filet mignon with asparagus and crab and roasted potatoes.  The risotto was OUTSTANDING!!  For dessert there was one bread pudding, one crème brulee, and 2 chocolate raspberry mousse cakes.  It really was an excellent meal.  We were home by 8:30 and read for a bit and watched TV before heading to bed.

Here it is Saturday morning (1/18) and I’m trying to remember what I did this week???  I know Stitch & Chat was Tuesday, we spent 1/2 the day on Wednesday with Jimmy & Sally and I had quilting on Thursday.  The rest of the time was spent eating (mostly Campbell’s chicken noodle soup, which is what I always want when I have a cold), drinking (mostly hot beverages, which is all I want when I have a cold) and not being merry L.  Luckily I felt better Friday morning and went with Jan to get her car serviced.  Both of us were knitting in the waiting area and got into a lively discussion with the other 3 ladies and one man about knitting, cooking, ricers, and my brownie/peanut butter recipe.  After the garage we stopped at Joann’s (I got 7 zippers with 7 coupons), the beauty supply place (SCORE! 30 shower caps with nice elastic for $2.98), the Viking dealership (to drop off some sugared pecans to thank Norm for doing me a favor), Walmart (Jan got groceries, I got a new iron!), the liquor store (Jan needed rum to make one of her famous rum cakes….yum!) and finally home at 1 PM.  I watched another Miss Marple and knit while Michael took the dog for a walk, and then took a nap.  I had a nice visit with Susan (my neighbor) before dinner and TV and knitting for the rest of the evening.

coffee cake, Elsie & Cookie a duex

Michael left for golfing at Lancaster on Monday (1/13), coming home at 3 PM with an 88.  He said it was the sloppiest course he’s been on yet this year….darn all of that rain!  I was up early to put together a coffee cake

 

for my Volunteer meeting at 9 AM.  The board met as a group for a couple of hours, then went over a few things with individuals.   By the time everyone left, I had time for soup for lunch, then was off to pick up Jan (for fabric shopping) and Lil (Jimmy’s sister) to take her to the airport.  We dropped off Lil, then Jan and I headed to Mary Jo’s since the airport is already 1/2 way there.  One of my New Year’s resolutions kicked in….I’m not sure I’ve EVER spent so little at Mary Jo’s  J, but as Martha used to say ‘it’s a good thing’.  We came straight home and I read (with company)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

until dinner (still feeling poopy from the cold/sore throat).  We had leftover pizza and watched TV and read until bedtime.

We’re baaa-ack!  It was 44 degrees when I got up on Saturday (1/11), and over 60 degrees by 11 AM.  I spent most of the day reading and finished the book Ginny got for me…the 4^th in the TRADD STREET series by Karen White.  It was wonderful; I loved it!  I did take an unusual 2 hour nap near dinnertime, and then had trouble getting going for the rest of the night.  We had leftover pizza for dinner and watched STAR TREK:INTO DARKNESS in the evening and I got a lot of knitting done.

When I woke up on Sunday (1/12) I found out (probably) why I took such a long nap on Saturday….wicked sore and scratchy throat  L.  We still made a fabulous potato, bacon and waffle breakfast that Jan stopped by to share on her way home from an early morning errand.  Michael went golfing here at SCCL in the afternoon, while I watched Miss Marple on TV and knit.  I just didn’t feel like eating dinner, so Michael heated up our pork leftovers for himself.  I put together a pan of chicken enchiladas and 2 runs of brown rice and took it over to Sally & Jimmy’s for their Monday night dinner.  For the rest of the evening I read my book, took a long soak in the tub and went to bed early.

cinnamon rolls, Cookie & Elsie a too-many-to-count, flip flop purses

We baked our own pan of cinnamon rolls on Friday morning (1/10):

Michael loves taking these 'action' shots!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 and after breakfast, Michael headed out to do some errands (furniture store to order our chairs, some golf store with a big sale J, ALDI’s on the way home) and I headed to the studio to finish up the flip flop purses, after putting a pork roast in the crockpot.  I had furry company (I think they are huddling together for warmth….Michael will certainly be the first to tell you that I keep the house too cold  J)

ooo - I think dad's home

As well as a long visit from Nancy A which was just delightful.  By the time I went upstairs to get ready for dinner, I had this:

all done, time to move on to something else

 

Gail & Phil came over for dinner and we had Michael’s potato/carrot mash, roasted butternut squash, the pork roast and another loaf of artisan bread.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the meal and Michael dug out 2 DVD’s he had made, one of our Alaska trip where we met Gail & Phil, and another of our trip with them to Lake Lure.  It was nice to relive those adventures again, and after they left, we had a quiet hour of TV before bed.