Sunday, March 08, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
The ball winder is my Nana's (Dad's Mom's) old ball winder. My Dad made this swift from these plans I found:
SewUseful: Portable Tabletop Yarn Swift (for winding yarn) - More DIY How To Projects
They work very well together. Thanks!
SewUseful: Portable Tabletop Yarn Swift (for winding yarn) - More DIY How To Projects
They work very well together. Thanks!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Sunday, December 07, 2008
The tree was decorated this week with help from Ginger, Ken, and Brian.
I finally made a Pumpkin-chocolate swirl cheesecake I've been wanting to try. . . yum!
(I used 1 regular cream cheese and left 1/4 cup of brown sugar out so not as sweet. Also had to transfer mixture to large bowl after adding second ingredients and finish with hand mixer since my food processor was not large enough to hold all ingredients. This is a tall cheese cake so make sure your springform pan is pretty deep.)
CHOCOLATE CRUST
* 1 1/2 cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs
* 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
CHEESECAKE
* 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
* 2 cups low fat cottage cheese
* 2 (8 ounce) packages neufchatel cheese, softened
* 2 cups light brown sugar
* 3 large eggs
* 1/3 cup flour
* 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
* 1 1/2 tablespoons ground ginger
* 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1 teaspoon nutmeg
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
MAKE CHOCOLATE CRUST: Coat 9 inch springform pan with cooking spray. In medium bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs and butter. Press into bottom of springform pan. Bake 10 minutes.
MAKE CHEESECAKE FILLING: Place chocolate in microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on medium power, stirring every 30 seconds to heat evenly. Set aside.
In food processor, blend cottage cheese until smooth (about 3 minutes). Add Neufchatel cheese, brown sugar, eggs, and flour. Process until smooth. Add pumpkin, ginger, cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg. Process 1 minute, or until smooth.
Whisk 1 cup of the cheese batter into the melted chocolate. Pour remaining batter into crust. Spoon dollops of chocolate mixture onto batter and swirl with a knife.
Bake the cheesecake for 1-1/2 hours, or until the top is firm and the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool completely on a wire rack. Chill well before unmolding and serving.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Maryland visit
Brian and I made a trip up to Maryland to visit the parents this past weekend. We had a great trip, touristing around Annapolis, and a nice breakfast out with Nana, Mom, Dad, Aunt Jan, Uncle Warren, Aunt Elke, Uncle Joe, and cousin Mark (Jackie was working).Just after we left, Joe made Dad get out all the John Deere's for a Kodak moment. Left to right are, a 1984 Model 1450, 1942 Model A, 1947 Model M, 1997 Model 855, and out front the 2008 XUV Gator. Yikes, we're considering sending Tom to John Deere Anonymous. ;)
Dad saved some historic newspapers (The Baltimore Sun and Annapolis Capital) for me from the week before. They have been securely archived. One more time. . . Go Obama!
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Go Virginia!
We did it. This year even my home, Montgomery County, went blue. Thanks to all my friends and community members who tirelessly volunteered and did so much for this historic event.
We stayed up late last night at our friend's, Chris and Joanne's, with a bunch of like-minded, wonderful folks. We had a laptop going, people text messaging friends, and flipping through several stations. Joanne made some amazing food for us all and Ginger and Ken shared some champagne.
Can you believe it! An intelligent president that will represent us respectfully to the world. My dad said on his trip through Virginia that he hopes Obama lives up to all the hype, and I have faith that he will. Just the fact that we elected someone that truly represents us all has brought our standing in the international arena up immeasurably.
I am thrilled to have become such an important part of history, voting in the first African American president. It seems to me almost every other event my generation has witnessed first hand in this country has been negative. 9/11, Iraq war, and the close-to-home Virginia Tech tragedy have loomed over my world.
When I was in Ethiopia last year, I spoke with an Ethiopian man on the way to the office. He was one of the directors of the organization we were teaching for. This was December 2007 and he spoke of Hillary Clinton and asked if I thought she would be our next president. I slyly said no, I hope it will be Barack Obama. He had not yet heard much of this African American man that would become our 44th president. When I told of his powerful speeches and that I believed that even if not in 2008, he would one day be our president, this educated Ethiopian man was amazed. He then relented, that is what I like about America, anything is possible, and all people are equal. I went on to say that there is still a lot of injustice in the US and the world and so much more to be done.
"For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime — two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage, or pay their doctor's bills, or save enough for college. There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair.
We stayed up late last night at our friend's, Chris and Joanne's, with a bunch of like-minded, wonderful folks. We had a laptop going, people text messaging friends, and flipping through several stations. Joanne made some amazing food for us all and Ginger and Ken shared some champagne.
Can you believe it! An intelligent president that will represent us respectfully to the world. My dad said on his trip through Virginia that he hopes Obama lives up to all the hype, and I have faith that he will. Just the fact that we elected someone that truly represents us all has brought our standing in the international arena up immeasurably.
I am thrilled to have become such an important part of history, voting in the first African American president. It seems to me almost every other event my generation has witnessed first hand in this country has been negative. 9/11, Iraq war, and the close-to-home Virginia Tech tragedy have loomed over my world.
When I was in Ethiopia last year, I spoke with an Ethiopian man on the way to the office. He was one of the directors of the organization we were teaching for. This was December 2007 and he spoke of Hillary Clinton and asked if I thought she would be our next president. I slyly said no, I hope it will be Barack Obama. He had not yet heard much of this African American man that would become our 44th president. When I told of his powerful speeches and that I believed that even if not in 2008, he would one day be our president, this educated Ethiopian man was amazed. He then relented, that is what I like about America, anything is possible, and all people are equal. I went on to say that there is still a lot of injustice in the US and the world and so much more to be done.
"For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime — two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage, or pay their doctor's bills, or save enough for college. There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair.
The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year, or even one term, but America — I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you: We as a people will get there. . . .
. . .What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter must not end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek — it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you.
So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers. In this country, we rise or fall as one nation — as one people." - Obama victory speech (Nov 4, 2008)
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