Gross

aa//m xl'lewwat5r7uip[[]]]rrr    mk6ca

No, that's not in some code. I sat down, today, to do a whole bunch of blogging. It's -15 outside and, with the windows covered in plastic, 70 degrees in the house is very comfortable. It's a good day to write.

Have you looked at your keyboard. Because computers are ubiquitous in society, we've all become something of a "touch typist", rarely looking at or needing to look at, the keyboard. It's not all that necessary, once you figure out where your fingers go. Over time, any keyboard is going to attract the dirt and oils on our fingers. The keys will get dirty. And with someone like me, I don't notice the dirt until, well, I notice the dirt.

I sat down to blog which involves finding and cropping photos, uploading and downloading and finding links. I have no idea what prompted me to actually look down at the keyboard, but the state of the - key bothered me. My keyboard is silver metal with white keys; a standard issue Mac keyboard. Dirt on the keys is noticeable. I got the Q-tips and the rubbing alcohol and started in.

It was just going to be the - key, but the more I started gently wiping, the more I realized just how dirty the keyboard was. The rows between the keys were cleaned. The columns between the keys were cleaned. The silver edges of the board itself were cleaned. You can't see it, but there was dirt and grime in the spaces next to the up arrow at the bottom right. If I could take the keyboard apart, I'm sure I would find another cat, or the fur from one, stuck inside. All I can do is clean the tops of and around the keys.

I went through a dozen Q-tips. Rubbing alcohol is what you need to use if you're going to do this because it removes the dirt and grime while evaporating. Plus, it evaporates quickly so very little, if any, falls into the keyboard guts. While using a Q-tip takes time, anything larger runs the risk of fluid getting into the keyboard. I tried a small cotton ball, but found the ball left strings of cotton. I have enough issues with cat fur. I don't need cotton threads. Q-tips don't shed.

The keyboard is clean now. The above string of characters was from pushing the keys to clean either the top or around them. I'm also washing dishes in an attempt to have a clean kitchen and I've cleaned the litter boxes. We'll call it "Clean the house Sunday" around here.

Beverage:  English Breakfast tea

Deb

Sunday Stitching

Nothing like a beautiful Sunday to put me in the mood for stitching. The sunshine was glorious and a light breeze made the temperature lovely. I popped on the TV. Hey, it's football. Perfect background noise. The last day of sewing left me with the collar trim stitched onto the collar, the two pieces of the collar sewn together and the whole thing pinned onto the shirt. Today, I sewed the collar and the collar facing onto the shirt.

Once the collar and facing were hand sewn to the shoulder seams and the collar and facing have been pressed. The shirt instructions call for top stitching, but I'm not going to do that. I had considered topstitching in cream, but I prefer the cream piping.

After getting the collar attached, it was time to attach the sleeves. I got them done and then it was time to move on to household chores.

The next step is to sew the side seams, hem the sleeves and the bottom and do the buttonholes. This shirt is nearly done.

Beverage:  Blueberry pomegranate juice

Deb

Stitching

I didn't get as much done this weekend as I thought I would. The problem was PBS doing a marathon showing of Ken Burns' The Civil War on Saturday. I'd watched episode 1 online, but you had to watch the rest on TV. It started at 8:30 a.m. and ended at 6:15 p.m. Then, it started up again at 6:30 p.m. and I have no idea when it ended. I spent all day reacquainting myself with history. Thanks to one event in South Carolina in the summer, I heard many of the things said by people during that war with a new understanding. Although I lost a whole day, I am very glad I made time to watch. The remastering made the program an incredible viewing experience.

So, today was grocery shopping and sewing. I spent a great amount of time dealing with pockets. I wanted the pockets on the shirts to look a certain way and they just wouldn't. I ripped out so many stitches and wound up cutting more pockets. Thankfully, I bought extra fabric for just such an occurrence. After 90 minutes, I finally got something I liked.

Shoulder seams have been sewn and I started working with the collar. I was going to do something interesting but realized I sewed the idea wrong. It was late afternoon by the time I ripped out that stitching and I needed supper so I set it aside for now. It's energizing to craft, even when it doesn't go exactly as I think it will.

Beverage:  English Breakfast tea

Deb

Sunday Breakfast

Summer weather has finally arrived. The air conditioning is on and kicks in about 4:30 to keep the house a reasonably decent 80 degrees. These summer mornings are perfect for deck sitting. It's a comfortable 70 degrees at 8:30 and the deck is shaded until around 11 so I sit out there with my breakfast and read or stitch. This past Sunday, it was read.

Hot tea and fresh cut cantaloupe. The melon was so sweet and juicy. I wound up eating two thirds of it over the span of 3 hours spent reading. I pulled open the screen across the back door and that allowed a visitor onto the deck.

This was the chair I was sitting in. She stayed, very happily, behind me where I could reach up and give scratches. She went to the deck steps only once. I looked up from my book as she started down the steps. "Pilchard! No!" She backed up, jumped up into the chair next to me and didn't make any attempt to leave the deck. She spent the rest of her time outside with me lazing on the railing. She even stayed put when I'd go into the house to cut up another slice of cantaloupe.

These are the days that recharge my soul. There can be so much stress in life that we can forget to stop and breathe. For me, having the ability to stop and sit and read on a bright summer's day resets my equilibrium. Having four-footed company also helps.

Beverage:  Yorkshire Gold tea

Deb

Outside

We started Sunday in repose.

 

But then mom started taking things outside. That made us curious as to what she was up to. 

 

Once she got settled, she left the back door open so we could come outside. There are a lot of things to smell. 

We can't agree to be outside together so when one of us is outside, the other is inside. Then we switch places. 

Eventually, one of us sits down in the chair and maybe stays around for awhile.

These days are great for sitting on the deck. We don't even mind getting 'yelled at' by the chickadees.

Beverage:  Huckleberry tea

Deb

Sunday Breakfast

Sunday morning seems to me to be the best time for intricate breakfasts. While I'll eat breakfast any time any place, if I'm going to cook a multi-step breakfast, it's going to be on Sunday. It seems to start the week off on the best foot possible.

This past Sunday, I decided to make an ancient recipe; Graham Pull-apart Breakfast Ring. It's quite simple to make and is, in reality, a modified version of traditional Monkey Bread.

You start with a mix of brown sugar, cinnamon and crushed graham cereal. I use Golden Grahams. I'm not sure there's any other graham cereal out there anymore so this may be your only option. This cereal is rarely on sale so when it was $2.00 for the big box at the end of June, I snapped one up intending to make this.

You'll need 2 8 ounce tubes of biscuit dough. That's hard to find now, the non-grand-size biscuits. I wound up buying a 4-pack.

Turn the oven on to 375. Make the topping for the bread. It's 1 1/2 cups crushed cereal, 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar and 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon. That gets mixed well. While you are crushing the cereal and mixing the topping, melt 1/3 cup of butter.

Once the butter is melted, separate the biscuits. The recipe called for a 6-cup ring mold. I don't have one of those so I used a tart pan.

Dip the biscuit in the butter and then in the topping, placing it into the pan. The pan does not have to be greased or floured. The recipe called for snipping the biscuits in half. That would be okay if I had a ring mold, but because I don't have one that size, I left them whole. All but 4 biscuits fit into the bottom of the pan. Those 4, I scattered about the top.

Put the whole thing in the oven for 15-20 minutes. If you look at it at 15 minutes and the biscuits don't look done, i.e. golden brown, leave it in the oven for another 5 minutes. Mine looked like this at 18 minutes.

If you're using a ring mold, the recipe tells you to invert it onto another plate to cool. I left mine in the pan. Let cool for about 5 minutes and serve.

While this was baking, I sliced strawberries. They are so fresh right now and the organic ones are so close in price to the mass grown ones that I can justify buying those. I served the biscuits with the sliced strawberries, a tall glass of orange juice and my Sunday morning pills. Those you can omit.

Some observations:  It's been years, years, since I made this recipe. The measurements I presented above are from the recipe but were wasteful in the amount of material they made. I think you can, if you go the route of the whole biscuit and only do the tops, cut down the topping to 1 cup of crushed cereal, 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and still have enough topping to cover your biscuits. Bear in mind, the topping is crumbly and is, therefore, messy. It's just like a streusal. I think you can also cut down the amount of butter you melt for dipping. I don't know if 1/4 cup will be enough but 1/3 cup was too much. I can't use it for anything else so I wound up tossing it and the extra topping out which, when one is pinching pennies, is tough.

I have quite a few biscuits left so I put them into bags of 4. I doubt they would freeze well but it's great to add them to lunch of for a snack or, as I did this morning, have a bag of 4 and yogurt for breakfast.

Let me know if you try this. You probably could make it with the Grands biscuits. You'd just need to modify the ingredients.

Beverage:  Darjeeling tea

Deb

Isn't She Gorgeous?

I'm sitting at the computer late in the afternoon on Sunday trying to get the checkbook to balance yet again. I'm closer, but still not there. There's a noise behind me. I turn around and this is what I see. No, I could not resist a belly rub which she enjoyed for a bit. These two are not the roll onto their back cats that others I have had were. But, I don't care. After a quick belly rub, I let her be. She's so beautiful and she just glows.

Oh to be a cat and have a pool of sunshine all to oneself.

Beverage:  tea

Deb

Sunday Stitching

Part of the day yesterday, was devoted to just sitting and stitching. I got most of the dusting done; washed all the rugs in the living room and ironed the Hawaiian shirts I'm wearing this week at work. I gave myself 2 hours of uninterrupted time to just stitch as I wanted to bake and fix a decent dinner. Pilchard curled up next to me. Mija jumped up onto the back of the recliner and we all just sat. I had the windows open and listened to Sketches of Spain by Miles Davis. But once that was done, I didn't put anything else on. I just listened to the sound of the birds, the lawn mowers, the cars passing by, the people out for walks or bike rides. It was very pleasant.

I made quite a bit of progress on it. I have to fill in some more medium copper in the big blob in the left middle and then what's left to the sky is the light copper. When that's done, the item in the center is completed and the dark green grass at the base is last.

I'll be done by the end of May and it can go be framed.

Beverage:  Huckleberry tea

Deb

The Leisure of Sunday

I completed a project on Saturday. It had consumed my attention all week. Once it was done, I could look at doing something else. I finished all the colors on the sampler.

What is left now is the outlining and it's done. Yes, I am contemplating my next project already.

Beverage:  Edinburgh's Finest tea

Deb

Resistance is Futile

It was a sunny morning and early afternoon on Sunday. While I stitched and did dishes, the girls found ways to occupy themselves. That's what I love about cats. Yes, we play and yes, there are times they demand my attention. But, by and large, they are self-sufficient. Now that we have learned each other's routine, they are used to my life and I to theirs.

Sunday, I caught Mija on my bed. She was in the middle of a big pool of sunlight, rolling around as if it were catnip. 

Tell me you could resist rubbing that belly if you walked into the bedroom and saw her. I certainly couldn't.

Beverage:  Dr Pepper

Deb

Not Just For Breakfast

I don't always go get the Sunday paper on Sunday. Depending upon my mood, it will sit out there until Monday when I leave for the office. Such was the case yesterday. When I picked it up, I discovered there were samples enclosed.

 

This is rather exciting. 

Often, while playing World of Warcraft, I will be wanting something to snack on. I like cereal. Compact and easy to eat, I'll get a half bowl of something and sit noshing while killing fake monsters in a fake world. These three, advertised as being only 80 calories per box, should fit the bill nicely. They aren't the kind of cereals I would buy a whole box of, either.

Now, I have to not eat them all in one sitting.

Beverage:  Edinburgh's Finest tea

Good Sunday Morning!

Hmmmm. I'm minding my own business updating my WOW guild's web site and I hear this vaguely familiar sound.

"Dang, that sounds like a blimp!" says I.

I peer out my office window. No sign of it.

I go to the front door and peer out the front. There is it, the Goodyear blimp flying east.

I'm not sure why it's in Chicagoland. I'm not that aware of anything major going on that requires a blimp.

The blimps that visit Chicagoland are berthed at the DuPage County airport which is west of me. When they want to head into the city, they have to fly over my house. We used to have several come every summer from the Goodyear blimp, which looks awesome at night, to the MetLife blimp with Snoopy on the nose. There is this distinctive sound when a blimp flies over your house.

When Carole was young, we used to rouse her from sleep to watch the blimp go over the house at night. If the blimp comes back after dark, I'll try to take some photos.

Beverage: English Breakfast tea

Deb