Just a catch-up post...

I figured I'd better get a new post up here before I forget I have a blog!  I keep taking pictures thinking "oh, I'll do a post" and then I don't.  But I'll post them now - it's the best way to remind me of things to "record in my journal".

First off, I've made my egg strata with some regularity since my first report cause I really do like it.  Finally remembered to take a picture of one before I put it in the oven and need to remember to take one after I take it out of the oven cause it's prettier then.  Here it's all soupy but will puff up and brown nicely as it bakes.  Makes me glad I have a red casserole to bake it in.  Very cheery.

And while we're in the kitchen, this is a pretty poor picture of the tile that ... wait for it... ... ...
Chris and I are going to install when he comes over for Thanksgiving weekend!!  Yes, I'm excited. :)  In the picture, the sheet of tile is still in it's plastic wrap so it's mostly glare.  They're glass tiles and the shades are just right for my red, black and ivory kitchen, I think.  I hope we don't have too much trouble and I hope it turns out well.  Pictures will definitely follow (unless it doesn't turn out well).

This is a little cross stitch I finished up for my Etsy shop.  It's prettier "in the real" - the colors are subdued but not as subdued as they are in the photo.  I've actually sold three things in my little shop in the last week or two (third one today!) and that's always a nice feeling - I figure a person wouldn't buy it if they didn't think it was nice. :) 

This little "joy" banner is what I sold today.  The woman who bought it had already bought a Christmas tree quilt the week before last so it was nice she came back again. :)

Once I finished the cornucopia, I decided that I would stitch away at my Chinese petitpoint rug until November 10 (when the Yahoo Petitpointers post their progress pictures (wow - alliteration!)  Seems like so often when I post a progress picture you have to really search when comparing it to the previous picture in order to see where there's been any progress.  So I promised myself that this time, the difference would be noticeable.  I posted my October progress picture on the blog at this LINK if you'd like to compare.  Just scroll on down and you'll find it along with a picture of the finished rug that came with the chart.  Now that I've posted the picture, I've started stitching on a couple of Christmas pieces for my shop so who knows how long it will be before I get back to this rug.  I have to say, so far, it's a pretty boring pattern!  It's certainly not as intricate as a lot of the miniature rug charts that are being created nowadays.  (Wow! being the weird person I am, I just counted and by my count, there are twenty words in this paragraph that start with "p"! - well, now make that 22: ) )

Had a nice outing with Peggy during the brief "minute" she was in Huntington recently.  She's been a travelin' lady lately!  And the other night a neighbor called to see if I'd like to join her and her husband for a visit to SIP, the new wine bar I've mentioned before.  She didn't have to ask twice! :)  I really do like that place and think Chris and I will go there one evening.

Oh, and lest I forget!! Cindy had two free tickets and so called me to see if I'd like to go to the Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr. (how's that for a mouthful?!) concert.  He was a winner last year maybe? of the "America's Got Talent" TV show and he's a West Virginian and so he's a big deal here in West Virginia.  I kind of thought I might not enjoy it that much but Cindy told me he's a crooner-type singer - old Frank Sinatra songs, etc., so I went and it was such a fun evening.  I was glad I decided to go.  He's quite a powerful singer and quite entertaining too.

And, let's see...the annual miniature art show had their opening reception last week or the week before and Shelly (I call her my Starbucks friend cause that's where we met each other) called to see if I wanted to go do that.  I'm so lucky to have friends that keep track of what's going on.  I love that exhibit so, of course, went along.  And then she had to pick something up from the museum gift shop so we went up there and they were getting all their Christmas goodies set out in the gift shop so I think Chris and I will probably go up there too.

There were probably a few other things that I thought "I'll post that when I post" but they're lost in the mists of the past now. :)  I'll end with what I did Sunday, Monday and today - washed windows!  Sunday I just scrubbed all the outside sills which get unbelievably dirty for some reason (I mean - I'm on the 9th floor for pity's sake!).  Then yesterday it was very balmy and overcast so I did the two bedroom windows first.  Washing windows here involves moving furniture, climbing up and down, and basically hard physical labor.  My windows are double hung and I confess to only washing the bottom halves of them.  I'm pretty sure I would accidentally kill myself if I attempted the upper halves.  Each half measures 47-1/2" wide by 37" high and they're double-paned and heavy!  You have to try and be very careful when you're tilting them in and down or they get away from you and then you're in trouble.  But oh, how I love them once they're done.  I did the two bedroom ones yesterday and then woke up to insanely bright sun today and was dismayed to see smear marks on both of them.  Went through all the work of moving stuff, getting them tilted in and down, cleaning them again, only to find the smears were on the inside (dumb me!)  So got that cleaned and they were beautiful, as was the view when sitting in my bedroom chair, to wit:

Seeing that end result gave me the gumption to do all four of the remaining windows (two living room, two dining room).  These weren't as dirty because usually if I decide to wash windows, I start with them and by the time I'm done figure "oh, what the heck - who's going to be looking out the bedroom windows?"  Awful, right?  But again, the end result makes the hard labor all worthwhile.  In the picture below, I sat where I sit when I eat my lunch and dinner and took the picture from there.  So this is that view.  And, yes, even though I know it's hard to believe, there is glass in the windows! (tee hee)

So, there you have it - not a trip to Florence or anything, but for me, a nice few weeks. :)

Wanted to post sooner than this...

but I also wanted to finish the little cross stitch piece I was working on so I'd be able to show I had accomplished something! 

But the reason I wanted to post earlier was because things would happen and I'd think "oh, I should remember to post about that" and, of course, now that I'm finally getting around to it, who knows what wonderful, exciting, momentous things I'll be forgetting (that's a little joke, folks). :)

But before I forget I will post a few pictures of the evening sky about 3 nights ago I guess.  We've had mostly wonderful, wonderful weather but there have been a few days here and there of heavy rain.  This particular evening, it had rained most of the day and finally stopped, the clouds broke up, the sun came out and when I happened to look out my window, this is what I saw.  My windows face east so I don't see the sunset but I doubt if it was as gorgeous as these clouds!

First, the one black cloud in the sky (but even it was impressive).

And then these stunning "catching the sun" clouds:

Aren't they wonderful?  I sure thought so!

Also, I have a new recipe I've been wanting to post.  I've already made it 3 times cause it's pretty perfect for "cooking for one" when you don't want to fuss a bunch.  It's an egg strata and I can't for the life of me remember where I found the original recipe which called for 8 eggs(!)  But each time I've made it, I've done it slightly differently and it seems to be invincible - it's always good!  It's in my Recipe Collection but to save you looking for it, just click here to go take a look.  Of course, I didn't remember to take a picture of it which is a shame cause it's an attractive dish, especially in my bright red casserole.

And as I said at the beginning, I finished a miniature cross stitch and have put it in my Etsy shop.  My Etsy shop had to all intents and purposes died - never did sell a lot but had the fun of getting visitors every day and people "favoriting" things.  Even that had dwindled down to very little. Finally, one day I went to see how many visits I had had and it was 44!!  That's a large number for me but out of those 44 visits, not one thing had been "favorited".  I belong to an Etsy team of miniaturists and whined around about it in a post one day and everyone was politely sympathetic.  And pretty much ever since then, I've been having all kinds of activity - today there were even more "favorites" than there were visits.  In fact, I made a new treasury list and for the first time ever it's had 100 hits!!  Nothing compared to the 1,000's that a lot of them get but then I don't do anything to publicize mine - no Facebook or anything. Oh, and somewhere in that long saga, I did actually sell something - that white wire bed that I covered with the pastel squares quilt I made.  But since I'm not in it to make money, I don't care that much about not selling - I just like to see activity so this past week or so has been quite fun.

I did have a disaster this week - I had offered to cook dinner for a family in our building who are having severe health problems and decided I would make a batch of my spaghetti and meatballs, making a double recipe of the sauce cause it's not enough for how many meatballs there are.  That day I'd been feeling kind of glumpy cause it was raining and I had to go to the grocery store and I hate going to the grocery store in the rain now that I no longer have an attached garage to come home to.  But I got home, started cooking, things started smelling good, I started feeling domestic and was reaching the purring stage.  I had made so much sauce that I knew I'd have to switch from the skillet I had cooked the meatballs in to a larger pot.  So I put the meatballs in the pot first so they wouldn't plop into the sauce and splash.  As I was doing that I had a little omen of things to come - one meatball rolled out of the bowl and onto the floor.  But even that didn't spoil the mood, I just hummed the "On Top of Spaghetti" song to myself.  So, I'm pouring the sauce from the mixing bowl I mixed it up in into the skillet and somehow managed to drop the bowl right into the skillet of now pretty much sauce....  Sauce went everywhere!!!  Not the entire kitchen, true.  But all over the stove, down in the burners (and, of course, burning up on the two burners that were hot), all across the wall that runs behind the stove, over onto my canisters, etc., etc.  Golly, whizzers, darn!!!  Not exactly what I said at the time, but it will do for here.  However, I finished cooking it, kept myself three meatballs and a scoop of sauce, took the rest down to the family and came back and ate my share and in spite of everything, it was pretty good, as usual.  But good grief...

And now it's just about time for a friend to pick me up and we're going to have dinner at The Black Sheep where I've only been one time but enjoyed it that time.  So that will be nice.  And now I'm back from dinner which was nice and fun - lots of talk and laughter and a large $4 glass of good wine. :)

I'm about done I guess.  Here's a picture of the cross stitch I finished today:

And, what else?  Oh - I've had three nice shopping trips - the first one, I bought a new wine rack which I love, the second one I went over to Ashland to Belk's and bought 3 pairs of slacks, all of which I tried on in the store and thought "finally, some pants that fit and are the right length", got them home and now have them bagged up to take back.  So then my third trip was to our mall here in Barboursville where I bought two pairs of pants, 2 shirts, a pullover and a lightweight sweater!  And I'm only taking one of the shirts back.  I'm known for my returning habit so I'm pleased that I'm keeping everything else.  Then I went and bought the most expensive pair of shoes I've ever bought and they are very, very comfortable.  I think when I get ready for my next Europe trip, I'll probably buy another pair of their more actual walking shoe...

And if there's anything else, I've forgotten it!  So, g'night all and hope the weather is being as kind to you wherever you are as it is to us here in wild and wonderful West Virginia!

Egg Strata for One

Original recipe (serves 4):                                          

8 eggs

2 c. milk

2 c. grated cheddar

2 c. torn bread

salt and pepper to taste

This recipe caught my eye because it is so simple - simpler than other strata recipes I seem to remember seeing.

I used 2 eggs the first time I made this and 1/4 of everything else also. 

What I did:  Beat eggs thoroughly with fork.  Add milk and mix in along with some salt and pepper.  Set aside.  Cut or tear bread into small pieces.  Toss with the grated cheese (original recipe said to layer in casserole - I didn't).  I also added in a couple of slices of chopped up deli ham.   I put this mixture into the buttered casserole dish then poured the egg mixture over it all.

Original recipe said to let soak overnight in fridge.  I let it soak while the oven preheated to 350.  I laid two fresh sage leaves I happened to have on top and baked for probably about 30 to 45 minutes - delicious!

Second time I made it I went down to one egg and 1/8 of the rest of the ingredients. I also added some leftover mushrooms from when I made Chinch's mushroom pasta.   It worked fine except I could have used less bread and I forgot and didn't use less ham so it was too hammy.

I think I probably like it better with two eggs - I think it got puffier and more "strata-like" - whatever that is.