Knit things

It was so cold the first couple weeks of January that I didn't want to go outside. I spent the inside time trying to do some knitting. I made a slouchy hat which in my opinion came out just a little too wide. I was, however, satisfied with the little amulet pouch and hand warmers.

I earned my Suzy Homemaker points this week. One morning I was up early and made homemade beef & noodles. I also finished several bars of glycerin melt and poor homemade soap from an unfinished kit found at the Goodwill store. Another day, I made a vegetable pizza for an open house which prompted looking for a recipe for the envelope of Ranch Dressing seasoning. Later this week I plan to make some homemade onion soup. The kind with the rusk on top and lots of melted cheese. Of course, the secret ingredient to onion soup is the addition of red wine. Yummmmmm.

Below is a recipe for Ranch Dressing Mix so you don't have to buy the expensive package mix. I've seen the same recipe without the dry buttermilk - I think it would probably work that way, too.

Ingredients
1/2 cup dry buttermilk
1 tablespoon dried parsley, crushed
1 teaspoon dried dill weed
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon dried onion flakes
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
Directions
1-Combine all ingredients in a blender.
2-Blend at high speed until smooth.
3-If you want to use this to make salad dressing combine 1 tablespoon mix with 1 cup mayonnaise and 1 cup milk.
4-Otherwise use 1 tablespoon in any recipe calling for an envelope of ranch dressing mix.

I really loved this charming, handmade buckle from the Hippie era. When held, it felt like it had a story to tell, kind of special. I wondered about all the places it's been. However, it sold quickly on Artfire and is on the way to Sicklerville, NJ for a new chapter of its existence. Oh, well, heaven knows I have plenty more things to sell and letting go is what this is all about.

In fact, I am on my way to Aurora this morning to meet a potential buyer for the house there.

I sure have my fingers crossed and hope to sell. Whenever it happens, that will be another bittersweet sale. I love the town, and the river view and the spacious rooms but do not want the upkeep, expenses, etc. The trick is to learn to "bloom where we are planted." In my case, it appears to be the farm. Ol' Shangrala!

Ahhhhh...

I sold enough stuff on Ebay the last few weeks to buy a new flat screen TV......ahhhhhh, I feel like a member of the middle class again. I don't have cable or direct TV but I can get more than 2 channels. But now, the TV is making my computer look bad! Who cares? Life is good!

Lots of Baths. . . .

I hate dusting and, it's been awhile since I tackled this group. But they've all had a bath and I can live with them again. Why do people collect all this crap?

Soapmaking . . . .

Well, I need to add another $25 to the cost of soapmaking. I had borrowed the above book by Delores Boone from the Aurora library. On the way home there was a leaky gallon of water on the floor next to the bookbag and to make a long story short, the book soaked up lots of water. It was damaged. When I showed the librarian what happened, she thought I needed to buy it. So, okay there goes $25. But I like the book and I had already tried to find it online and take them a replacement. Much to my surprise Amazon is showing 2 copies of this out of print book for $100!!!!! Maybe I can list it on Ebay after I finish my soapmaking or become bored with the process and no longer need the info.

I have made three batches of soap: hot process, cold process and another process where old scraps were thrown in and hot process continued. Kind of fun. I'm still looking for a source for Palm Kernel oil other than Ebay where shipping is more than the product. I have the name of a shop in Metamora to check out, the Smelly Gourmet, that might offer this and other soapmaking supplies. Next trip to Aurora, I will make this little detour.

Enjoy this lovely Fall day.

Okra Santas

I had hoped that the article I saved on Okra Santas contained information on how to make them. Unfortunately when I dug out the saved article it was only one page. It was mostly about drying the okra with one sentence about how the Santas are made: . . . . .I made Santas out of the Okra using a polymer-clay mixture.

Here, Here (picture soooo small, but directions included) and Here (these have handmade hats!) are some articles I found on the web with Okra Santas.