Lunch Ideas Needed-A contest!

Well, tomorrow is my first day back at school with the kiddos! As I shopped for food for my lunches, I realized I was buying the same old stuff: yogurt, granola bars, fruit, frozen dinner. Lunch usually consisted of 3 of the 4 items. I'm ready for a change! Help me get out of my food rut by suggesting some new lunch ideas, what are your favorites? You can also post about what your school lunches were growing up. If you want to truly suggest some ideas for me here are some details: I have access to a fridge and a microwave, love fresh veggies, but hate cooked ones, and I don't do tuna.

Everyone who responds in my comments with either a lunch idea or lunch memory between now and midnight (CST) on Monday, September 3, 2007 will be put in a random drawing for a skein/hank of a yarn of YOUR choice from Amanda's Etsy Store (she'll even custom dye a hank for you)-my treat! If I'm going to give away yarn, it might as well be in a color that works for you! You can comment as many times as you like, but I'll count only one entry per person for the drawing.

C'mon!! Help me with some new lunch ideas!!

Am I Ready?

Well, ready or not, I reported back to work today-1st day back for the teachers. Students come next Monday. Actually I was ready to go back to work. I find I'm much more productive when my day has structure. I feel really good about going in to this school year compared to last year(new school, new position, new age group, oversized classes, not having a room for awhile-it all eventually got worked out). It will take awhile to get back into the groove of waking up early though.

This morning was spent going over policies and procedures(18th year's the charm!) and the afternoon we got to work in our rooms. I spent most of my afternoon washing all the desks, shelves and tables and ended the day with an hour long meeting. As you can see I visited the school supply aisle stocking up for the school year. The rest of the week will be filled with meetings and trainings with little bits of time to work in our rooms until Friday when we'll get the majority of the day to do so.

I haven't been knitting much (only at SnB's) so not much new to report on that front. I have been into reading though! I used to feel guilty when I'd go through these non-knitting phases. Now I embrace them, enjoy the break and look forward to when its new and exciting for me again.

All in A Wet Day's Work

Tropical Storm/Depression Erin finally arrived in her rain and windy glory this morning. According to the news @ noon the airport had only received 6/10 inch of rain at that point, but I know at my house we received much more and will continue to do so in the next day or so.

Check out our make-shift rain gauge just after an hour's worth of rain (at least an inch).

It seems like whenever we get weather that traps me indoors (and out of stores) I get bit by the cooking bug. So last night I made spaghetti and meatballs from scratch using a family recipe from Mary-mmmmmmm. She brought some to a knitting get together we had last December and was soooooo good!!

This morning I made some Banana-Macadamia Nut Bread, fruit salad, and a poppy seed dressing.



The banana bread is actually made from a muffin recipe that I just put in small loaf pans and then baked at 350 for about 45 minutes.

The fruit salad was just made up of fruit that looked halfway decent in the store. The poppy seed dressing is yummy and came from a friend who got it from a country club in Houston. This dressing would be wonderful on a spinach salad too!

Poppy Seed Dressing

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. dry mustard
2 tsp. salt
2/3 c. white vinegar
3 T. onion juice (you can find it in the spice aisle)
2 c. vegetable oil
3 T. poppy seeds

Mix sugar, dry mustard, salt and vinegar together and then add onion juice. Use electric mixer on medium and slowly add oil. Then add poppy seeds.
It makes a little more than 3 cups and will keep 2-3 months as long as it's stored in the fridge. I like to keep mine stored in a mason jar (helps for remixing when needed) and in the door of the fridge where it won't "freeze." My fridge has these cold spots where things tend to freeze.

And, since this is a knitting blog, here's an update on my hedgie:
I've started the fur on his/her back (picking up the stitches all around was a major pain!!!!). Now I'm ready to get started on the short rows for more back fur. DH looked at it and thought it looked like a bug...sigh.....

My Monday

I hets cleanin' day!

After spending yesterday doing absolutely nothing, I decided today was cleaning day. It's probably going to be the hottest day of the year, but as I enter my last week of summer vacation I wanted to get the household chores done for the week. Poor Sophie has a hard time finding a place that's out of my way as she gives the eyes of doom to the vacuum cleaner.


As I was getting the clean sheets out of the linen closet I spotted this:

A new place to store yarn!

Speaking of storing yarn. I found these ginormous ziplock bags to keep my yarn in.


After finishing the upstairs I decided to hit the recycling bins at the nearby middle school, get some gas, and replenish myself with some tea.

There's nothing more refreshing on a hot summer day than some B.M. sweet tea!!!

Did some cleaning downstairs and now am just feeding the washer and dryer when needed. Boy will I be glad when everything is done!

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Saturday evening I got together with some knitting friends and had a yarn swap(with yarn from our stashes). Here was my contribution to the potluck:

Muffuletta salad

It made a huge amount, the recipe says it serves 8-10 but I would say 15-18. It's a great salad to take to a potluck since it doesn't use mayo and it ages well (actually tastes better the next day!)

I came home from the party with some goodies:


Chris was a great hostess with the cutest puppy ever and even provided goodie bags. Mine contained some yarn sleeves, coil needle holders, and a crochet hook! I also went home with some Sockotta yarn in colors I adore! A great time was had by all and look forward to our next get together!

Too Many Tanks!

In a cleaning/organizing session I recently had, I realized I owned 20 tank tops. 20! Tank tops! When did I think I would be wearing them..and where??? I've already cut them down to 12 (rest will go to Goodwill). It's always scary taking an honest inventory of my closet and dresser. I am really trying to keep the amount of clothes under control by getting rid of one shirt for every shirt and I buy, etc. I have this thing about wanting all my clothes to being able to be hung or in drawers those few times when everything is washed and put away.

I know I'm going to be in for a rude awakening when I begin organizing and cataloging my yarn stash. I can guarantee I have the exact same colorways just different brands when it comes to sock yarns. And, who am I kidding, I've probably also bought the same thing twice without realizing it. Speaking of organizing and cataloging, only 1721 people are ahead of me in line-you know which line.

Here's a sneak peak of the fabrics I'm using for my first sewing project:


I've been bogged down with all the pre-washing/drying/ironing of fabric that needs to get done before sewing. I somehow blocked that step from my HS home economics class. I've been reading this book and highly recommend it for those wanting to get back in to sewing. It has some fun beginner projects and great tips for getting started.

Here's an update on my hedgie:


I'm not sure DH is going to believe me anymore when I tell him I'm knitting a scarf-hee! I think when he sees me knitting he just sees a yarn blob and doesn't pay too much attention.

Bottomless Mimosas

I'm definitely digging our new SnB time, Sundays 12:30 or so til 4:00 (or so). Even better is the fact that since we now go during their brunch time, we can get bottomless mimosas (and enjoy a nice brunch with friends)! Who'd have thought how well knitting and mimosas go together!! Knit a little bit, then visit the mimosa station:




Plus since the coffee house technically closes down from 2-4 (although if you are already there, they'll let you hang out and get coffee) we get the place to ourselves. Then at 4:00 we end our time with some delicious cake and coffee.

On the knitting front, I'm still weaving in those pesky ends on the blanket mentioned in the previous entry. I am seeing a glimmer of light at the end of my fish knitting tunnel. I just finished my last coral fish:


and only have 5 yellow fish, 13 purple fish, and 12 blue fish left. Woo hoo!

I'm also working on knitting one of these as a surprise gift for DH (hedgies are kind of an inside joke for us). I love the fact that he's not a knitter-when asked what I was knitting, he could look at this:

and believe me when I tell him I'm knitting a scarf-hee! The hedgie pattern is a dream to knit to although I'm not seeing the hedgehog aspect yet. I've read in several places to "trust the pattern-it works" and received some confirmation from others that have knit animals that I am indeed on the right track. I sure hope he/she turns out as cute as the pics.