Great big move...

So the great big move is all done, still haven't changed some addresses but mostly all moved. Still unemployed, which is a major crapper. A few pictures of the new house...

Living Room

Kitchen

The house

I've also did something I've been meaning to do forever... ETSY PAGE!!!!!!!!
The Good Bird is up and running.
Please go check it out there will be lots more promise!

It's on

We hit the road at around 10:30 this morning. One Mini Cooper packed to the gills, a Jeep stuffed with Booze and TV's and a Huge Yellow Penske truck pulling a huge red car. One Parakeet, four people and a spare roll of TP rolled into the city of Van Buren AR at about 7:30pm with all kinds of road buzz. Tomorrow morning we will cross over into Oklahoma and officially move into our neato house. See you there!

Moving

So Lawton, OK is home to Field Artillery and now home to the Army's ADA (air defense artillery) which means that the homes they had for FA now has to make do for two sets of people. We lived on post the last time, in a hotel room. Now we're getting a real house and living like normal(ish) people. Because of the house crunch they've been jacking up the housing cost, someone wanted to rent this house for $1200 a month....




We just kept looking. We did find a place but the last renter left the place a little sad so I didn't take any pictures at the rental lady's request. Time line is as follows.... Movers on monday to pack, Movers to move on tuesday, Wednesday last day of being with the 101st (sooooo long), thursday pick up and fill the uhaul and car trailer then pick up the parents, friday get up at the ass crack of dawn to leave for the first half of the trip, saturday second half of the trip and arrive in Lawton.

Just Noms

The Great Big Quiche of DOOOOOM, 6 eggs, two sticks of butter, 1 pound of bacon, two onions
It was beyond good.............


Chocolate Banana Bread, the recipe needs some work it turned out a little dry, but I've got Banana's and some sour cream and lots of time...

Finally, the Spring Onion Corn Bread! Normal Betty Crocker Corn bread with whole corn nibblets and spring onions, brushed with butter!

Back by popular demand

A few facebookers have requested the London photos sooooo here they are.....

LONDON

Birthday wishes

You know how some friends are "buy stuff" present people. The kind of people who know just what they want and it's just better to buy that one thing for them, but you also have "make stuff" present people. I have one of these friends.
She loves the ocean, which was my inspiration for these. I picked all the beads that reminded me of seaglass.

I searched for a good owl pattern but never found one so I just made this little guy up. I call him Hooty. I promise that a recipe for him will make it to this page someday and for his bat stunt double. She also got a nice hand made draw string bag. It was a little preview of things to come on my Etsy site when I get it up.

Claire-cation Day One

Today was the first blissful day of my three day Claire-cation. I've been sleeping in (6 am!) Grocery shopping in the middle of the day! and making yummy foods, chocolate banana bread. I have lots of plans not all of them will happen. The most important thing that I'm going to get to this week is making THE quiche from St. Thomas Keller's Bouchon cook book. I know that better cooks than I have tried and failed but I am confident that I can make something passable and at least yummy.
Not only do I have a pound of butter with my name on it but I also have some lovely fabric to play with.

Dry Those Clothes, Damnit

So I was watching Sunday Morning, as we always do and they had a short segment about a nice lady in Oregon who was drying her clothes outside in the FREE sunshine. Well her super bitch neighbor driving her SUV, wearing a big fat diamond Channel Necklace and a pair of super expensive bug sunglasses was interviewed about how ugly it was and how it was against the rules blah blah blah, and as she pursed her old wrinkled lips to bad month her neighbor some more it came to me! Go outside and dry you clothes today and every day! It's free!

Spinach Phyllo Pie with Turkey

A while back I came across a recipe what just needed something, but was too yummy looking to pass up.
Adapted from Everyday Food
Spinach and Turkey Phyllo Pie

• Olive Oil
• 1 medium onion
• 3 large garlic cloves
• 1 package baby spinach
• 1 cup crumbled feta
• 1/4 dried dates
• 16 oz ground turkey or chicken
• 20 sheets frozen phyllo, thawed
• salt and pepper

Heat oil over medium heat, and cook onion until soft and then add ground turkey. Cook until slightly brown. Transfer to a large bowl.
Return pan to heat and working in batches if need be cook spinach until wilted about 1 minute. Press out the excess moisture and then roughly chop. Add the spinach to the turkey. Add the feta and dates to the bowl, then salt and pepper to taste.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Unroll the thawed phyllo, working one sheet at a time, brush with olive oil and lay another sheet down. Repeat until you have 10 sheets. Spread half the mixture down the center and roll into a log. Brush the seem with oil to seal. Use a sharp small knive diagonally cut across the top.
Repeat with the remaining filling.
Place both logs seam side down on a parchment lined baking sheet. Baked until golden brown, about 45 to 50 minutes. Serve warm or at room temp.

London Part II

Yes I know, I've been a little slow on getting this second post up but I've had lots going on and just haven't thought much about it.

On Sunday, we got up at our usual half awake what-time is it here and what time is it there. Hit the Pret for our now favorite breakie. We did lots more walking on Sunday. Remember that all the museums are free, so we popped into the National Gallery to see a few of the more important item there. Another place that will make your head spin from all the amazing art and the amazing amount of it. So we headed out to St. Paul's by taxis after walking around by Parliament again and snapping some pictures of the Household Guard. Those boots are not made for walking.

We walked along the water front until we reached the Tower and the Tower Bridge offering me a chance to take some nice pictures. But most of them are very underexposed.

The people watching at the Tower was fantastic, including a large group of overly skinny girls wear nasty street walker shoes and nearly falling on their butts. So we moved on to the next thing. It was getting to be lunch time so we walked over to St. Katherine's Dock. On a little "island" in the middle of the dock we had a great meal and watched the boats go in and out. A touch sun burned and very full we went a walking again.

As soon as we could find a cab, which was kinda hard since this end of the Thames is very residential, we went out to Greenwich Park and the Prime Meridian. I did fall asleep in the cab, which was hard to avoid. It was a great toasty warm day, I was full and it was a long ride. Hub and I climbed all the way to the top of the hill, which wasn't as bad as it looked. A huge line was waiting to take their picture with a line in the brick. I just snapped a few pics at the end of the meridian. Despite the large number of people we walked through the observatory. It was amazingly well preserved. By now, we've gotten a little hot and sticky so we stopped at the best little I can't believe this is in the park kind of a place, The Honest Sausage. They serve yummy sandwiches and more importantly ICE CREAM! Two ice cream cones and two waters.
After we headed down off the hill we want to find the farmers market that we had passed when we drove it, but it was just too hot and there were just too many people, so we called it quits.
Once back to the hotel we napped a little and got ready for our last night in London. Just a few more stops. Refreshed we made the short walk to the palace again, and across Green Park, which lead us to Picadilly Circus. WOW, the people watching was fantastic! So by now it was dinner time and we wanted something a little different. Now if you want to go to TGI McFunster's this is the place to find one. I did not fly 9 hours to eat at a restaurant that I can eat at in Nashville, so to the Alley! A little Japanese Restaurant caught our eye, called Akasiro. The dinning room was super tiny but the food was great, it came up from the down stairs kitchen on a little elevator. As with every restaurant we dinned at in London, something was just a little off about this place and it was the music.
After dinner, we walked down through Reagents and Pall Mall and through St. James Park.

Good Bye London!
We left Monday morning, getting to the Airport almost 3 hours early to avoid any problems. We enjoyed a great Airport Breakie at a pud and then spent the next 9.5 hours on a plane. Once in Atlanta we collected our bags and rechecked as is the process, and then flew home to Nashville. We'll be back!

London Part I

As many of you know Hub and I went to London for a long weekend a little while back. I have been avoiding it but here goes.

We left late on Thursday for Atlanta and then at about 10pm for London. It was like the first night of summer camp on the plane. Everyone was making friends and getting comfy. They gave us all blankets and eye masks. They even fed us a normal, and darn good dinner for free! Lots of sleeping and trying to find a place that didn't make my back hurt but we got there. We picked up a cab into the city and took a nice long nap before dressing up and going to the concert.

The Concert which was held at The Royal Albert Hall, was freaking fantastic. It wasn't too long, but had encore. Lots of lights and good solos. He had his usual backup singers and keyboard player. He played Cocaine and Badge plus lots of other great stuff. An amazing range of people there too. We had dinner from a take-away truck in the park which proved to be quite tasty. I have no pictures because they said no cameras but everyone was taking them. We walked part way home and took a cab. We fell into bed, which mind you was two beds. Yes, in a rush to get us checked in they gave us a room with two fulls and not a king like we asked for, so we pushed the two beds together. It was the first of many laughs.

The next morning we struggled to wake up but we wanted to get going before it was too late in day and we headed straight for the Pret. Pret A Manger is like the Starbucks of London, except 10 times more cool. They don't just serve coffee, they mainly serve wonderful fresh made sammies and what nots. It's hard to explain, go to the website. It's all fresh and made from fresh things and the coffee is beyond 4 dollar frappie thing that the 'bucks could ever make. From there we strolled to down to Buckingham Palace. There we learned how stupid most American's really are. A group of silly, stupid, fat, and overly tan ASU girls jabbered like morons in that OH MY GOD voice while we waited for the changing of the gaurd.

If you aren't of a certain hight then kiss off the changing of the gaurd since you aren't going to see a bloody thing.

We moved on as soon as we could, and caught a cab to the British Museum. Neither one of us was fully prepaired for what we were in for. We could have stayed at the museum for the whole trip and still not have seen everything or read everything. The impressive collection was just too much for us and we had to move on. It was just past lunch and so after walking up and down the streets we settled on an Italian place that looked promising and we were not disappointed.

From there we took a cab to over to the other side of river to check out the EYE, but when we got there the line was huge! And the thought of being stuck in a pod with a possibly stinking, non-DO wearer was more than we could handle so we moved on. The next stop was a walk to iKnit, which was surprisingly just around the cornor. I picked up some yarn, which wasn't from England, why didn't have any. Can't say the guy running the place was a real talker or that the place was very large, but it was cool.

Mind you we're walking, and walking and walking. So we walk to the next stop. The Imperial War Museum. We stayed until closing time. It was also way more museum than either one of us could have handled. We stopped for drinks and then trucked back across the river stopping to snap some shots of Big Ben and Parliament. More walking and a pub dinner. I was not thrilled with my fish and chips, but the blind date at the table next to us had great conversations! Off we went, walking back to the hotel and bedtime.

To be continued.......

*Visit the Picture Gallery*

Green weekend

Clarksville stepped up this weekend and opened a real Farmers Market. Not a lot of veg yet but the city is working on it. I was happy to see a few grain fed beef vendors with sign ups, a few organic growers and some crafts. Without any veg to buy I picked up some nice plants from Nancy's Herb Garden.


My tomatoes are also doing a nice job of doing what they do best.

So on thursday we drove out to nowhere for a hail and farewell, when I asked Hub where we we're going for this dinner he answered "a Quonset Hut in the middle of nowhere. I laughed. No really folks it was a quonset hut in the middle of nowhere decorated with a ton of 101st stuff. I have no pictures, but we had no bars on our phones.

I've been knitting too, a co-worker and I are knitting a shrug together. We've picked the Textured Circle Shrug from Glam Knits.
I'm using UltraAlpaca which is one of my fav yarns. We're working our way through, and I'll keep you up to date.

Welcome

Hey, Welcome to the new and improved blog. New name and such. Yes there will be still be knitting but lots more of lots more things. I just don't knit as much as I used to and I have lots of other fun stuff I do.

London Bound

So Hub and I are London bound this weekend, for just the weekend. I know this is silly but its our starter Europe trip. We didn't want to commit to a huge trip until we got the feel of things. Maybe europe won't agree with us (HA, yeah right) but we figured we'd feel things out first. We've got a bunch planned so far, the museum, a concert (oh that's Eric Clapton), and my person favorite a big trip to iKnit London. After hours pouring over the tube maps and the interactive map of london I managed to plan most of our trip via the underground, and scout out some super yummy noms. The big thing, knitting. All that time just sitting. It's a long flight people, nine hours!

Granted I'm going to sleep mostly there and I'm not afraid of a little niquil either, but the way back is a day flight and I'm going to have to find a way to keep busy. Now I can't get a straight answer about knitting needles on flights leaving Hethrow. They're web site says nothing about, no sharpish pointish sticks with yarn on them but I've heard from some people that they're banded. Alas what's a girl to do. In come the socks. Almost to the heel they can be knitting and finished on the "over there" flight. Then I'll start a whole new project on the flight back. The needles detached from the cord and stored with the pens in my messager bag, the cord wrapped up in my knit-kit. A big ball of yarn and a pattern all ready for the 9 and half hour haul back to the states. We'll see how things go.

BTW: Have you seen this thing about Cheesu, the cheeto that looks like Jesus! Its almost as good as the Nun Bun. Oh and this little guy was hanging on my window screen for about a half an hour.

BREAD!

So after knit night on wednesday, I picked up a book that I've been oogling for some time now. I just couldn't wait anymore, since Hub was going through two loafs of bread a week.
I was busy for most of the rest of the week, between big birthday parties and my neighbor graduating from college!!! Which mind you is super cool. It was Saturday morning before I could get started on the bread.

It's not a starter or a sourdough, it a super wet dough that you just take hunks off of when you want to make some bread. If you've read Kitchen Confidential, then you'll understand why I'm calling it "the bitch".

My first attempt looked promising....
But it turned out looking like an alien loaf!
Alien loaf or not it was super yummy,
Then the second loaf was picture perfect!
I've already used up the first batch, bought a better bucket for the bitch and have tried another kind of bread. It grows on you!

Man-esia

So the other night while Hub and I were getting ready for bed (we've been watching the first two season of "How I met your mother" for the last month or so) I asked him about when he was going to clean up the stuff that litters his side of the bed. He looked at me with that "HUH?" look. "BUT, its a low wide shelf!" "NO, it's the floor". Just a few days before, the last of his month-o-vacation, I had assigned two things. The light in the bathroom which has been broken since we bought the house, and to clean up the million and a half books on his night stand. Well both are still not done, but he just forgot. The diagnosis for this just up and plum forgetting, a serious case of manesia. Symptoms include, complete and udder forgetfulness of things which were complete important to you, forgetting of dates, why things happened, why things need to happen, forgetting to tell someone else something important, where things where put, what time something is going to happen at, with whom these things are going to happen with, whether or not it's clean or dirty, forgetting to remove wet things from a dry place. These are just a short list of symptoms of Manesia and they vary from man to man. For some a simple list with important tasks helps, other need electro shock therapy to help them remember. It's un curable but treatment does help. It is not contagious to females but when two or more men are within a six foot radius of each other they're individual forms of manesia converge into one, and as a group things like time and bodily functions are forgotten. Just continue to monitor them so that breathing continues and that they don't loose any eyebrows.

New Computer

Well it's here and it's great!

I'll be back

I promise, I've got tons of pictures to share, projects and what not. The new computer is on the way my hard drive will be open!

End To End

Pattern: Marialis End-to-End Scarf
Needles: US 3 options fixed
Yarn: Sundara Sock Yarn, Deadly Nightshade
Made For: ME!
Started: Jan 1st
Finished: Feb 25th



When I got this yarn in the mail I just couldn't bring myself to make socks out of it. The lovely way the color changes and that oh so perfect twist.



So far it has become one of my most favorite scarves even if it did feel like took a life time to knit.

Tasty..

I love Orangina, but I never drink it. It's for a few reasons. Mainly because it's hard to find in C-ville but also because it very sugary. I know I've kinda forgotten about my blog, but my hardrive is 'bout full and I can't risk adding more pic until I can move some stuff around. In April I should be getting a new computer, all new bits and pieces. Spot the Younger has been with me for 4 years and its about time to replace the little bugger. I've got it all picked out just gotta wait a few more weeks. So I talked to a friend whom I haven't heard from in like 4 years. Lots has changed in those four years since I got this thing. Like he's married and has a kid, crazy. He's going over seas in a few monthes really for the first time, we're just finishing our second full deployment. Hopefully we'll get out to see them sometime before he heads out. I don't really know where time goes sometime.

BTW: We BBQ'd tonight and made cedar smoked Salmon and some grilled Sea Bass. Also I whipped up some white truffle mac and cheese to go with. Yum YUM. I really have been knitting too I promise!

Just A Taste

All the regions have their special season. In the Northwest it's our late summers which cross into fall The days are as long and warm as they are going to get, and breeze off the sound is cool. By the time baseball calls it quits we're thrown into the short rainy days again. After four years I have come to love and long for a Tennessee spring. After an all but to short fall, we have winter with the ever changing cold to mild weather. Today the mini cooper told me it was 66 degrees! The wind is mild, the sun shining and the need for spring is very deep.

I picked these flowers up almost two weeks ago, during the snow storm. I had driven the Hub down to Nashville for his flight back to the 'stan in the snow. I wanted to do some grocery shopping while I was down there, so I went to my favorite place.... Trader Joes! They had loads of lovely flowers all waiting to go home.

I've been working away on my End to End scarf in Sundara Sock deadly nightshade,

I love knitting this pattern almost as much as I love this yarn.

Before Christmas I spent some time with my sewing machine and made this little box bag




If you'd like to make one of your own check out this Tutorial at Drago[knit]fly.

Oh and one more picture....

That's what I look like with straight hair!

Hit the Ground Running

So I'm back from my vacation from the rest of the world. It was great. It started with a surprise early flight that got the hub into Nashville at 10 am rather than 5pm. There was a trip to seattle that included a dog bite and some oysters. Two BBQ's, indian food, a 1 TB drive, and the admission that I should be able to have a dog. We gained a tread mill too. It all ended with a drive in the snow to Nashville and a trip to Trader Joes for me. The Hub has just under 45 days left to go before I get him back for good and rather than contemplate the nature of snow and slippers I can just get him to take the trash out for me.
Hub was luck enough to catch the first flight out of Atlanta and made it to Nashville a whole day early. This was nice and not so nice because I had drive to work and wasn't even inside the door when he called to tell me. Mind you I just could run out the door and start to Nashvegas I had to change, really I was wearing a sweater, jeans and pair of hiking boots. We BBQ'ed that weekend and then went to the Acorn with Evan and Amanda. Took off for Seattle on Thursday wear we enjoyed a really great dinner at Salty's on Alki. The in-laws made us want to jump out the window and their super food posessive dog bit my food for trying to move him while I cleared the table. For the next few days all Hub could say was, grrrrrr. I've managed to be sick for almost two weeks, since I have a new germ in the house. Personally I think I have a sinus infection but going to the doctor is a real case of last resort.

This Just In......

I'm interrupting my regularly scheduled life to take 18 days off from everything! The hub is in this time zone, this country, this indoor plumbing, beer drinking, real clothes wearing world again. Though only for a short time. We will be in Seattle for a few days and the rest of the time we're here.

A Very Merry Christmas!

Randolph The Butt-Nosed Reindeer and I would like to wish everyone a Happy Christmas!

Pay it forward

Alissa recently asked everyone to pay it forward. Please do this people. Please go out and help people that may not even look like they need help. The simplest thing means more than you can even understand.

Deck the Halls

So I'm not really decking the halls these day, not the upstairs one or the basement hall. I've been stupid busy at work and at home with the up coming holidays. Last weekend I put up the plastic tree and all the various christmas stuff. All week long I've typed, knitted and puttered along.

PATTERN: A Stork's Nest Scarf by Nancy Bush From Jan/Feb Piecework
START: Oh you don't want to know
FINISH: DEC. 7, 2008
YARN: Knitpicks Showdow Vineyard
FOR: ME!

I loved knitting this scarf. The pattern repeats three times then shifts. Its soooo easy to memorize and can actually be worked while you're at work. The yarn is warm and squishy. I would like to have some blocking wires to help get the pattern to show better.

After spending the week in Florida, ugh, my neighbor brought me back a gift. It was kinda a Homer Simpson gift. FISH. A giant bag of Grouper, with the stipulation that I cook for the weekly get-together.

A thick layer of sweet onions then lay the fish over it. Slather the fish in an equal mix of mayo and mustard. Lots of salt and pepper, more onions, think sliced lemon and parsley. All wrapped up in foil and baked at 350 until it was flaky. mmm de-lish.

My co-workers boys have been rounding up the eggs and selling them for $2.oo a dozen....

Toast and eggie!

Making the taste buds happy

The other day I got a random email from a friend I had not seen in about 2 years. It seems to happen like this for me, people I know and rarely see pop out of the wood work. Case in point, thanxgiving. Well its been a while since I saw this person so of course I'll drop everything, which really wasn't anything, to drive to Nashville on a weeknight for dinner. Kevin (we sorta went to high school together, and he was kinda in my wedding) was done with work early and called his girlfriend, "I think I'll drive up to Clarksville, and we'll have dinner there." he says, she asks "where does Claire want to go to dinner." "some place called Margot" "STAY IN NASHVILLE!". Yes Kevin, keep her she's a wise women. I really did wanted to see Kevin, but given the chance to have dinner at Margot, that was really what I wanted to do. I had the tri-tip with an onion bread pudding and Kev had the Spegetti and meatballs. We ended the night with heavenly hot chocolate topped with homemade mashmellows. It was worth the 140 miles of driving I did in one day, but this is how we operate. Kevin once drove from Atlanta and back in one day just to have dinner and ice cream with us.

In knitting news the Storks Nest Scarf is off the needles and the 'lil clap is moving right along. I've ordered some "snowman fixin' " to make the little felted fellows from KnitPicks for a co-worker who is a self proclaimed "snowman ho". I hope that they arrive soon.

Turkey Overload

Very Happy Belated Turkey Day! We had a great turkey weekend here, despite being one short. This is the Hub's favorite holiday (its a toss up with Fourth of July but that's because we can blow stuff up if you could some how get turkeys to go BOOM at the end of the night than T-day would be the hands down holiday winner) and this is first actual missed one. He's been super lucky to deploy minutes after and arrive seconds before the big day in the past but he missed this one. We had not plans to fly home or anything but I conned some friends in to visiting instead. Both Ian and Josh flew in as planned! It was like a little college reunion. We all picked up were we left off. For Food we trucked across the street with fried turkey, stuffing and yummy acorn squash in tow to the biggest thanksgiving blow out party I've ever seen. Two turkeys, and about 9 pies. The food was great, the weather not too bad and the fun was through the roof. Even my new knitting friend Peggy made a guest appearance. Now the boys are back on planes back the their posts and I have more messes to clean up than I though. I keep avoiding them too.

Nice Job Clarksville

So the leads on the Mini Cooper's battery come off from time to time. This happened when I replaced the battery and its the right battery but not the outrageously expensive BMW battery. Thus it doesn't quite fit. Well long story short there I was.... (up to my waist in mud, oh wait thats not my story) its dark and really really cold in the middle of a crowded parking lot. DB's battery goes, pffft and I gotta get out pop the hood and get the leads to re-connect. NO ONE, not a one, Not one freshly returned solider, not one crusty old man, not one stupid fuzzy boot wearing girl, asked if I needed help. HOLY SHIT PEOPLE. Where is our sense of humanity. I had no problem fixing it my self but damn, what if I couldn't fix it, what if was super preggers, what if, what if, what if!!!! Nice Job stupid Clarksville.