We tried something different. Out of a half dozen pizza joints in this city, I would rate the above place an 8 or maybe even 8.5 out of 10. It was quite good, but not as great as ...
... which is definately my all time favourite. And unfortunately, NOT up here in the north! (If you're reading this, Me-n-Ed's people, I heartily encourage you to come open up a pizza parlor here! I'll be your very best customer, I promise!) Of course, Sicilian-style pizza is not everyone's preference, so I baked these for my favourite cookie monster:
Apparently, nuthin' says luvin' like Ranger cookies oozing with chocolate chips, maraschino cherries and coconut! Oh, and see my cow cookie jar? It used to MOO whenever someone raided it. It is now eerily moo-less. I'm pretty certain the motive behind this de-mooing was prevention of loud announcements of cookie jar raids. However, I would like to take this opportunity to point out that if I can't HEAR cookies getting eaten, I can't tell when to bake more. I'm just saying ...
After all that food, the movie selection for the evening was a good old-fashioned Valentines Day luv story. If you haven't read this book, or seen this movie, I highly recommend it. Keep the tissue box handy! Post-Valentines, I tried to focus on cleaning up a craft project or two. I didn't actually FINISH anything, but made significant progress in a couple of areas. First, I clothed Raggedy Ann and Andy. I bought a couple of meters of this fabric ...
... super cheap at Stuffmart a while back. I thought it would make a nice cheery apron (I'm an old-fashioned gal in the kitchen, and I like to wear old-fashioned aprons). However, when I prewashed it, some of the green in the design bled. I guess you get what you pay for, eh? Raggedy Ann and Andy have no complaints about the design flaw though.
Next weekend, I'll have to construct their wigs. Bald Raggedy Ann and Andy is a bit ... disturbing! While the sewing machine and iron were out ... okay, I confess they never really get put away here ... I decided THIS fabric would be the focal point of a quilt ...
... and with that decision made, I quickly cut out the rest of the quilt blocks:
I have enough of the turquoise print for the backing, and enough plain dark purple for binding. I've put everything in a big ziplock bag for now, and will try to refrain from starting this project until I finish my tipsy coffee cups project. I said TRY. No promises! This IS February Fever season! And I still haven't decided how to back or bind my tipsy coffee cups. With all that plus my laundry accomplished by mid-afternoon today, I decided to walk over to the mall for some groceries. That was a big mistake! It's still very icy. I had my Yak Trax on my boots, but stepped on a bit of glare ice while crossing the street and fell again ... fifth time this winter, dammit! ... and did a face plant against the edge of the sidewalk.
I've got a fat lip and a loose tooth. You can't see the cuts inside my upper lip in this picture, but believe me, they are there and they HURT! I can't imagine what my mouth is going to look like in the morning when I go to work ... I facilitate Falls Prevention workshops for seniors, it's a little embarrassing to admit how often I've fallen this winter! Anyway, I was closer to home than the mall, so decided to limp back home instead of grocery shopping.
I worked on another unfinished project ... a gansey cardigan ... for the rest of the afternoon, and will probably finish the right side this evening. That will just leave the sleeves and ribbed bits at the back vent and front openings for next weekend. Yay for me! Hope y'all had a happy and fall-free weekend!
... of melting snow. What was once all white and pristine becomes dark and dirty. White snowbanks become SCHMUTZY snow banks (that's LD language for brownish-dirty-blackish-looking). The second problem with an unexpected warm spell in January is the fact that IT DOESN'T LAST very long, and then all that melted snow turns into ... ice. This is my driveway:
Ice from one end to the other. The street at the end of my driveway isn't any better. Ice is ... in case you don't get to experience this weather phenomena in your part of the world ... VERY SLIPPERY. The king-sized bruises on my hiney will attest to that fact! This is inside the bus shelter at my bus stop:
More ice. If you don't want to navigate your way into and out of the bus shelter, you can wait at this bench beside the bus shelter. Oh, wait ...
... more ice! An entire sidewalk of ice! Entire sidewalks of ice everywhere in this city! I managed to do the most spectacularly graceful ice ballet in my driveway ... resulting in black and blue hiney on the left side ... on my way to the bus stop. Then I managed to do an even more spendidly graceful ice ballet ... resulting in further black and blue hiney on the right side ... on the sidewalk on my way home at the end of the day. Fortunately no broken bones. Since then, I've been very conscientious about putting my ...
... Yak Trax on over my boots! They may look like putzy truck chains for feet, but I swear you could walk up a perpendicular glacier in them things! Now if the bruises would just hurry up and heal and disappear.
... hoar frost. The arctic air rolled in quite foggy, and the moisture from the fog froze and formed the most AMAZING ice crystals on exposed surfaces. I love hoar frost! It's got to be one of the Creator's most artistic gifts to humanity. So here for your viewing pleasure, hoar frost on northern Canadian shrubs and trees:
