Extreme Blog Makeover

Wow, how cool would it be to have someone actually look at your blog and give it a makeover?! I have two blogs - this one (duh) and my Quilting on a Budget blog, and of the two, I'd be hardpressed to decide which one needs a makover the most. I've seen many free blog backgrounds and blog templates, but every one I've seen and contemplated downloading warns me that all my links and widgets will be erased when I do it... Ummmm... no thanks. So here's a good deal -- Tara of BlogMakeovers byTara works with several blog designers, many of whom design backgrounds and buttons and whatmacallits very suitable to crafters and quilters. Tara comes to your blog and does a complete makeover, including Custom background, Custom header, Custom made sidebar headers, Optional navigation Bar, Three column layout (something I desperately want!), Custom made signature, Favicon, and Your own blog button! How cool is that! And from now until January 31, she is offering these services at 50% off... so that's... $13.00! Considering 18,000+ people have viewed this blog (eeps!), and another 8000 have hit the QOB blog, I think this might be money well spent. And oh yeah, Tara is also having a Giveaway of a free blog makeover, but don't enter that because I really, really want to win it myself.

The Weather Outside is Frightful.....not!

I almost feel bad for the Cincinnati weather forecasters today...almost. My goodness, I'm not sure if they could be much more wrong in their forecasts lately. My husband and I have decided that our local Krogers must sponsor the weather forecasts behind the scenes, because every other day the forecasters are claiming !SNOW! (which we all know means big business for the grocery stores) and yet... no snow. Our streets are pre-treated (yet again), the local news stations yanked their fine news reporters out of bed for "Special Reports" starting at 4:30 AM and yet... it's 10:00 am, 38 degrees outside and no snow... again. Do you know how silly it looks to have reporters reporting from the streets and highways when there's actually NOTHING going on?? I liked New England weather forecasters when we lived there. They always got the forecast wrong in the RIGHT way. They wouldn't predict snow and we'd get a six inches. I remember one long-time Boston television forecaster reading a letter a viewer had written to him. "Dear So and So -- I just finished two hours of shoveling your 'partly sunny' off my driveway." Think how much easier life is when you don't know the snow is coming. You don't make a panic run to the grocery store. Kids don't already assume they're going to have a snow day. The snowplow guys get to sleep in until the phone actually rings with the news it's snowing out. I wonder what they did "in the old days" before weather forecasts? I'm thinking -- people looked out the window to see if it was snowing or not. OK, as I'm typing this I just looked out the window and it's snowing...LOL! I'm betting all the news reporters have given up and gone home, the local weather forecaster is dancing around the news station in glee, shouting "See! I TOLD YA!" and the local Krogers stores are preparing themselves for the second round of panic shoppers... Now watch - just because I posted this, we'll have a blizzard, I won't get out of the house for three weeks, and darn it, I have no milk or bread. Maybe I should take a quick run to Krogers...

Photo Tag

I got tagged by Dixie over at the wonderful French Lique blog, to post a photo -- not just any photo, mind you, but the fourth photo of the fourth folder in my photos on my computer. If Dixie only knew how disorganized my photos are, she'd know she's lucky there's even a fourth folder. I tend to put my photos in one of two folders -- the one marked PHOTOS or the one I can never find and I don't know the name of. But here you are, Dix -- the 4th photo of the 4th folder... This photo is a good lesson for people holding estate sales and yard sales to advertise, advertise, advertise. I stumbled upon this unadvertised estate sale, and was shocked to find five six-foot long tables piled high with top of the line designer quilting fabrics. You can't even see half of it here -- we filled two cars with fabric! At the time of the sale, they were asking $3 and $4 a yard for it. I did not buy ANY. I gave the folks my phone number and said, "If you have any fabric left at the end of the sale and want to make me a good deal, call me." As you can see, the phone rang, the Mother of all deals was made, and I was the proud owner of about 800 yards of quilting fabric. Oh yeah.... Thanks, Dix! That was a great motivator for me to get away from this computer and go upstairs and quilt! LOL Now there's rules to this'here Picture Tag -- and here they are: 1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer. 2) Select the 4th picture in the folder. 3) Explain the picture. 4) Tag 4 people to do the same. I am going to tag: Karen at Now Don't Get Me Started Jan at It's the Cat's House Tina at Quilt Dancing and ???? TAG! You're it!

A bit about me - now tell me about you

A Meme for Fun! Add this to your own blog and come back and tell me so I can come read it! Copy, paste, and bold what you have done! 1. Started your own blog 2. Slept under the stars 3. Played in a band 4. Visited Hawaii 5. Watched a meteor shower 6. Given more than you can afford to charity 7. Been to Disneyland 8. Climbed a mountain 9. Held a praying mantis 10. Sang a solo 11. Bungee jumped 12. Visited Paris 13. Watched a lightning storm at sea 14. Gone rollerskating 15. Adopted a child 16. Had food poisoning 17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty 18. Grown your own vegetables 19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France 20. Slept on an overnight train 21. Had a pillow fight 22. Hitch hiked 23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill 24. Built a snow fort 25. Held a lamb 26. Gone skinny dipping 27. Run a Marathon 28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice 29. Seen a total eclipse 30. Watched a sunrise or sunset 31. Hit a home run 32. Been on a cruise 33. Seen Niagara Falls in person 34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors 35. Seen an Amish community 36. Taught yourself a new language 37. Acted in a play or performed on stage 38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person 39. Gone rock climbing 40. Seen Michelangelo’s David 41. Sung karaoke 42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt 43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant 44. Visited Africa 45. Walked on a beach by moonlight 46. Been transported in an ambulance 47. Had your portrait painted - 48. Gone deep sea fishing 49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person 50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris 51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling 52. Kissed in the rain 53. Played in the mud 54. Gone to a drive-in theater 55. Been in a movie 56. Visited the Great Wall of China 57. Started a business 58. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment 59. Visited Russia 60. Served at a soup kitchen 61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies 62. Gone whale watching 63. Got flowers for no reason 64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma 65. Gone sky diving 66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp 67. Bounced a check 68. Flown in a helicopter 69. Saved a favorite childhood toy 70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial 71. Eaten caviar 72. Pieced a quilt 73. Stood in Times Square 74. Toured the Everglades 75. Been fired from a job 76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London 77. Broken a bone times four! 78. Been on a speeding motorcycle 79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person 80. Published a book 81. Visited the Vatican 82. Bought a brand new car 83. Walked in Jerusalem 84. Had your picture in the newspaper 85. Read the entire Bible 86. Visited the White House 87. Won money 88. Had chickenpox 89. Saved someone’s life 90. Sat on a jury 91. Met someone famous 92. Joined a book club 93. Had to put someone you love in Hospice Care 94. Had a baby 95. Seen the Alamo in person 96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake 97. Been involved in a law suit 98. Owned a cell phone 99. Been stung by a bee 100. Read an entire book in one day Your turn!

Weird Recipes for SuperBowl Sunday

I'm hoping everyone has a weird recipe or two they love, so I don't look completely bonkers with these. With the Big Football Day coming up, I thought I'd share two of my tried and true you won't believe how good it is and people will promise you their first born if you'll share the recipe recipes. This is the BEST spread for crackers: Pineapple Twist Spread 1 8 oz cream cheese block 1 jar horseradish 1 jar pineapple preserves That's it. Put your cream cheese on a plate as is, put a light coating of horseradish on the top, then a thick coating of pineapple preserves. Don't tell people what's in it until they've ooo'd and ahhhh'd their way through at least half of it. For me, this is a no fail everybody loves it recipe. You're doubting my sanity, I can tell... Read on... Dog Poop aka Heart Attack in a Crockpot 1 lb velveeta cheese 1 lb ground beef 1 lb bulk sausage That's it. Brown and break up the ground beef and sausage, drain. Add the velveeta and cook over low heat until cheese is melted. Put the whole mess in a crockpot on low and keep it warm. I serve this on little party rounds of pumpernickle or rye bread. Yum-bo! My kids named it Dog Poop so long ago that I don't remember the real name of it anymore! One more... Hubby Pleaser --8 oz block of cream cheese --1 can tomatoes and green chiles (aka Rotel), drained --1 lb breakfast sausage, browned and drained Brown and breakup the sausage and drain. Put cream cheese in a crockpot. Add sausage and tomatoes with chiles. Cook on low for 90 minutes. Stir well and serve with crackers or tortilla chips. I don't remember the name of this recipe either. When my Mom came up with a recipe that my Dad loved, she always called it "Hubby Pleaser"... all of these recipes could be called that, trust me. Any time you combine cream cheese with another ingredient (especially meat) and melt it all together, men will think you're a superstar. What's your weird recipe??

Little bits

I'm here! I've been stashed away in my quilting room for the past few days. That's right. Me. Sewing. Not cleaning, not organizing, sewing! A BOM block completed, a grocery bag/tote completed for an exchange, some Ricky Timm One Seam Flying Geese blocks done for some upcoming placemats... See? I can do it! I was just waiting for motivation. Photos will come as projects get completed (and after my swap partner receives the goods). Now you're going to thank me. I may even become your new best friend. Ready for this? You know that New Year's Resolution you made about losing weight? STOP! Pick UP that cookie! Step away from the skim milk! A new study is out and it's a doozie! I just finished reading a GREAT book -- and the fact that it was great came as a total surprise to me. I'd heard of the book, but every time I heard the titled I assumed (sorry, Mom) it was chic-lit -- like Red Hat books or Angry Housewives Eating BonBons or ?what was the name of that book about a group of southern ladies - the sweet potato recipe club? Shoot, I can't remember. But that's the type of book I thought I was about to read. Wow, was I wrong. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows is truly an excellent book, and one that I did not want to end. It is fiction based on fact -- the Nazi occupation of Guernsey Island (which lays between England and France), and how it's residents deal that five year span of time after the war. This is not a military book or war book. It is an amazing array of post-war friends, new and old, who bond with letters and the reading of books. The author's writing style is so brilliant that each character, no matter how briefly mentioned, is an integral part of the story and would somehow be missed if not present. I'll put an Amazon link over in the right hand of this page for you -- or check your local library!